April 2, 2024

Bryan Hubbard is preaching fire and brimstone. The topic of his sermon: ibogaine.
“There is evidence a mountain high and a mile wide that has been collected through observational-study data now for decades” affirming ibogaine’s efficacy as “a significant disruptor of opioid dependence.” Hubbard says it with conviction…

March 24, 2024

Q&A with Bryan Hubbard, Lawyer & Policymaker

March 20, 2024

Can an experimental drug cure opioid addiction? Andrew Jacobs, who writes about psychedelic medicine for The Times, explored the “promise and peril” of ibogaine…

March 15, 2024

The last decade has seen an explosion of opioid addiction and overdose deaths, a public health crisis fueling demand for medical and governmental intervention. This brief is a comprehensive overview of the reported results of studies investigating the potential of ibogaine, a psychoactive compound derived from the Tabernanthe iboga plant, in treating opioid addiction…

March 14, 2024

After three decades and five combat deployments in Navy Special Operations, Stephen Jones’s life spiraled into blackouts, bouts of angry confusion and alcohol-fueled benders. Doctors diagnosed him with traumatic brain injuries inflicted by years of sea dives, parachute jumps, firefights and bomb blasts…

March 11, 2024

State Treasurer Robert Sprague hired a lawyer who recently led the state of Kentucky’s aborted effort to steer a $42 million investment into research into medicinal or therapeutic use of ibogaine, a powerful hallucinogen…

March 5, 2024

Ibogaine, a formidable psychedelic made from the root of a shrub native to Central Africa, is not for the timid. It unleashes a harrowing trip that can last more than 24 hours, and the drug can cause sudden cardiac arrest and death…

Dec 30, 2023

The state’s commission may use some of its opioid-settlement money to study the drug. Bryan hubbard heard the same story so often as a lawyer in Kentucky. It would come from the same type of person (a middle-aged woman from the Appalachian mountains) who had worked hard her whole life in the same kind of occupation (a low-wage, low-skill job)…

Dec 13, 2023

The state is considering funding research on ibogaine, a psychedelic that's growing in popularity as potential treatment for opioid use disorder.

Nov 5, 2023

A novel, but controversial, way to combat the opioid epidemic is being debated in one of the nation’s hardest hit states: Kentucky. As officials across the U.S. look to counter addiction, many are desperate for a solution as thousands of Americans die every year from overdoses. In the third part of Matter of Fact’s series on psychedelic therapies, correspondent Jessica Gomez talks with concerned Kentuckians about the risks and benefits of treating the problem with the illegal drug, ibogaine…

Nov 1, 2023

When Bryan Hubbard was appointed Executive Director of the newly formed Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission in 2021, he had already been tracking psychedelic-assisted therapies in the media for three years. Kentucky had recently been awarded $842 million in settlement funds from lawsuits against opioid distributors and manufacturers for their role in an epidemic that has hit Kentucky particularly hard…

Oct 12, 2023

On this episode of Gaslighting The Warfighter, Tim Jensen is joined by W. Bryan Hubbard, current Chair and Executive Director of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission. Together, they delve into a groundbreaking exploration of the Opioid Abatement Commission's visionary approach – delving into the potential of Psychedelics, particularly Ibogaine, to make a transformative impact in Kentucky's battle against opioid overdoses and fatalities…

July 1, 2023

It was 2004, and she was 18. For the last year, she’d swallowed oxycontin recreationally at high school parties in Betsy Lane, her Eastern Kentucky hometown. The first time her body responded to a deficit of pills, Blackburn thought she’d caught a bad case of the flu. It was her high school boyfriend who explained that her body had become dependent…

June 29, 2023

On May 31, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and his special counsel Bryan Hubbard were joined by a host of advocates to announce plans to use state funds to study ibogaine-assisted therapy…

June 2, 2023

The head of the commission that manages Kentucky’s opioid-settlement money said Wednesday that the panel will “explore the possibility” of committing “no less than $42 million” to developing a treatment of opioid-use disorder with the psychedelic drug ibogaine, which is not legal in the United States…

May 31, 2023

It was a heartbreaking press conference. A mom talking about finding her son dead on the bathroom floor. Military veterans talking about their lowest points. All having to do with addiction to opioids…

April 28, 2023

Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced the first 24 organizations to receive more than $8 million in grant funding from the state Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission on Thursday, with 14 of the grants going toward treatment and recovery and 10 for prevention of opioid abuse…

Jan 23, 2023

Kentucky’s local and state governments continue to reap more millions from settlements with drug manufacturers and distributors, and are looking for guidance on how to spend the money to provide relief from the opioid epidemic, as the settlements require…

Jan 13, 2023

Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission Executive Director Bryan Hubbard visited Paducah for the second time in two months Tuesday to listen to concerns from community members on how the opioid epidemic has impacted the area….