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Can one psychedelic compound heal severe cases of addiction, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety in just one weekend? “In Waves and War” is a new documentary that shares the story of three Navy SEAL veterans who heal from decades of war trauma with one psychedelic treatment — ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT.
“In Waves and War,” soon to be released on Netflix on Nov. 3, depicts the transformation of veterans, who suffered years of mental anguish from battlefield trauma and follows them through the psychedelic journey that ultimately, “gives them hope and perspective about what they’ve been through,” said co-director Jon Shenk.
The idea for the film came from the mind of Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside, who pitched the movie to Hollywood nearly five years ago. Buck’s has been the site for early stage meetings among today’s Silicon Valley tech giants such as eBay, Tesla and Paypal and now, a documentary.
MacNiven, an executive producer of the film, went to the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s and 70s during the psychedelic era. His first and only time using ibogaine was in college.
“Ibogaine has been likened to a trip to hell, and you have a life review where these images of your whole life pass in front of you over a 12- to 20-hour period, and you can re-edit that film of your life and come to grips with a lot of the horrors,” MacNiven said.
Ibogaine comes from the bark of the iboga plant, native to central Africa. 5-MeO-DMT is secreted by the glands of the Colorado River toad. The combination of both results in a psychedelic effect that allows individuals to see their life in retrospect.
Some in the medical community urge caution with these powerful drugs. In 2021, Dutch researchers concluded that the potential for serious cardiac side effects made further study of the drug difficult. Subsequently, researchers have called for clinical trials to better understand the risks and rewards of using ibogaine to relieve trauma. Ibogaine is currently a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States and not approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration.
After taking the drug in 1970, MacNiven began searching for other users of ibogaine, a substance that he explained “had a profound effect” on him. Without the Internet and lack of articles on the drug, MacNiven had no luck finding others with the same experience.
It wasn’t until the last 10 years that he finally met Dr. Martín Polanco, a mental health specialist using psychedelics to treat addiction in Mexico. He told MacNiven that he believed ibogaine could do more than treat addiction. In 2018, The Mission Within was created. It is a therapy program that provides supervised psychedelic therapy to veterans with a goal to prevent suicide.
The 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report found that there were over 6,400 veteran suicides in 2022 with an average of 17.6 veteran dying by suicide per day.
The Mission Within was funded by local business leaders, MacNiven, Roxy Rapp, Bill Draper, and Jim Warren, working with Polanco and U.S. Navy SEAL veteran Marcus Capone and his wife Amber, who are featured in the film. The Capones had become strong advocates for ibogaine therapy, said MacNiven.
The film takes the audience through the experiences of the veterans, who have witnessed death in combat, battled injuries and struggled with survivors’ guilt. The veterans’ stories dive deep into personal histories and showcase their traumatic memories of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The film also brings the audience into the mind of the veterans as they undergo the ibogaine treatment through animations.
“These guys take a pledge to each other when they join the military, not to ever leave a soldier behind,” said Shenk. “And in a way, they’re still doing that. Even though they’re now retired, they’re still committed to staying with each other and helping each other through the wounds that go beyond the battlefield and now within their everyday lives.”
The future of psychedelic therapy
The success of ibogaine therapy through programs such as The Mission Within has inspired Texas lawmakers to pass laws that fund psychedelic research. In June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that invests $50 million into research on ibogaine as a treatment for neurological disorders and opioid addiction.
“No other government agencies have done anything like that,” said MacNiven.
There is also ongoing research done by the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab on the use of ibogaine to treat traumatic brain injuries in military veterans. The lab, featured in the film, captured the before and after of 30 veterans in their research, majority of whom were struggling with PTSD and suicidal ideation.
Stanford researchers found life changing results in their studies. Results showed that participants who had initially had an average disability rating of 30 on the assessment scale, indicating moderate disability, had improved to a rating of 5 just one month after the ibogaine treatment, displaying no disability.
Results also showed that “treatment participants experienced 88% average reductions of in PTSD symptoms, 87% in depression symptoms and 81% in anxiety symptoms.”
MacNiven described ibogaine as a “powerful tool.”
“Ibogaine has the ability to completely eliminate the addictive response. Heroin addicts that have been using heroin for 20 to 30 years can take ibogaine one time and never use [heroin] again,” he said.
MacNiven attributes his creativity to his ibogaine and other psychedelic experiences. His artistic abilities and whimsical sense is strongly reflected in the treasure trove that is Buck’s Restaurant.
“I felt like my ability to see the world expanded and led to a lot of creativity that I’ve been able to bring forward in my life,” he said.
With ibogaine’s significant effect on various mental health conditions, MacNiven and Shenk both believe that the rise of psychedelics as a form of treatment will continue to progress and grow, especially with the upcoming release of the film.
“Psychedelics are experiencing somewhat of a renaissance in the way Americans think about them,” said Shenk. “There’s a lot of hope and indication that psychedelics will continue to play a more important role in mental health treatment.”
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