One Reporter’s Life-Altering Psychedelic Trip

The Daily

The New York Times

News, Daily News

4.3 • 107.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

The first time Robert Draper heard about the psychedelic drug ibogaine, it was from an unlikely source: the retired U.S. senator Kyrsten Sinema. As a political reporter for The New York Times, Draper often talks to figures like Ms. Sinema. But on this occasion, he said, she wanted to tell him about how she had tried ibogaine, which is illegal in the United States. She’d become such a believer in the drug that she was pushing her home state of Arizona to fund clinical trials for veterans with combat-related trauma. Draper found that Ms. Sinema wasn’t the only politician to take up the cause. Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, Republican presidential candidate and Trump energy secretary, has also advocated for research into ibogaine in recent years and taken the drug himself. In 2025, because of Mr. Perry’s efforts, Texas became the first state to dedicate public funds to ibogaine research with veterans. Recent studies of ibogaine at Stanford University and elsewhere suggest that it might prove effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, addiction and a range of other conditions. As Draper reported on ibogaine’s transformative effects on others, he wondered: Could it help him, too? Today, on “The Sunday Daily,” Natalie Kitroeff talks to Robert Draper about what drew him to travel to Mexico to try ibogaine, and how his trip changed his life.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Kittrow-F.
0:03.9	This is the Daily on Sunday.
0:06.7	Well, I'm glad I was cogent.
0:08.6	I actually just, I had to share this with you guys.
0:10.5	Last fall, as I was finishing up an interview with my colleague, the politics reporter Robert Draper, he very casually mentioned.
0:17.3	I spent Thanksgiving in Tijuana, Mexico, undergoing Ibegain psychedelic therapy,
0:22.2	that he just returned from a marathon hallucinogenic drug trip.
0:27.0	This was the most radical thing. Ten hours. I felt nauseous, but they teach you these deep
0:32.7	breathing exercises before you go in and you use that to stave off, you know, any kind of nausea.
0:38.5	Now, I should just say, Robert isn't exactly the kind of guy I'd have expected to tell me something like this.
0:44.3	He's a seemingly staid veteran journalist who covers the American right and the MAGA movement.
0:50.5	But he told me this drug was something he felt he had to try.
0:55.6	Yeah, it was really, really interesting.
0:57.5	I mean, the whole, I have to find a way to write about it at some point.
1:02.1	The drug in question is called Ibogaine, and it's illegal in the United States.
1:07.4	But early research suggests it could be a game-changing treatment for a range of
1:13.3	conditions, things like PTSD, addiction, even cognitive decline. So today, Robert Draper and I talk
1:21.9	at length about his experience on Ibogaine. It's Sunday, April 12th.
1:32.3	Robert, welcome to the Sunday Daily. It's great to have you here. It's great to be here. Thanks, Natalie.
1:38.3	So I just want to start by saying that I have so many questions for you about how you wound up having this experience.
1:45.0	I am very excited to talk with you about it.
1:47.5	And I want to recognize that that might not totally be the case for you.
	...

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