A former United States Navy SEAL credited with taking out Osama bin Laden in Pakistan 14 years ago has been advocating for ibogaine therapy.
In an interview with conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson last week, Robert O’Neill said the psychedelic drug was the only viable cure for his mental health demons. He has travelled to Mexico to undergo legal psychedelic therapy sessions with the psychoactive therapeutic and will soon be returning for additional treatment.
“I do psychedelics now,” he stated, “I do ibogaine.”
O’Neill said that many military veterans unsuccessfully attempt to drown out their pain with alcohol, describing it as a vicious cycle.
“The alcohol doesn’t help but the psychedelics do and that’s why they’re not legal here,” the former elite special ops team member asserted. Ibogaine is currently a Schedule I substance in the U.S.
He pointed out that Texas has been taking a leadership role in providing the veterans community with access to ibogaine therapy. The state recently approved US$50 million in funding for ibogaine drug development trials.
“We should have it in New York at the VA; we should have it in Virginia and California,” O’Neill stated, describing it as being capable of cleaning out your closet. “Veterans should be able to get ibogaine administered medically.”
He also pointed out that naturally-derived drug was highly beneficial for alleviating headaches associated with traumatic brain injuries. A group of special operations veterans suffering from the aftermath of head trauma recently benefitted immensely from ibogaine, as detailed in a groundbreaking study by Stanford University.
Read more: Texas makes its mark on psychedelics sector with US$50M in ibogaine research funding
Navy SEAL’s PTSD didn’t set in for a long time
O’Neill explained that post traumatic stress disorder started impacting him after being out of the Navy for seven years. His mind was laser-focused on the tasks at hand during his service and started to wander in unpleasant directions later in life.
“I did kill that guy in front of his two sons,” he said, highlighting one of many troubling thoughts that have crossed through his brain in recent years. “Now, did I get rid of a terrorist or did I just make two new ones?”
O’Neill added that meditation, yoga and hitting the gym were necessary integration tools post-therapy when it comes to ibogaine. The psychedelic is derived from shrub native to Central Africa and gets imported by Mexican clinics.
The interview went on for over two hours and covered topics related to psychedelics and mental health like the veteran suicide rate, whether politicians care about the mental well-being of combat vets and the psychological toll of war.
O’Neill also discussed the profound impact that another psychedelic, 5-MeO-DMT, has had on him.
Despite giving former congressman Curt Weldon a platform to voice his conspiracy theories about 9/11 in May, Carlson described bin Laden as the “mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attack on America” in the interview description on YouTube.
When the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden shows up on Tucker Carlson wearing a DMT hat, you know psychedelics have gone mainstream 🥸
Rob O’Neill (@mchooyah) didn’t turn to Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT because it was trendy…
He tried them because he was out of options.
Years… https://t.co/kYOrQnqQlF pic.twitter.com/ydywRK16jY
— 🧠Not So Profound (beta) (@NotSoProf0und) July 5, 2025
Read more: FDA gives another one of Filament Health’s psilocybin trials green light
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