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Bruce Irons has long been candid about his struggles with addiction and mental health. Those struggles were compounded by the tragic loss of his brother, legendary surfer Andy Irons, in 2010. Recently, Bruce took a non-traditional step in his road to recovery. An icon himself, who seamlessly mixed power and progression, spurring a generational movement, he provided an update on his condition in a social media post sent from a psychedelic-assisted treatment facility in Mexico.
“My brother was world champion. He’s the baddest motherfucker that ever lived and I’m doing this for him and all my other fallen brothers and fucking friends who died,” said Bruce in a video posted to the facility’s Instagram. “[I’ve] had a fair share of ups and downs and losses and mental health problems – depression and drugs. I came to this place in Mexico called Beond to just see what it was about. They have ibogaine treatment.”
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive compound derived from the root of the iboga plant. The Central African shrub has been used in shamanistic rituals for millennia, and was researched in the 19th and 20th centuries as a treatment to a variety of ailments. However, the drug failed to receive widespread acceptance and ultimately became illegal in many countries, including the United States. Now, iboga, along with other psychedelics, is being studied as a potential treatment for conditions such as opioid addiction, traumatic brain injuries, and PTSD.
“No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury,” said Nolan Williams, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine who co-authored a study on the use of ibogaine to treat veterans with traumatic brain injuries. “The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further.” Another study into the use of Ibogaine to treat drug dependency reported a 61 percent success rate (However, it should be noted that it is unclear what the source is for the ’98 percent success rate’ that Irons mentions in the video).
However, the drug is not without its risks. The same Stanford study stated that, “Ibogaine has been associated with instances of fatal cardiac arrhythmia, but co-administration of magnesium may mitigate this concern.” Because the drug is illegal in the United States, that also means that treatment occurs in unregulated overseas clinics. “There are a lot of problematic and untrained people working in the field, which is why it would be helpful for ibogaine treatment to be studied, regulated and administered in a medically monitored setting here in the U.S.,” Juliana Mulligan, a psychotherapist and former opioid user from New York, told the New York Times.
As to Bruce, his experience with ibogaine seems to be giving him a more optimistic outlook on life. “I’m getting healthy and strong again,” he concluded. ”I’m going to get back in the water. I still have some big waves and barrels I need to get at Pipeline and Waimea. Maybe I get back into the Eddie Aikau or Pipe Masters. I still feel like I got one win in me left, or two. One more Pipe Masters, one more Eddie. Let’s do it. I’m fucking going for it.”
