Trump’s war on drugs / ibogaine clinics and 5-meo-DMT / chaos at FDA / ex-Mormons on psychedelics / ketamine convictions and more

Weekly round-up of interesting stuff

First, this week, many newspapers and TV channels have led with President Trump’s weird war on drugs in Latin America. He’s shooting missiles at speed-boats off the coast of Venezuela while pardoning the ex-president of Honduras who was convicted for narco-trafficking. It seems like a self-contradictory strategy. Or is it?

Since the start of September the US military has hit 21 boats off the coast of Venezuela with missiles, killing an estimated 87 people. Trump declared war on narco cartels in Venezuela and Mexico, designating them terrorist organisations, and insists these boats are all carrying drug dealers. He’s also alleged that President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela is the leader of the Cartel de los Soles, which may or may not exist. This week, Trump declared Venezuela a no-fly zone and apparently gave Maduro an ultimatum to leave office - or else.

This military campaign has cost an estimated $2 billion so far, and is unlikely to slow the flow of drugs out of Venezuela, as drug traffickers have a range of other options including over land, by plane or by submarine. You can demonize and kill Latin Americans for supplying the US with drugs, but while North Americans retain their appetite for drugs it’s not going to do much to stop the $100 billion US illegal drug market.

In addition, some members of Congress say the military campaign against cartels is illegal as Trump has not sought Congressional approval for it. As I wrote in this piece, he and previous presidents have relied increasingly on JSOC and Special Forces for operations, precisely because JSOC operations can be approved by the president without Congressional approval.

The dispute over the legality of the campaign came to a head this week, when two survivors of a missile strike on a boat were killed by a follow-on strike. Members of Congress say it’s a war crime to kill survivors. President Trump quickly distanced himself from the follow-on attack, while Secretary of War Pete Hesgeth also said he did not give an order to kill any survivors and pointed the finger at Admiral James Bradley, former head of Seal Team Six, who is Commander of Special Operations Command. Here’s a Daily Show clip about how the White House is throwing Admiral Bradley under a bus. It’s bizarre to focus on the legality or illegality of killing two people when the entire operation is unauthorized.

Meanwhile, according to Intelligence Online, the CIA and US military is conducting a vast secret campaign to track Mexican cartels, their drug and money networks, and the position of leaders of the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa Cartels. The campaign is using drones from Palantir, Anduril and HawkEye, and on–the-ground intelligence-gathering from a secretive JSOC group known as The Activity or Task Force Orange. This intelligence is then fed to Delta, Seal Team Six and Green Berets for them to do kill operations against senior cartel figures. I don’t know if that has happened yet, I don’t think so.

For US citizens and tourists in Mexico, especially in Baja, this could get messy. That includes the Americans who travel to Mexico for psychedelic retreats (reported on this week in NBC). You have to wonder: is it a security risk for Special Forces and veterans to be heading to Baja for ibogaine retreats at the same time Special Forces target cartels in Baja? Could the Pentagon and Veteran Affairs instead offer ibogaine sessions in Fort Bragg, Colorado, or somewhere else?

I asked Amber Capone of VETS - they’re a non-profit that sends Special Forces veterans to Ambio, an ibogaine / 5meoDMT clinic in Baja - if security concerns might prompt a shift of ibogaine clinics to the US. She told me:

We take security extremely seriously. [With regard to doing ibogaine retreats in the US] the legal opinions have consistently remained the same -- since we are a nationally-recognized non-profit with federal tax-exempt status, we run the risk of violating federal law with donor dollars and losing our 501(c)(3) status and possibly opening donors up to very serious issues, which would be catastrophic all around. I know there are nonprofits doing this, but to us, it’s simply too risky and unknown for VETS.

Finally, amid all this military activity against Latin American cartels, Trump pardoned the ex-president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who in 2024 was sentenced to 45 years in prison by a New York court for helping to facilitate the trafficking of cocaine into the US. The case was built by the DEA and DoJ for 18 years. It seems like cartel foot-soldiers get killed without trial, while the king-pins get pardoned. Authoritarianism for the masses, libertarianism for the oligarchs.

After the paywall, why aren’t ibogaine retreats like Ambio more up-front that they offer 5-meo-DMT in their protocol; chaos at the FDA; ex-Mormons on psychedelics; sentences for Matthew Perry’s ketamine suppliers; and four excellent new psychedelic harm reduction journal articles.