Statement from the IMC Fund BOD & Partners

Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund (IMC Fund)
On the April 18, 2026 Executive Order

By endorsing this statement, individuals and organizations express solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Knowledge Holders advancing these concerns. Endorsement does not require agreement with every position or recommendation in the statement.

We, the Board of Directors and Partners of the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund, are a group of committed spiritual practitioners representing communities and cultures from different parts of the world, where ancient spiritual and medicinal practices are maintained. We come from lineages that have carried these medicines, and the responsibilities that come with them, across many generations.

We have come together in this role to help protect not only our own medicines, but those of other biocultures, including sacred Iboga, Ayahuasca, Mushroom, Peyote, and Toad. We take seriously the responsibility to speak when needed, especially in moments where decisions are being made that may shape the future of these medicines beyond our territories. It is in this spirit that we share our reflections on the recent Executive Order from the United States government to accelerate access to treatments involving what are being called “psychedelic” substances.

We recognize the reality that many people are suffering, including those living with severe mental health conditions for whom existing treatments have not worked. We understand that some of these emerging therapies are offering real relief, and we do not dismiss that. The need for healing is real, and it is something we also carry in our own communities.

At the same time, we must speak to what is not being recognized. The substances now entering clinical systems are not new discoveries. They come from territories and knowledge systems that are deeply rooted in Indigenous spirituality and practice. These medicines were not developed in isolation, and they cannot be fully understood outside of the relationships that sustain them.

We recognize that our medicines are being incorporated into three pathways that seek to expand access for publics outside of our communities: the medical pathway, the religious pathway, and the decriminalization pathway. Each of these uses different angles, recognizing the healing, spiritual, and general potential of our medicines, without recognizing our rights as Indigenous Peoples to make decisions about how our medicines are used. 

For us, spirituality and traditional knowledge are the foundation. The ways these medicines are prepared, held, and given are inseparable from the territories and cultural and spiritual frameworks in which they exist. Indigenous Peoples hold both the right and the responsibility to care for these medicines and to determine how they are used, including whether they are shared at all. When there is no legitimate process to ask, there is no meaningful consent.

What we see in this Executive Order is a rapid expansion of research, funding, and clinical application, inside of a medical model and as part of the medical pathway.  

What we do not see are the structures needed to ensure that this expansion happens in right relationship. There is no clear groundwork for Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. There are no defined mechanisms for equitable benefit-sharing. There is no protection for the territories, the communities, or the biocultural systems that make these medicines possible. 

Frameworks already exist that speak to these responsibilities. Instruments such as the Nagoya Protocol and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirm that Indigenous Peoples must be consulted, that consent must be obtained, and that benefits must be shared fairly and directly. These are principles grounded in the recognition that knowledge and resources have origins, and that those origins carry rights. Any engagement must be led by Indigenous Peoples, governed by Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, protected through Indigenous data sovereignty, and limited by cultural protocols.

National Agreements cannot Bypass Indigenous Peoples

These processes cannot happen only at the level of national governments. Agreements made without the direct involvement of Indigenous Peoples risk bypassing the communities who hold this knowledge. Governments have a responsibility to ensure that consultation is real and that it reaches the appropriate knowledge holders. This includes the responsibility of the United States to engage with Tribal Nations within its own borders, as well as to respect the international dimensions of these medicines.

Indigenous Governance Strengthening is a Necessary Investment

We acknowledge that Indigenous communities are not all equally positioned to respond to this moment. In many places, governance systems have been disrupted or weakened over time. This creates openings for misrepresentation, for partial consultation, and for decisions about collective knowledge to be made without collective agreement. Strengthening Indigenous governance is not a side issue: it is essential. Without it, consent processes will not reflect the will of the people as a whole.

This is not One Size Fits All

It must be understood that not all medicines now being grouped under the term “psychedelic” are the same. Each medicine has its own lineage, its own territory, and its own guardians.  Indigenous knowledge systems must not be treated as open-source material for psychedelic research. They are living systems of law, ceremony, responsibility, and relationship that exist in their ancestral territories. 

The people who carry these traditions have the right to determine how their medicines are used and how they are protected. Some knowledge can be shared for education and conservation; some knowledge must remain within the people, the ceremony, and the medicine itself. Without Indigenous guidance, there will be gaps in understanding that cannot be resolved through clinical research alone.

On Iboga

Particularly concerning is the naming of ibogaine in the executive order. The demand for ibogaine over the last decades has already placed unsustainable pressure on Iboga biological resources, as well as the communities who maintain medicine practices. The communities that hold this knowledge, the actors long committed to its protection, as well as national institutions, cannot be relegated to the background, nor presented as peripheral to dynamics that originate precisely in Gabon. The history and development of ibogaine, including semi-synthetic and synthetic forms, originate from traditional knowledge and uses associated with Gabonese iboga.

The sourcing of Ibogaine is a major question. If it were to be sourced from Gabon, this would place unprecedented pressure on the plant. If it were to be sourced from other channels, the traditional knowledge and intellectual property is still a valuable resource that deserves benefit sharing from the industry. Any international supply chain involving Iboga or ibogaine should demonstrate clear compliance with the principles of access and benefit-sharing established under the Nagoya Protocol

With rapidly expanding development to meet foreign needs, there is no healthy way to ensure biocultural survival without developing shared frameworks for the protection of the medicine and its associated traditional knowledge. Benefit sharing may provide financial support to communities in need, but this alone is not enough. Traditional knowledge-holding communities must be involved in decision-making, and mechanisms must be established to ensure market stabilization, transparent and legal supply chains, operator accreditation and grower certification, the governance of intellectual property dynamics related to Iboga and ibogaine, and involvement of experienced and competent stakeholders in governance. This must also include the establishment of an international scope to prevent circumvention.

The market boom – which includes increased illegal activity because of increased attention – has the potential to be tremendously destabilizing for local cultures and peoples in Gabon, and devastate Iboga populations and ways of life that depend on this sacred plant. The credibility of international initiatives now depends on their ability to recognize, integrate, and respect these realities.

Finally, Gabonese traditionalists have not yet had the opportunity to come together to address the issue in a consensual manner. True Free, Prior, and Informed Consent requires a comprehensive process, and it is incumbent on the industry to slow down and support traditionalist governance processes in Gabon so that true discussions can be had.

We Call for Inclusion

We are not opposed to healing. We are not opposed to scientific inquiry. But we are concerned about a path forward that moves quickly without the inclusion of those who have sustained these medicines across generations. Without the participation of Indigenous peoples, everything that is built becomes disconnected from its source, and this path inevitably leads to reproducing commercial models that are destined to fail.

Indigenous Peoples must be included in decision-making processes in ways that are real and accountable. Including Indigenous peoples in international conferences without including us at national and international policy levels on decisions that affect Traditional and Indigenous communities and our biocultures is inadequate.

Consultation must be meaningful. Where Indigenous and Traditional Peoples choose to engage, benefit-sharing must be fair and direct. Where Indigenous and Traditional Peoples choose not to share, that decision must be respected.

We call for:

• Respect for the right to self determination of Indigenous Peoples

• Respect for the sovereignty of Indigenous knowledge systems

• Respect for the right to life

• Respect for the territories and regions that hold rich biocultural wisdom and biological diversity

• Meaningful and ongoing Indigenous consultation grounded in FPIC, and that does not cause division or fractures within communities or peoples

• Development of new legal frameworks, with Indigenous and Traditional involvement, and in such a way that does not undermine Indigenous Rights or existing legal frameworks

• Precision in language to ensure legal frameworks are not circumvented

• Protection of sacred medicines from extractive practices

• Investment in Indigenous-led governance and decision-making

• Equitable benefit-sharing where engagement is chosen

We speak from a place where many of our own communities continue to face ongoing pressures. Basic needs are not always met. There are threats from climate change, from extractive industries, and from the erosion of cultural continuity. Our work to strengthen our cultures is already complex and ongoing. The rapid growth of interest in these medicines adds another layer of pressure, and it calls for a clear and grounded response.

These medicines carry chemical properties, but more importantly, they carry relationships between people, territories, and spirit. Any future that seeks to use them must take that into account.

Signed (IMC Fund BOD & Partners)

Lucy Benally, IMC Fund Board Secretary -  Dine Nation, USA

Master Moubeyi Bouale, IMC Fund Board Member & President of Maghanga Ma Nzambé - Nganga Bwiti, Gabon

Mona Polacca, IMC Fund Board Member - Havasupai, Hopi and Tewa, USA

Jheison Romulo Sinuiri Ochavano, IMC Fund Board Member & President of Organización Intercultural Oni Xobo - Shipibo Peoples, Peru

NGO Blessings of the Forest - Gabon

Union of Ancestral Indigenous Yage Medics of the Colombian Amazon (UMIYAC) - Inga, Coreguaje, Cofán, Siona, Kamentsá, Colombia

Asociación Yaje Tsampi Ai Kofan Ayta Ik - A’i Cofán, Ecuador

Sierra Mazateca Technical Team - Mazatec, Mexico

Sandor Iron Rope, Oglala Lakota Oyate, USA

Endorsed By

International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers - International

Endorse the Statement

Individuals and organizations are invited to endorse this statement in solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Knowledge Holders, and communities who have brought these concerns forward.