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 emphasize that while community leaders and representatives from many Indigenous and Traditional groups from around the world have helped in the authoring of this statement, no one person or organization can speak for an entire culture, territory, region, or bioculture. We support the continued development of governance processes that allow for the strengthening of Indigenous and Traditional Peoples and collective voices.
We also acknowledge that while there are sections specifically on Iboga and Peyote in this statement, that is because of the immediate effects of this executive order on Iboga, and the longstanding status of Peyote as a protected medicine in the United States. The IMC Fund continues to work with partners from other biocultures to support careful responses to the fast-moving legal landscape in the United States and globally.
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 rightful or ethical relationships. 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 and their members, 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. At the same time, we as Indigenous peoples have used many of the medicines being grouped there in their whole forms, in ceremonial and ritualistic contexts, developing sophisticated knowledge for their safe and effective use over generations. Each medicine has its own lineages, its own territories, and its own people who are masters of its use.
What is now occurring with psychedelic and clinical research extracts constituent molecules from their biocultural context (or synthesizes molecules based on traditional knowledge related to their existence and use). These molecules are called psychedelics, as are plants and animals that contain these molecules, but we do not call them that. We consider them living systems of law, ceremony, responsibility, and relationships that exist in ancestral territories.
Indigenous knowledge systems must not be treated as open-source material for psychedelic research. Extracting a molecule from its context should not create loopholes through which synthetic, semi-synthetic, or isolated compounds can be treated as disconnected from traditional knowledge. Even when supply chains are not directly based on whole plants, the historical, cultural, and intellectual origins remain connected to their sources and the associated traditional knowledge systems.
The people who carry these traditions have the right to determine how their medicines are used and how they are protected, and the right to give input when parts of these medicines are used. 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 wild, illegal, or non-traceable Gabonese Iboga, 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.
At the same time, protecting Gabonese Iboga must not be interpreted as a reason for the pharmaceutical industry to bypass Gabon, Gabonese traditional communities, or Gabonese institutions. The problem is not Gabonese sourcing in itself; the problem is illegal, unsustainable, non-consensual, or non-traceable sourcing. Gabonese communities and national institutions are working toward the development of a sovereign, regulated, community-led and State-recognized Iboga sector, including agroforestry plantations, grower certification, transparent supply chains, local transformation, national research capacity, and equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms. A responsible future for ibogaine should therefore support Gabon’s ability to sustainably cultivate, transform, certify, and benefit from its own biocultural heritage, rather than using conservation concerns as a pretext to move value, research, intellectual property, and production elsewhere.
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. The Gabonese government has adopted Décret n°0239/PR/MJSRCAVA (22 May 2026) regulating access, use, exploitation, research, transformation and commercialization of Iboga, its derivatives, and associated traditional knowledge in the Gabonese Republic. This decree is important not only as a conservation or control measure, but also as a strategic step toward structuring a legal, sovereign and benefit-sharing-based national Iboga sector.
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.
On Peyote
We call for the assurance that Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) will remain excluded from any federal policy or legislative changes arising from this Executive Order. Peyote occupies a unique position within the United States, where its traditional ceremonial use by Indigenous Peoples is protected under the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments of 1994. Because of its cultural significance, conservation status, and importance to Indigenous religious freedom, Peyote has been deliberately excluded from a number of recent psychedelic policy reforms and decriminalization efforts, including in California and Colorado, following sustained advocacy from Native American Church leaders and Indigenous organizations. Any future policy discussions should continue to respect these protections and the longstanding calls from Indigenous Peoples to safeguard Peyote from increased commercialization, extraction, and pressure on wild populations.
We Call for Inclusion
We value the commitment to healing. We are not opposed to scientific inquiry in the name of healing. 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.
Respect, Protect, Follow, and Live in Right Relationship
We call on the government of the United States of America, including the President, the federal government, state governments, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Private Sector and all stakeholders to:
Respect
Respect Indigenous rights, authority, knowledge, and sovereignty.
This means:
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
How this can be implemented
Recognize Indigenous Peoples as rights-holders, not merely stakeholders.
Acknowledge Indigenous governance systems, laws, and authorities.
Recognize Indigenous knowledge systems as valid and sovereign in their own right.
Recognize Indigenous spiritual and ceremonial leaders as legitimate knowledge holders.
Conduct due diligence to understand whose territories, medicines, and knowledge systems are involved.
Ensure Indigenous Peoples have the right to decline participation without penalty or pressure.
Use language that accurately reflects Indigenous rights and avoids reducing sacred medicines to commodities or resources.
Include time for consultation in research and legislative proposals, as well as funding to ensure that consultation is possible.
Protect
Protect what is sacred, vulnerable, and collectively held.
This means:
Protection of sacred medicines, territories, and cultures from extractive practices
Protection against the commodification, misrepresentation, or decontextualization of sacred medicines and associated knowledge systems
Protection of Indigenous rights and existing legal frameworks from erosion or circumvention
How this can be implemented
Avoid commercialization models that undermine Indigenous control or cultural integrity.
Refrain from patenting or claiming ownership over Indigenous medicines, knowledge, or biocultural heritage.
Support legal protections for Indigenous rights, territories, and knowledge systems.
Ensure precision in language to ensure legal frameworks are not circumvented.
Support the conduction of community-based impact assessments that consider cultural, spiritual, ecological, and social impacts, locally and globally.
Establish safeguards against unauthorized collection, research, documentation, or dissemination of Indigenous knowledge.
Train lawmakers in ethical relations.
Establish expectations of universities engaging with Indigenous medicines.
Support protection of ecosystems and territories that sustain sacred medicines.
Follow
Follow Indigenous leadership.
This means:
Indigenous-led governance and decision-making
Meaningful consultation grounded in Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)
Accountability and legal integrity
How this can be implemented
Ensure Indigenous Peoples are involved from the earliest stages of planning and decision-making.
Follow community-defined consultation processes rather than imposing external timelines.
Obtain and maintain FPIC, conducted in ways that do not create division or fractures within communities or peoples.
Invest directly in Indigenous governance structures and leadership capacity.
Include Indigenous representatives in governance, advisory, and oversight bodies, with guidance from appropriate Indigenous governance bodies and without tokenizing.
Establish accountability and grievance mechanisms that are accessible to Indigenous communities.
Develop legal and policy frameworks collaboratively with Indigenous Peoples, in such a way that does not undermine existing frameworks for the protection of Indigenous rights.
Live in Right Relationship
Develop relationships and share where appropriate.
This means:
Equitable benefit-sharing where engagement is freely chosen
Long-term reciprocal relationships
Respect for cultural protocols and responsibilities
How this can be implemented
Share financial and non-financial benefits equitably when communities choose to engage.
Invest in Indigenous priorities identified by Indigenous Peoples themselves.
Support long-term relationships rather than project-based extraction.
Strengthen Indigenous stewardship, cultural continuity, and intergenerational knowledge transmission.
Respect and support cultural protocols associated with sacred medicines and knowledge systems.
Ensure benefits reach communities, knowledge holders, and governance structures; ensure the involvement of trusted bodies.
In Closing
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 Board of Directors)
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 People, Peru
Signed (IMC Fund Partners)
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
Sia: The Comanche Ethno-Ornithological Initiative
The Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative
Sierra Mazateca Technical Team - Mazatec, Mexico
Endorsed By
International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers - International
Endorse the Statement
Organizations and individuals are invited to endorse this statement in solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Knowledge Holders, and communities who have brought these concerns forward.
Join the Movement
Respect. Protect. Follow. Live in Right Relationship.
This statement represents a different vision for the future of Indigenous medicines. This is a future rooted in Indigenous rights, leadership, and relationship rather than extraction. We're thoughtfully offering select merchandise so you can join the movement and amplify the call for policies that protect sacred medicines, respect Indigenous governance, and ensure that the future of these traditions is shaped by the Peoples who have stewarded them for generations. It's not to simply have a t-shirt or make a donation, but to commit to spreading the message of the statement.
Via Bonfire, you can proudly wear your support for this statement, with shipping directly to you. Available in cotton, organic cotton, and crewneck sweater versions. All proceeds go to the IMC Fund.
