Mark “Slider” Keller and I were roommates at Officer Candidates School. He flew F-14s in the Navy. For the past year he has worked as a host at Ambio, the ibogaine clinic in Mexico, and he says he has guided about 250 veterans and first responders through treatment.
Slider walks through what happens during Ambio’s five-day program of ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT. He tells stories of men who arrive suicidal and leave with their lives back. He covers sweat lodges, the experience of ego death, and why the toughest men in a group cry every week.
What changes
We talk about what Slider sees in a person’s brain and outlook after treatment, and why the reset seems to hold for so many. He also talks about integration after people go home, and about the documentary In Waves and War on Netflix, which follows veterans through this kind of care.
Why it matters
For veterans and first responders living with PTSD, TBI, depression or addiction, this is a detailed look at psychedelic-assisted therapy from people who do it every day. I see the change in orientation first, and actions follow from it. Orientation sits at the center of John Boyd’s real OODA loop.
This episode is not medical advice. Ibogaine is a Schedule I drug in the United States. If you are a veteran in crisis, call 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Anyone else can call or text 988.
Who do you know who is still carrying something they haven’t put down?
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Written by Ponch Rivera with AI assistance in production. The full conversation is in the player below.