Healing Criminalized: What We're Really Fighting For

By Joe Holmes – Founder, The Parkinson’s Project Foundation

What do you call a system that punishes people for trying to heal?

Because that’s what we’re living in.

As someone with Young-Onset Parkinson’s, I’m not just fighting a disease—I’m fighting for access, for options, and for basic respect for the human right to choose how we care for our own bodies. That shouldn’t be controversial. And yet, in the world of plant medicine, it still is.

I recently made the decision to travel outside the country with my wife to pursue ibogaine treatment—a natural psychedelic with deep roots in African healing traditions and emerging evidence for treating trauma, addiction, and even neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s. It’s not easy. It’s not recreational. But it’s the most hope I’ve felt in a long time.

And ibogaine is just one part of a much bigger story.

The Plants We've Been Taught to Fear

Psilocybin. Cannabis. Ayahuasca. Ibogaine. MDMA. Even ketamine.

All of these substances—derived from nature or once relegated to the shadows of "counterculture"—are now proving to have legitimate therapeutic benefits. From treatment-resistant depression to PTSD to chronic pain, people are waking up to what these plants and compounds can do.

But while the science is catching up and states like Oregon, Colorado, and even Texas begin to shift policy, federal law still classifies most of these as Schedule I substances. That means "no accepted medical use."

Tell that to the combat veteran who finally sleeps at night thanks to psilocybin. Tell that to the cancer patient who can eat again because of THC. Tell that to the trauma survivor who reclaimed their life with ayahuasca. Tell that to someone like me, choosing ibogaine over invasive surgery.

Let’s Talk Honestly About the System

Some people won't like what I'm about to say—and that’s okay. I’m not here to make anyone comfortable. I’m here to tell the truth.

The system we live in doesn’t actually want to cure anything. That’s not how it’s designed. There’s no profit in curing disease. The promise of a cure? That keeps us compliant. It keeps us hopeful. It keeps us coming back.

They string us along with new drugs, new trials, new promises—but the results never change. Meanwhile, people are stuck in a loop: one drug to treat the side effects of another drug, to treat the side effects of the first drug, and so on.

And when someone like me wants to try a natural alternative? Suddenly I’m the dangerous one. I’m the radical. I’m the one being reckless.

All because I choose to put my faith in the earth over the lab. All because I choose to step outside the lines drawn by a system that profits more when I’m sick than when I’m well.

Let’s be real: ibogaine isn’t easy. It can be physically and emotionally intense—unpleasant in some ways. But so are the side effects of long-term medications. So is undergoing brain surgery that might—or might not—actually help.

But I didn’t come this far to stay silent. I have three daughters. I have a wife who believes in me. I have a life worth living. And I refuse to sit quietly while people are being gaslit into lifelong dependency in the name of healthcare.

This isn’t about rebellion. It’s about responsibility. This isn’t about conspiracy. It’s about common sense. This is about reclaiming our right to heal.

The Real Reason It’s Illegal

They say we need more research. But you can’t get research when the thing you want to study is criminalized.

That’s the trap. That’s the system. And it keeps people sick.

Because healing doesn’t make money unless it fits in a bottle. And these plants don’t fit. They can’t be patented. They don’t require lifetime subscriptions.

So they get buried. Shamed. Outlawed.

What We’re Really Fighting For

We’re fighting for a future where people don’t have to choose between staying sick and breaking the law.

We’re fighting for education, access, and policy change.

We’re fighting for dignity.

At The Parkinson’s Project Foundation, we believe in personal choice, informed consent, and compassion in care. We are not anti-medicine. We are pro-options.

Let us decide what healing looks like. Let us walk with faith and take the risks we believe in. Let us speak openly, without fear.

What You Can Do

• Learn the laws in your state.

• Share your story, or support someone else's.

• Join us in demanding compassionate access to these therapies.

• Push for legal and medical reform.

Healing should not be a crime. And no one should have to cross a border or suffer in silence to feel whole again.

This is the movement. Welcome to it.