On September 16th, 2025, Ameen Alai, an innocent father who was a mere witness to a crime, was wrongfully sentenced to 48 months in federal prison. Alai was officially charged with a single count of felony drug distribution, though he had not actually distributed an illegal substance at all.
Upon the ruling that day, Alai became the first person in the history of the United States to be charged for a crime related to the drug ibogaine. Ibogaine is a powerful, natural substance that has been promoted by individuals in the health and supplement business, such as Alai’s old roommate Jim Tamagini, for battling addiction.
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive alkaloid derived from the root bark of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. In people with opioid dependence, a single dose (typically 10–20 mg/kg orally in supervised settings) often leads to a dramatic attenuation of withdrawal symptoms within hours to days. Studies have found that 80% or more of participants experience elimination or drastic reduction in physical withdrawal signs, such as nausea, aches, restlessness, and anxiety. This contrasts sharply with traditional detox methods, where symptoms can linger for weeks.
This is where the problems start for Big Pharma and healthcare companies, which make an estimated $78.5 billion a year treating those affected by addiction with chemical remedies less effective and more harmful than ibogaine. Ibogaine, in short, competes with Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin.
Though it has never been deemed the sole cause of death in any individual, drug companies in the United States have successfully bribed government officials into classifying ibogaine as a Schedule 1 illegal substance, which paved the way for Alai’s sentencing.
Ameen Alai was wrongfully arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for being present for the administering of a substance, Ibogaine, which was used by some of the most prominent athletes in the world, including UFC star Connor McGregor, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, MMA/UFC fighter Keith Jardine, and others.
Alai’s arrest and conviction may speak more to the silent war being waged against Ibogaine than it does with the man or his supposed crimes.
Recounting The Events That Led To Alai’s Wrongful Arrest
In March of 2021, Alai had become roommates with Colorado business owner Jim Tamagini. Tamigini owns and operates a business called TheRedPillReset.
Tamagini’s business is based around helping clients improve their health by selling and administering a substance to its clients called ibogaine. This substance is used as part of a health regimen Tamagini claims will help clients “gain their freedom back” and “experience life at a whole new level” by defeating drug addiction and treating depression. Ibogaine is currently legal in the State of Colorado, and many tout the all-natural supplement as a safer alternative to prescription drugs like Xanax and Prozac.
Statements promoting ibogaine can be found on Tamagini’s company website, along with information about ibogaine. This website and business is still active today.
TheRedPillReset.com
Tamagini himself claims that ibogaine assisted him in kicking an opioid addiction. See video of Tamagini making statements about ibogaine’s role in helping him defeat opioid addiction below,
As Tamagini’s roommate, Alai was present in March 2021 when Tamagini administered a dose of ibogaine to a client named Andy Haman, who had signed up for Tamagini’s ibogaine protocol. After Tagamini administered ibogaine to Andy Haman – the man began having convulsions. Law enforcement officials and paramedics were called to the scene, and the patient was declared dead shortly after.
Alai is somewhat of a legend in bodybuilding circles—known for his training and nutrition programs for hundreds of professional and nonprofessional bodybuilders.
Alai’s trial in federal court was a travesty:
- Prosecutors could never prove Alai possessed, sold, or administered the drug Ibogaine to Andy Haman.
- The ibogaine sample the feds sent to a lab expired, and therefore, the finding would not be legally admissible. In fact, the State of Colorado never conducted a valid drug test.
- Multiple medical experts testified that it is literally impossible to overdose on ibogaine, as it is not toxic in high levels. There is no recorded death from ibogaine poisoning anywhere in U.S. history.
- The State of Colorado resisted turning over autopsy records to Alai’s defense attorneys, and when they did, the records showed that Andy Haman had actually died of a pulmonary embolism.
- Jim Tamagini, who was most definitely there the day Andy Haman died, became a ghost in this case, with discovery proving that the government never contacted or even questioned him.
- U.S. District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney actually said at Alai’s harsh sentencing that “ibogaine is more dangerous than fentanyl,” which is most certainly not true.
A fundraiser posted by the family of Tagamini’s client, Andy Haman, confirms that Haman died of a pulmonary embolism due to an elbow surgery that he had three days prior to receiving the ibogaine treatment from Jim Tamagini.
The State’s initial toxicology report showed no traces of ibogaine in Haman’s blood. In fact, Alai recently learned that the State never conducted a test that would have traced ibogaine in Haman’s blood.
See a report on that below,
Ameen Alai told Slingshot News that he did not sell or administer ibogaine the day that Andy Haman died. The RedPillReset business owner Jim Tamagini sold and administered ibogaine to Andy Haman that fateful day. Alai also showed Slingshot News results of a polygraph test administered to Alai, although not admissible in court, that showed Alai was telling the truth when asked about the administering ibogaine on the day Andy Haman died.
Prominent Uses of Ibogaine In Celebrity Athletes Such As Connor McGregor
In November of 2025, UFC star Connor Mcgregor took to his X account to describe his first experience using ibogaine to treat symptoms of addiction. He introduced the treatment and recommended a related Netflix documentary:
“I travelled to Tijuana Mexico and underwent Ibogaine treatment at AMBIO. Watch the
@netflix documentary just released titled “In Waves and War” as it is the exact place I went. It was incredible, intense, and absolutely eye opening. I was shown what would have been my death. How soon it was to be, and how it would have impacted my children. I was looking down on myself as it happened, and then I was looking out from the coffin.”
McGregor then recounted the amazing experience he had while using ibogaine, writing,
“I was saved! My brain. My heart. My soul. Healed! I was 36hours under before I finally rested. When I awoke I was me again. … I am my child again. But this time with the knowledge of my adult! The most enlightening and enchanting experience I have ever undertaken. This treatment is worth its weight in GOLD! It is very, very tough, but it absolutely saved my life, and in turn saved my family.”
Keep in mind, McGregor was speaking about the exact substance that Ameen Alai was sentenced to four years in prison.
McGregor isn’t the only celebrity to have used ibogaine and to publicly speak about it, or to voice support for the legalization of the substance.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Vows To Legalize Ibogaine On The 2024 Campaign Trail
During his 2024 campaign for President, current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a tweet in which he vowed to decriminalize and legalize ‘all psychedelic medicines’ if elected, specifically mentioning ibogaine for its positive effects. See that tweet below,
Kennedy vowed to use his position as HHS Secretary to decriminalize psychedelic treatments for addiction and other mental health issues, though movement on this particular issue has slowed in recent months.
While testifying before Congress just months ago, Kennedy vowed to decriminalize psychedelic mental health treatments within the next “12 months.”
In addition to Kennedy and McGregor, several other large celebrities have publicly spoken about their usage of ibogaine to treat ailments from addictions to CTE-related sports trauma injuries to the head.
World-Class Athletes Brett Favre, Keith Jardine, and The Wolf Of Wall Street All Approve Of Ibogaine
Brett Favre, the Super Bowl champion quarterback who briefly retired as the NFL leader in passing touchdowns in 2008, publicly spoke about his experience using ibogaine to treat trauma-related head injuries he suffered during his playing career.
Former UFC/MMA fighter Keith Jardine publicly spoke about his experience with ibogaine, saying during a recent podcast appearance, “ I did ibogaine and it changed my life… It kicks your ass. I was on the floor for about 20 hours, heaving… There’s scientific studies behind this chemical that really does work and really does rewire your brain.”
In addition to Jardine and Favre, one of the most prolific drug users of all time, Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort, has also spoken publicly about using ibogaine to get off of the drugs he was depicted using during the hit 2013 movie by Martin Scorsese The Wolf of Wall Street based on his life.
In a 2023 New York Post interview Belfort said that ibogaine was like a ‘magic bullet’ that ‘cured’ his opioid/Suboxone dependence.
Ibogaine isn’t a substance abused by people who become addicted to it, in fact, there isn’t one documented case of anybody becoming addicted to ibogaine in human history. It’s a substance that is almost exclusively used to improve the human condition, especially for those who have succumbed to addiction.
So, why—three years after the death of Andy Haman, and with no member of his family claiming that he died from an overdose of ibogaine—has the Justice Department ignored all the facts in this case in order to convict a single father who is the sole support for his young son, the boy’s mother having abandoned him when the bodybuilding trainer was falsely charged? Ameen Alai was prosecuted as his older son was dying of cancer. Why did “the system” decide to destroy this man’s life?
Could it be because the State of Colorado, one of the few states in the country where ibogaine is legal, had a Big Pharma-funded question on the ballot that would have made it illegal in the Centennial State?Was Ameen Alai set up by Big Pharma as the poster child for the evils of a natural substance which has helped heal millions of people, but whose very existence would cut deeply in the profits of the Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex?
What does that mean for Ameen Alai? Unfortunately, we don’t know yet. For now, it appears that an innocent man has taken the fall for the benefit of drug companies and their monopoly on ineffective and potentially dangerous addiction treatments.
President Donald Trump has used his pardon power in many controversial cases. Perhaps his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will tell the President the truth about ibogaine and urge him to pardon Ameen Alai.
