Posted on by qscrisp

Ibogaine

I have just watched a documentary film titled, Ibogaine – Rite of Passage.

There are many things in this world that give me occasion to think that the values of human beings, at least in what is generally referred to as 'civilisation', are topsy turvy. Or, to use a word with a little more gravitas, they are inverted. They are upside-down.

Watching the abovementioned film reminded me of this once more.

I had heard of the drug ibogaine before. It was represented to me as a hallucinogenic derived from the root of a plant in Africa, which, when ingested, induces a three-day trip that effectively cures drug addiction. I was, naturally, interested. Wouldn't you be? I found when I watched the film that the information I had received was accurate (as, after all, I had expected).

Not everyone is interested in ibogaine, however. For instance, those who you might expect to be most interested – to wit, the pharmaceutical companies – are not. Why? According to Howard Lotsof, former heroin addict, who broke his habit using ibogaine and is now president of NDA International, the pharmaceutical companies that he tried to interest in ibogaine all gave the same reasons for not wanting anything to do with the drug:

1) As pharmaceutical companies their job was not to do whatever was most beneficial to public health, but what was most likely to produce a profit for their shareholders.

2) The mortality rate amongst drug-addicts is very high, and they did not wish to be associated with any section of society where the chances of liability for such things were increased.

3) Drug addiction itself has a social stigma with which they did not wish to be associated with in any way, even if their association was through helping to cure addiction.

It has also been suggested that other reasons the companies are not interested in ibogaine is precisely because it does cure addiction. That is, it is a one-time cure. It is not like methodone treatment, which swaps one drug with another. In other words, if the addict is not coming back for more, where can the companies make their profits? If we follow this line of enquiry it doesn't take us long to begin to see the pharmaceutical companies basically as legal drug barons. Certainly their stated aims (see #1 above) would seem to support such a view.

Personally, my impression is that ibogaine is suppressed (it is actually illegal in the USA) because it cures addiction. Addiction in one form or another is precisely what the governments of our civilised nations require of us. How could they have a drug war without addiction? How could they get their votes without a drug war?

Anyway, I am posting this merely because I wish to increase the circulation of such information.

I would recommend watching the film. Apart from anything else, it is beautifully shot, and, although it does not go into great detail about the visionary and psychological nature of the cure, there is enough here to hint at something of relevance to the whole human race beyond the limited world of literal drug-addiction.

If you or someone you know would like to try the ibogaine cure, unfortunately, so far it is only available in certain countries. These are, as mentioned in the film, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands. In terms of city, that is Vancouver, Rosarito (I think) and Amsterdam.

A final note: I have been using the word 'cure' here, but as one or two people in the film cautioned, ibogaine is, more accurately, an addiction-interrupter. It will relieve the patient of the physical and mental symptoms of addiction, but thereafter the subject must also change his or her habits in such a way that he or she does not return to the addiction. This might involve, for instance, ending associations with people who have previously fed and encouraged the addiction.

14 Replies to “Ibogaine”

  2. I’d like to try it, anyway. The film didn’t go deeply into this, but I think that there are other therapeutic effects beside those related to addiction. That is, to physical drug addiction. But I think most of us are addicted to something, even if it’s only in the form of a kind of psychological loop that we find it hard to step outside.

  4. I never heard of that drug before. If it is available here in Canada then I don’t know why they don’t use it in the poorest neighbourhood in North America, the downtown Vancouver Eastside, where there are people shooting up, right there on the streets as you drive by. But then again, if they did cure these people of their addictions, what would they then do with them? Help them find homes, meaningful work, some therapy for their many problems other than addictions? All I hear everyday is how complicated the problems are, but is anyone willing to take one step to help these people? Oh, sorry, ranting on someone else’s blog. :whistle:

  6. Hello Sandy.I think it’s true that in the worst cases, such as you describe, a cure for the addiction itself is not enough. I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to such problems, though. I spoke to someone who counselled people who were generally petty criminals of one sort or another, and he said that their violence, their psychological ‘problems’ actually make a lot of sense in the environment in which they live. Their negative attitudes help them survive there. If you take away those tools with counselling, what do they have left? In other words, how would you, the liberal, reasonable counsellor, survive in their world, without the tools they have developed? Perhaps there’s a similar thing here. “In Testimony Concerning a Sickness Burroughs proposes apomorphine as a miracle cure for heroin addiction.”Yes, I’ve read that, and was also interested in apomorphine, but curiously have never heard anything about it outside of Burroughs’ testimony. Perhaps I haven’t looked hard enough.

  7. Anonymous writes:I was a heroin addict for ten years. I had heard the word ‘ibogaine’ once and then lookied into it. For a long time I wanted to try this as a cure for my addiction, but as a drug user, obviously did not have enough money to go to one of the few clinics to do the detox. Many years later, last june and again in july, I did ibogaine. A friend lent me the money and sat me through it. Not only did I have no withdrawals, but I felt strong enough to actually be ‘comfortable’ without it. I had always convinced myself that I could not ever feel relaxed without it…even if i had other opiates in my system to replace heroin. IBOGAINE IS A WAY OUT!!!! Not only that but it is a truly enlightening experience. For the first time in many years things are looking up for me and I am now sitting other people through ibogaine detox. C

  8. Hello C.Thank you very much for sharing that. It’s great to hear an account corroborating what I’ve heard. Best luck for everything.

  9. :left: translating anonymous for Quentin. I am from Brazil, My interest is to leave cocaine. I see an option with ibogaine, here we don’t have it. My suffering, of my wife and my 2 year old daughter would disappear. Please help me. I have difficulties. My e-mail.:left: :eyes:

  10. Anonymous writes:

    SOU DO BRASILMEU INTERESSE É SAIR DA COCAÍNAVEJO UMA OPÇÃO NA IBOGAÍNAAQUI NÃO TEMOSMEU SOFRIMENTO, DE MINHA ESPOSA E FILHA DE 2 ANOS DESAPARECERÁME AJUDEM POR FAVOR. TENHO DIFICULDADES.MEU EMAIL É [email protected]

  12. Anonymous writes:

    Hi Quentin,I want to share two interesting interviews about this miracle plant…Rocky Caravelli is the primary facilitator and founder of Awakening in the Dream house, an innovative treatment and rehabilitation center near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, that uses ibogaine, an entheogenic alkaloid of the iboga plant. He worked at the Ibogaine Association for 1 year and has run the Dream House for 2 1/2 years. He also spent 2 years providing treatments in the underground US community.http://www.futureprimitive.org/interviews/112Moughenda Mikala is a tenth generation nganga of the Missoko Bwiti sect from southern Gabon. At the Awakening in the Dream house in Mexico, Moughenda offers Bwiti iboga root healing and initiation. Bwiti, originating among the forest Pygmies, is a traditional African spiritual practice whose essence is ancestor worship and direct connection to God. The initiations relate to the five aspects of Missoko Bwiti: Ngonde (bwiti of visions and diagnostics), Mioba (bwiti of healing with plants and herbs), Bosuka (bwiti of knowledge of creation), Mabundi (bwiti of women), and Senguedia (bwiti of protection).http://www.futureprimitive.org/interviews/131warm regardsJL

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