Ibogaine
Ibogaine is a medication derived from a West African shrub. Ingesting a large enough dose induces a temporary psychedelic experience that can last several hours, normally with no significant side effects. For hundreds of years, indigenous African peoples, such as those practicing the Bwiti tradition, have ingested large doses of Ibogaine in its raw root bark form for its spiritual and healing properties.
Over the past thirty years, Ibogaine has been administered in various clinics around the world for medical treatment purposes, most often to treat drug dependence, including the use of ibogaine for alcoholism and ibogaine for opiate addiction. This is because (as described more fully in this paper):
IBOGAINE REDUCES DRUG WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS. IBOGAINE HAS BEEN SHOWN TO SIGNIFICANTLY AMELIORATE THE SHORT-TERM WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH TREATING OPIOID DEPENDENCE, AS WELL AS THE LONGER-TERM CLUSTER OF SYMPTOMS KNOWN AS POST-ACUTE OPIOID WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME (PAWS)
IBOGAINE HELPS BREAK ADDICTION. IT HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE OF VALUE AS AN ADDICTION INTERRUPTER ACROSS A BROAD SPECTRUM OF CHEMICAL AND BEHAVIORAL DEPENDENCIES, SUCH AS OPIOID ADDICTION, COCAINE ADDICTION, ALCOHOLISM, AND STIMULANT ABUSE. AND THERE IS EVIDENCE NOT JUST THAT PEOPLE TREATED WITH IBOGAINE STOP USING THE SUBSTANCE THEY ARE ADDICTED TO, OR SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THEIR USAGE — BUT THAT THIS POSITIVE OUTCOME PERSISTS OVER TIME
IBOGAINE CAN BENEFIT PEOPLE WITH OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC CONDITIONS.IT HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BENEFIT CERTAIN CLIENTS WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY, MAJOR DEPRESSION, AND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
WHEN ADMINISTERED IN A MEDICAL SETTING ACCORDING TO CLINICAL GUIDELINES, IBOGAINE IS SAFE. THE TYPICAL SIDE EFFECTS OF IBOGAINE ARE MILD, AND DISAPPEAR WHEN TREATMENT IS CONCLUDED. THERE ARE NO RECORDED CASES OF DEATH OR SERIOUS IRREVERSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS RESULTING FROM CLINICAL TREATMENT WITH IBOGAINE UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION; AND THE POSSIBLE SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS, WHICH ARE RARE, ARE SCIENTIFICALLY UNDERSTOOD AND CAN BE MANAGED AND REVERSED
IBOGAINE ITSELF IS NOT ADDICTIVE. PRECLINICAL STUDIES VALIDATE THE EXTENSIVE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE OF PATIENTS: PEOPLE WHO USE IBOGAINE DO NOT BECOME DEPENDENT ON IBOGAINE, SO IT CAN BE USED FOR ONE-TIME OR SHORT-TERM TREATMENT WITHOUT COMPLICATING THE PATIENT’S SUBSTANCE DEPENDENCE PROFILE