Ibogaine: A Drug Used For Withdraw of Drug Addition

Introduction

Fifteen years ago, we discovered an ancient natural tribal remedy in the Tabernanthe Iboga shrub native to Gabon and other nations in West Central Africa. This substance is called Ibogaine and it has long been used in shamanic rituals of initiation and spiritual quests.

In more recent times it has been discovered that Ibogaine has the property of interrupting substance addiction. With the help of this natural extract, addicts can experience symptom-free withdrawal (Henri and Benjamin, pp. 89-99), a true full physiological release from chemical dependency. With a very specific type of counseling following ibogaine treatment, they are able to focus on underlying causes to heal the psychological aspects of addiction as well.

Ibogaine: A Drug Used For Withdraw of Drug Addition

Wild claims have been made about ibogaine, an hallucinogenic substance derived from a shrub, Tabernanthe iboga, found in the Congo and Gabon. In West Africa, where it's reputed to permit ritual communication with dead ancestors, it has been called the strongest single force against the spread of Christianity and Islam. Most sweeping of all is the claim that one or two doses of ibogaine can break a person's addiction to heroin, morphine, cocaine, and amphetamine, as well as other addictive substances (Henri and Benjamin, pp. 89-99).

Howard Lotsof, president of the Staten Island-based NDA International, is responsible for this pronouncement as well as for bringing the substance to the attention of Western medicine. Lotsof, a former heroin addict, took ibogaine in 1962, looking for a new way to get high. After his 36-hour trip, he no longer craved heroin. Nor did he experience any withdrawal symptoms. He then shared the drug with six other addicts, five of whom lost their desire for heroin (Henri and Benjamin, pp. 89-99).

Lotsof secured patents on the use of ibogaine for treating drug and alcohol addiction. Although about 40 addicts have been treated in the Netherlands since 1990, ibogaine has not been approved for use in this country (Dan, pp. 67-78). Nevertheless, Lotsof managed to persuade several researchers to investigate its potential.

Among those is Stanley Glick, chairman of the Pharmacology and Toxicology Department at Albany Medical College, whom Lotsof met in 1988. "I thought he was a crackpot," Glick admits, "but decided it was worth a few rats to look into his claims" (Dan, pp. 67-78). Glick found that after an ibogaine injection, rats with free access to morphine reduced their narcotic intake. In other studies, ibogaine alleviated withdrawal symptoms of rats hooked on morphine. Glick saw that pretreatment with ibogaine curbed the rise in dopamine concentrations seen in rats given the opiate.

The neurotransmitter dopamine is thought to play a central role in addiction. Many abused substances trigger dopamine's release at various sites in the brain, including the nucleus accumbens, the so-called "reward center." It is here, scientists think, where dopamine elicits the euphoric feeling that drives people and animals to excess. Enhanced levels of dopamine were not seen, however, in the nucleus accumbens of lab rats given an ibogaine ...