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Sunday 11 and Monday 12 May 2008 – DAY ONE/TWO –
Daily Update
– 7
The end of addiction?
Illegal in much of the west, ibogaine is a controversial drug which evidence –
albeit much of it anecdotal – suggests has an extraordinary capacity to interrupt
the craving for opiates and other substances. In advance of tonight’s
User’s choice:
ibogaine
session,
The Daily Update
speaks to a man who has spent decades trying
to convince the world of its treatment potential.
IBOGAINE IS STEEPED IN CONTROVERSY.
Derived from the
root bark of the west African iboga plant, it is used in shamanic
religious rituals in countries like Gabon and Cameroon, and a quick
trawl of the internet will find many westerners, drawn by the
substance’s hallucinogenic and mystical properties, sharing their
experiences of travelling there to take part. What it will also reveal,
however, are several – very convincing – first person accounts of its
properties as almost a ‘one shot’ cure for addictive cravings,
whether for heroin, cocaine or alcohol.
New York-based Howard Lotsof is president of the Dora Weiner
Foundation, which is dedicated to the promotion of ibogaine as a
means of bringing a non-stigmatising ‘humane therapy’ to the
treatment of addiction – their website even features a patients’ bill
of rights. He first took ibogaine in the 1960s, without knowing what
to expect, and was astounded by the effect.
‘There was a lot of drug experimentation going on back then,’
he says. ‘A few of us had formed what was almost a focus group
to look into a wide variety of drug experiences, because we
anticipated that – through drugs like LSD and mescaline – a
beneficial societal effect would take place. So we were investigating
every possible drug you could look at and ibogaine came into that.
But the effects were completely unexpected and dramatic.’
He has taken ibogaine eight times over a 40-year period and
has described its effects as like ‘a laser guided smart missile for
trauma’. Those using it for treatment purposes report not only a
remarkable cessation of addictive cravings, but also an
extraordinary clarity of vision, insight and understanding of the
underlying reason for their addiction.
So is its treatment value primarily psychological or physiological,
or is it hard to separate the two? ‘It’s impossible to separate,’ he
says. ‘What’s interesting is that the science has been directed
towards the physiological mechanisms, and ibogaine has become
a tool for studying the science of addiction. But psychologically it
seems to have the ability to self-direct the subject to areas that
need attention and questions that need answers. The thing is, we
all know our questions and we all know our answers. Ibogaine
somehow allows that activity to take place.’
Ibogaine’s legal status in the UK and elsewhere is as an
unlicensed, experimental medication, and while possession may
not be illegal, distributing it could lead to prosecution. Possession,
however, is illegal in the US and parts of Europe including Belgium,
Switzerland and Denmark. But how much could its lack of uptake
as a treatment tool be put down to reluctance on the part of drug
companies – who make substantial profits from opioid replacement
and other drugs – to invest in research into something that, if the
anecdotal evidence is to be believed, would have a dramatic effect
on the treatment sector? ‘It’s not necessarily a matter of
resistance,’ he says. ‘It’s just not the format of a drug they’d want
to develop. The principal concept behind the pharmaceutical
industry is to turn a profit for their shareholders and ibogaine just
doesn’t fit that definition.
‘You’re looking at something that’s principally a single
administration drug and a molecule that’s found in nature, that
cannot be owned. The pharmaceutical companies will generally
develop drugs in areas they’re familiar with – this would be an
orphan drug.’
Critics of ibogaine’s treatment potential, however, point to the
lack of hard evidence and even reported deaths from its use,
although proponents of the drug say either continued opioid use or
a pre-existing medical condition – rather than ibogaine itself – was
the cause in each case.
Howard Lotsof was actively involved in lobbying the US
government for a change in legalisation until around 1995, but says
the work of the foundation now is primarily to make information
available and consult with those in the US and elsewhere interested
in developing ibogaine.
Given that the drug is clearly extremely powerful, how safe is its
use in this unregulated underground treatment system? ‘People are
taking it under either medical or user self help group supervision,’
he says. ‘Ibogaine is packaged as a therapy – it has little or no
abuse potential. There’s heroin everywhere, but try to find
ibogaine.’
For or against ibogaine? Join the debate at the Six
O’Clock Show tonight, in Room 5.
Derived from the root bark of the west African iboga plant, ibogaine is used
in shamanic religious rituals in countries like Gabon and Cameroon