Howard Lotsof's College Ibogaine Lecture - Part 1/3

Howard Lotsof gave a lecture in an auditorium at the CUNY College of Staten Island on Ibogaine.

The event was hosted by English professor Michael Christian who assembled a group of over 100 eager college students from his classes along with some from a psychology class at CSI. The students listened attentively, hanging in silence to every word Howard uttered. It was the first time I'd seen so many college 20-somethings hear Howard talk -- far from the stuffy, uptight, high-brow academic bourgeoisie at the scientific conferences I'd attended in the past where Howard was invited to present. Instead of sneering skepticism bordering on derision, these young people were transfixed by Howard's first hand account; indeed, anyone would be who actually listen.

Howard was animated and excited. I'd heard every recollection many times before; the difference here was Howard's obvious enthusiasm and zeal. Like a man spinning a yarn to sailors trapped in the bowels of a container freighter pitching and yawing in a raging storm in the Atlantic, Howard took command of his crew and captivated these young impressionable minds. They greeted him warmly and applauded in a hearty lion roar at the end.

At the conclusion Howard stood up, clapping with the audience, smiling ear to ear, like the 6 foot thin as a toothpick leprechaun he is. He grasped victory in his palm and almost made a "V" with one hand and a thumbs up with the other. He sensed his words would spread virally from these minds. He had done his job admirably and once again planted the seeds that would sprout new roots for generations to come.

Michael originally contacted me to give a talk to his students in the classroom because he came across this blog and believed I was some kind of authority on the subject of ibogaine. I immediately emailed him back and urged him to contact Howard directly. I explained, "Why invite a sailor who sailed the Santa Maria as a bottle washer when you could get Christopher Columbus himself?" Michael did not disagree. A few weeks later, the stage was set for Howard's dashing entrance. The Staten Island press corp was present, along with a video crew. This was going to be seen beyond these hallowed halls. My videotaping this event would ensure thousands more would be invited to the celebration.

It is heartwarming for me to see my good friend basking in the warmth and adulation of these young minds. I will always remember this day and will tell my grandchildren about it someday, and they theirs.

Hell, they can even watch the video below and witness it themselves. The heck with me! Who do I think I am, anyways (a mole on the butt of a beluga circling Antarctica is who!)?

Click here for Michael's Christian's original press release.

Click here for the post-lecture press release and an early video interview with Howard.

First Hand Ibogaine Experience

From the southern tip of Africa, hailing from Capetown (where it is now summer!), blogger Simon Loxton has written 2 new recent articles including one that details his latest experience taking ibogaine in a suppository with his clinical psychologist wife as observer.

Simon's blog is called "Iboga Association of Cape Town" and he continues to be one of the best and most prolific writers on this most arcane and controversial subject.

Simon includes a revealing observation at the end of the article:
"I learned the inclinations of my own soul."

Well put, Simon, and quite a wonderful revelation.

As I wish, always, to get to the root of a matter and share the gold nuggets of news I come across with my visitors (I scan the ibogaine webosphere daily for these), Simon makes a checklist of his most important ibogaine learnings that are quite lucid and from the heart true:

"I learned many things from this experience.
1.) I learned that I needed to do things, not to just think about doing them. I seem to have come from a place where it is easy to manifest things just by thinking about them. The process of developing things is abit more difficult for me, but it is something upon which I should focus.
2.) I learned again not to lie. Never misrepresent the truth, not even in jest. It confuses the thoughtfields, making our understanding of reality that much less clear, serving no one.
3.) I learned of the effect of self-criticism, and the importance of staying positive.
4.) I learned that I need to be easier with myself, more self-forgiving.
5.) I was again impressed with the importance of self-discipline, self-responsibility, self-reliability.
6.) I learned that I truly love my wife."

I guess if you could grind these learnings up in a mortar and pestle you'd be left with one flavor and color: self-realization.

Simon has written a very detailed and candid account of the entire process of obtaining the raw ingredient, preparing it, mixing cleansing drinks, and readying his environment for the trip.

As the effect finally came on, he writes:
"The nearest feeling I had previously experienced in college was not with LSD, sacred Peyote, or shrooms, but with a really good sativa high, only about a thousand times stronger and more clear. There was zero diminution in my cognitive faculties, and I was insightful, although I did have a hard time articulating at times."

Interestingly, taking the ibogaine as a suppository limited the most difficult aspect of the experience: nausea and vomiting. In Simon's case (Simon: correct me if I'm wrong), the effect came on with minimal side effects. He even took Dramamine as an anti-emetic.

As many others have related, Michael had a spirit encounter:
"As I went deeper into myself I found myself in another completely different realm. I lost the use of my five senses, and felt the need to somehow orient myself spatially. Through me, a disembodied voice uttered “Use your sense of imagination to see”."

Without giving too much away (it would take much too long, anyway), Simon takes a trip to what he perceives as heaven, passing by the gate. He was told if he went through it, he would never return to his body.

Especially detailed is Simon's post-peak experience with trippy vertigo and much reflection and observation of his surroundings and sense objects.

This is one of the best posts I've read on the subject. I came away with whole new understanding and perpective, having never experienced this chemical first hand.

I urge you to read the full post by clicking here.

Happy Holidays to all!

Nature's Cure: Know Thyself?

On November 6, 2008 a citizen journalist, Sheryl Walters, posted an observant and passionate article about how iboga, the west African shrub whose root contains the indole alkaloid ibogaine hydrochloride, is a holistic, all-natural treatment for drug addiction. She uses the word cure, but I would not make that claim based on my own personal knowledge of addicts who relapse and need further treatment. It is uncanny, however, how a single dose of ibogaine in a pill form can interrupt the cravings for drugs for a period from a few days to a few years, with most relapsing in a few months (3-6, on average).

Howard Lotsof, social workers Rommell Washington and Barbara Judd, and Ken Alper, MD, have observed that relapse is dependent on whether the addict returns to their former addict environment or moves away to start anew.

As Ms. Walters writes:
"Ibogaine is a psychedelic, dream creating drug. The person taking Ibogaine lies down and experiences incredible visions that are relevant to their life. It seems to go straight into the unconscious mind, bringing incredible insights into one’s nature. Every person’s experience is totally different. For some it is as if they are watching a movie of their life, for others it is as if they are being reorganized like a filing cabinet, and for others, the visions may have no recognisable meaning at the time it is being taken."

In discussing the psychotherapeutic aspects of the ibogaine experience, she notes:
"In fact, Ibogaine is not only being used for drug addicts, but also for people who want to sort out a whole range of issues that burden them."

And so I hear, many non-addicts are undergoing ibogaine treatment to help them understand themselves, their own personalities, and to unravel the roots of their present day behaviors.

I'd read quite a few posts from these people, non-addicts on a journey of self awareness. As Ms. Judd wryly observed in the ENDABUSE REPORT VIDEO posted on this blog, years of psychotherapy can occur internally within a couple of days. If you were self aware and wanted to figure out why you are so unhappy, neurotic, with tendencies for anti-social or self-inflicted wounds, I would think that ibogaine may be an efficacious and expedient way to cut through all the bull crap and get yourself right down to the core of your being and the root of your problems in a calm, unemotional, detached re-experiencing of key psyche forming events from your past.

It's not a cheap, easy ride. It can cost from $2K to $20K depending on who, what, where, and when. It isn't covered by Medicare or American health insurance companies. It's a ticket to adventure, external and internal, with the possibility of powerful catharsis and personal epiphany. But don't jump into it. There are risks. And rewards. Be sure to do your homework, dot your "i's" and cross your T's. Take all the required medical tests and make sure you're healthy enough for the ordeal. Get healthy, exercise, eat properly, and be well rested, well read, informed, and hip.

It's worth the trip.

For all of you who wish to indulge in Ms. Walters' excellent article, click here.

Ibogaine Message Board Chatter

From the forum on Opiophile.org are 2-1/2 pages of threads titled "Ibogaine Treatment?" It's an intense ongoing conversation about the facts and myths surrounding this controversial and still little understood addiction treatment modality.

What struck me about the posts is both the fear/misinformation and near evangelistic fervor of opponents and proponents, with comments like:

I'm actually looking forward to spring, albeit still just a tad bit apprehensive

But i have spoken to a very nice fellow here, who went through it with the same doctor that's gonna treat me, and after about 15 years of heroin+methadne use, this guy has been clean for almost a year now since the treatment. Also looks a good few years younger than he did (judging by his pics) before the treatment.
Anyway, that meeting with the aforementioned bloke only reinforced my determination to go through with it.

Versus skepticism like this:

If it's too good to sound true, it usually is. We all wish Underride luck, and can't wait to hear how it goes for him, but the fact remains, that Ibogaine is completely unproven, has no scientific data behind it, and the method and mechanism behind it, why it would help, is completely unexplained. I feel better about him doing it, if there's a licenced doctor behind it, that's for sure...

The scary thing about untrue statements made on the web and elsewhere is that many regard them as true, much as people assume newspapers and magazines to be true and carefully researched. This is so far from the truth, especially regarding the web, which is the wild west of information overload, with crazy untrue rumors that spread like the bubonic plague (take all the websites claiming Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist).

To refute the aforementioned excerpt, there are hundreds of scientific papers that have been published on ibogaine in highly respected scientific journals, both on animal and human clinical experiments. Just look at the list of links on this blog for just a smattering. If I have time I will add to the list; but there are also links to pages with dozens of other scientific papers and research.

Of course, the best, most respected newspapers (like the New York Times) carefully vet their reportage -- a lot better, for example, than McCain's campaign did with Sarah "Troopergate" Palin and the First Dude.

There is also a lot of discussion on this board on why such an important treatment hasn't gotten more scientific acceptance. The back and forth is both frustrating and indicative of a level of ignorance and propaganda that's hard to take or understand.

Despite all my personal biases, forums like this one are healthy outlets for people to communicate with one another, much as this blog is my own attempt to share timely and newsworthy stories about ibogaine. Believe me. I'm not doing this for money or fame. I simply have a concern about getting accurate, helpful information to a very small audience of people.

I do recommend you check out the forum and make your own judgment.

Marc: Ibogaine Treatment-Part 3/3

The third and final video segment shows an ibogaine treatment that took place in a hospital in Panama, with doctor and therapist testimonials. Witness an impressive personal metamorphosis from the throes of cravings to wellness in a few hours.


Thus concludes this groundbreaking ibogaine treatment documentary that demonstrated to the world scientific and addict community that Howard Lotsof's claims were scientifically repeatable and valid. I don't think anyone can watch this series and remain wholly skeptical about the possible efficacy of this chemical intervention.

Since the mid-1990's thousands of addicts have been treated with ibogaine, mostly in non-clinical settings with the aid of another addict who has undergone treatment. This underground network has replaced the government and medical structures needed in an open, tolerant society that understands it is far more humane and compassionate to provide treatment to addicts than to ignore them with the ignorant hope that this problem will simply "go away".

Instead, societies experience acts of crime and flood their criminal justice systems with tens of thousands of convicted felons who would probably be better served with a rapid interruption of their cravings and appropriate therapy and counseling to understand the roots of their negative behaviors, along with job training. I'm certain that the costs balance out against each other, with one approach most likely demonstrating a smaller recidivism.

At one point I charged money for copies of these videos. The sales were always minimal and people like Dana Beale just went ahead and pirated them anyway, running off hundreds of dupes he gave away to anyone who would lend an ear.

Recently, Howard Lotsof asked me to post the videos on the Internet and let people watch them for free. Without hesitation, I agreed. Iboga is a sacred gift to mankind from the jungles of the cradle of civilization in Africa. I have no right to profit from iboga, and realize the audience for this information has a right to see them. Therefore, my company, MEDIA WORKS CORP, brings you all our ibogaine videos to the public, free of charge, as a public service to mankind and the addict community.

EDEN'S GIFT: How a sacred African shrub became mankind's hope to end addiction

In 1962 nineteen year old heroin addict Howard Lotsof ended a 33 hour episode with an exotic psychotropic drug called ibogaine hydrochloride, ordered from a pharmaceutical catalog. The experience was so physically and emotionally exhausting that he swore never to use ibogaine again. After 30 intense hours he was so tired he thought he'd sleep for a week, but 3 hours later awoke completely refreshed. That was the first clue something was amiss.

Howard got dressed and, famished, went downstairs. He flew out the front door and down the red brick steps of his family's working class Bergenfield, New Jersey home. As his feet hit the sidewalk he stopped dead in his tracks. He gazed at an old maple tree on the lawn, leaves rustling in the wind, then looked up at the bright blue sky and puffy cotton ball clouds -- and it suddenly struck him: he wasn't junk sick. His craving for dope had disappeared.

Howard would file this discovery away in the catacombs of his consciousness for the next decade.

I met Howard and his wife Norma Alexander in 1973 as a freshman at New York University's film school. Howard and Norma were the oldest students in our class and at 16, I was the youngest. But my youthful inhibition, some would call it assininity, and their keen intelligence and worldliness were somehow attractors, and we became instant and inseparable friends. A tall bushy-haired anglo of Russian descent, a female African American cheroot-puffing fireplug, and a short, bespeckled Asian American teen cruising the halls of NYU. Very strange indeed.

On a spring afternoon in 1974, Howard calmly related his discovery to me. I was blown away. Never did I doubt the claims of my sincere, soft spoken, gentle mad Russian of a friend. We both knew this was important but neither of us knew how to bring the news to the world. Nonetheless, in 1985 I was the first person to give Howard money to conduct library research on ibogaine. I had a deep heartfelt conviction that this project deserved every possible chance to see the light of day and to help others. I did not consider any return or riches.

Spurred on by the supportive results of his inquiry, Howard formed a corporation, NDA International, as a vehicle to raise more funds. Due to my years as an executive of my family's museum design and production business, I joined NDA's Board of Directors and was made a senior vice president.

Thus began a 15 year roller coaster ride we could not ever have imagined or been prepared for.

This blog is an intimate inside account of the international drama that exploded around ibogaine and Howard Lotsof's controversial and polarizing claims. This true story is at once uplifting, hair-raising, filled with life affirming hope tempered with despair and death, intrigue, dispute, betrayal, redemption, and love - all told by someone who lived through it.

Marc: Ibogaine Treatment - Part 2

This is part 2 of an in-depth, never seen before, insider observation of a patient's in-hospital ibogaine treatment experience. The entire segment takes place in a hospital in Panama. We watch Marc as he undergoes the powerful psychogenic effects of ibogaine and witness his transformation from addiction to wellness first hand. Throughout, he is fully aware of the deep-rooted life episodes he is re-examining as part of a psychological healing taking place under the influence, and he can verbalize (sometimes challenged for words) the connections between past events and the roots of his own addictive behavior and patterns.



Howard and Norma Lotsof and I hoped this would be a breakthrough video for the addict and scientific communities. By recording a patient's progress some weeks before treatment, during the crucial 24-36 hours of actual treatment, and following them on their post treatment psychotherapy and medical follow-up for several weeks, we felt we had demonstrative evidence that the ENDABUSE Treatment was both safe, humane, and efficacious.

Since I had never myself witnessed the entire process, this was a fascinating and eye-opening experience for me. I had never questioned Howard's claims of narcotic withdrawal interruption or the psychological epiphanies patients (including himself) underwent; indeed I had absolute faith in Howard and had heard many people relate their own intimate stories. But I had never seen this first hand myself. The hospital environment was the safest and best way for me to become initiated into the clinical world, and much valuable scientific medical data was simultaneously being recorded and doumented.

Plants as Teachers

The Iboga Association of Capetown, South Africa is a weblog that focuses on the psychotherapeutic use of ibogaine to provide emotional healing. Blogger Simon Loxton is a follower of the Bwiti religion of equatorial Africa (principally Gabon and the Cameroons) as well as a traditional health care practitioner who advocates the use of iboga as both a sacrament and traditional medicine. Iboga is the name of the African plant and its root is the principal source of the powerful psychogenic akaloid ibogaine hydrochloride.

This particular blog entry was written by Sarita who, I assume, is a member of Smon's association. Sarita chronicles various encounters with both the raw botanical and the purified extract and has the worldview that iboga is one of a handful of sacred medicinal plants from the Creator meant as a tool for spiritual enrichment and personal insights.

Sarita does claim to have addictions which may be one of the reasons she sought iboga's anti-addictive properties. Sarita felt addiction "closed my heart chakra" making it impossible to "feel anymore". Iboga is a teacher, and one of the revelations it made was the following:

"One of the teachings which I received through the ibogaine was that there is a certain Order in the Universe, which is Love and it must be respected and understood. We are suppose to be shown and taught this from our Parents but if they do not understand it or live by it then we as children will not understand it…let alone know how to live by it."

Iboga healed Sarita's heart, opening her chakra, allowing a reconnection to others with compassion and openness.

"Now it is as if my whole life has become a teaching and journey and I do not feel the same person. My brain has been reprogrammed and it is as if darkness has been removed from me."

The read Sarita's full account click here.

Marc: Ibogaine Treatment Video - Pt 1/3

This is the first video that shows one patient's complete ibogaine treatment (before, during, and after) with full coverage of their remarkable experience. It is a first-hand glimpse of the powerful ability of ibogaine to interrupt methadone withdrawal symptoms and addictive craving within 24 hours. The treatment took place in a Panamanian hospital under the supervision of medical doctors with the complete cooperation of Panama's government and health system. This is Part 1 of a 3 part series.


After we completed The ENDABUSE Report video, Howard, Norma and I realized we had to take one step further. A video was needed that documented the entire ibogaine experience, not only from the patient's viewpoint, but from medical and social worker perspectives as well. We needed to show the whole process and dramatically demonstrate the patient's odyssey from sickness to wellness.

Howard formed an alliance with Dr. Eduardo Della Sera, an addiction treatment specialist in Panama. Dr. Della Sera was able to obtain the cooperation of the Panamanian government and the medical establishment to allow human clinical studies to be conducted at a hospital in Panama City.

Eventually, several patients would be treated in Central America. We needed one who would consent to be videotaped and who would allow us access for several months. Marc came forward, a young man in his 20s who had a history of heroin addiction and subsequent methadone treatment. He had undergone the ENDABUSE Procedure previously and now needed another treatment as he had relapsed back into addiction.

We filmed Marc in New York, a couple of weeks before he flew to Panama. The video speaks for itself as far as depicting Marc's mental and physical condition at that moment in time. The most important footage is of his actual hospital experience, from his taking the ibogaine capsule to his ongoing description of his hallucinogenic revelations concerning his life in relationship to his addiction.

We followed Marc back to New York and obtained testimony from his psychotherapist about his recovery and his support group interaction. Dr. Della Sera also discusses the interruption of Marc's methadone addiction and observes that ibogaine is a powerful tool in the treatment of drug dependency.

As a filmmaker, the experience of making this video with the Lotsofs was a personal milestone. Every human being longs for some kind of immortality, whether it be through their offspring, their relationships, or their achievements. This project was a vehicle to do something meaningful that would benefit many people, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity.

Meeting God on Ibogaine

When I lived in Los Angeles for a couple of years, my favorite counter-cultural rag was The L.A. Weekly which borrowed the style and format of NY's Village Voice. This rag had the edge of leftist journalism with tons of ads touting the west coast music scene and hip youth-oriented shops, with the obligatory escort services and skin trade crap.

Way back in 2003, The L.A. Weekly published an article by Daniel Pinchbeck, the author of "Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey Into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism". I know this was a while ago, but this was an article with a decidedly spiritual bent that I felt was important to share.

Daniel Pinchbeck reminds me of John C. Lilly, inventor of the isolation tank and author of one of my favorite psychedelic spiritual accounts, "The Center of the Cyclone". Lilly took pharmaceutical grade (99% pure) LSD and went into his tank for hours to have profound metaphysical experiences as a self-proclaimed "psychonaut".

Pinchbeck sought out the ibogaine experience, traveling to Gabon, Africa to participate in the sacred native Bwiti initiation ceremony that uses a huge dose of raw botanical iboga root to induce a psychogenic hallucinatory state.

Pinchbeck writes: "It was one of the most difficult, yet rewarding, experiences of my life. I had heard the substance described as "10 years of psychoanalysis in a single night," but of course, I did not believe it. As the African tribesmen played deafening drums and sang around me until dawn, I lay on the temple's concrete floor and journeyed back through the entire course of my past up to that point, witnessing forgotten scenes from childhood. The experience lasted more than 20 hours. At one point, I was shown my habitual overuse of alcohol and the effect it was having on my relationships, my writing and my psyche. When I returned to the U.S., I steadily reduced my drinking to a fraction of its previous level — an adjustment that seems to be permanent."

Years later, he traveled to Mexico for his second ibogaine experience, but this time something unexpected happened. As described by many others, he had an encounter with "the spirit of Iboga" in the form of a Black man.

"I saw a black man in a 1940s-looking suit. He was holding the hand of a 5-year-old girl and leading her up some stairs. I understood that the girl in the vision was me, and the man represented the spirit of iboga. He was going to show me around his castle."

He asked this man many questions about his life, what he saw during his experience, and the spirit voice resonated in his head with emphatic and succinct statements, like shouted exhortations. He was taken on a spiritual journey and met God or Buddha or Mohammed. The spirit told him he had once taken human form -- "ALREADY DID THAT!"

I want to admit that I have never taken ibogaine. Not that there wasn't an opportunity to do so; there were many. I have never had any addictions nor any destabilizing traumas that inflicted deep psychological wounds needing to be healed. No, I simply befriended Howard and Norma Lotsof at NYU in the 1970s and saw an opportunity to help Howard and, in so doing, help others as well. So, I've set the record straight. I am an observer, not a participant, when it comes to the ibogaine experience. I hope you feel this does not invalidate my wanting to write about and promote the use of a psychedelic substance that has the power to liberate people from themselves, their own inner demons.

I urge you to read Daniel Pinchbeck's article, "Turn On, Meet God, Get Straight". It's one heck of a ride well worth taking.

ENDABUSE Report - Part 6/6

The 6th and final segment of this video series touches upon human clinical trials and closing remarks of the patients and caregivers of those treated with ibogaine in the ENDABUSE Procedure. A doctor emphasizes his view that this is a safe and rapid interruption of withdrawal and chemical dependency that opens a symptom free window of opportunity during which patients need psychological and social support for a long term outcome.



In their closing arguments, a medical doctor posits that the ENDABUSE Procedure is medically safe; it provides a symptom-free window that requires psychological and social support to reinforce a positive outcome for patients.

A patient assures other addicts not to be afraid. The repressed memories that ibogaine releases are often positive ones that are overlooked and forgotten. She says that, within 24 hours, you are out of the slavery of addiction, of constantly hustling for that next high.

Howard Lotsof informs viewers that NDA has made arrangements with medical facilities overseas to provide safe environments for addicts to be treated with the ENDABUSE Procedure.

Later, when that infrastructure was no longer in place, we had no idea that the addicts would take on the treatment of other addicts themselves, risking their lives in people's homes rather than the safety of medical facilities. This was a movement that no one could stop, born out of desperation and the rejection of socially acceptable channels that never materialized.

The ibogaine underground was formed like the American underground railroad in the 1800s that sheparded slaves to freedom, by compassionate individuals who valued human rights above the unjust laws of a society that has marginalized a whole underclass of human beings who deserve, just like you and I, to live free and without being enslaved to the madness of addiction.

Part of the strategy of NDA International in releasing this video was to spur the approval of human clinical trials by the FDA. Phase 1 were the animal studies that showed anti-addiction efficacy in the animal model. Later researcher Mark Molliver would shoot down a mountain of work by demonstrating ibogaine neurotoxicity in primates who were given staggering amounts of the compound. Of course, we countered with the argument that, if you gave enough of any compound (like glucose, for example) to a monkey, they would die of an overdose.

Dana Beal and the YIPPIES went to Washington, along with representatives of Act-Up, social workers and addicts who testified -- no, demanded, that ibogaine clinical trials go forward because people were dying and there was no other hope on the horizon.

Howard and I witnessed this 3 ring circus first hand with ringside seats in hotel conference rooms along the Beltway in Maryland. It was chaotically orchestrated behind the scenes by Dana, Robert Rand, and a handful of other activists who knew how to manipulate the media and the federales. The Village Voice (of course!) and New York Times ran articles, soon followed by the Boston Globe, and the major networks, CNN, and dozens of local news stations ran reports. Across the world headlines poured in from the U.K., the Netherlands, France, Canada. Dozens of international scientists began their own experiments with ibogaine.

Facing unexpected, unwanted, and unsolicited public outcry and mounting media pressure, the FDA eventually approved a human clinical safety trial at the Unversity of Miami. Howard Lotsof had finally triumphed in his Davy and Goliath effort to force the American government to spend public funds to investigate ibogaine.

Victory was indeed sweet. But it was to be short lived and, eventually, a bitter brew.

No one could predict the confluence of circumstances, betrayal, and greed that would topple NDA International and bring its efforts in commercializing ibogaine treatment to a grinding, screeching halt.

The ENDABUSE Report - Part 5

Part 5 of this video series focuses on the post-treatment experiences of patients who underwent the ENDABUSE Procedure with ibogaine. They discuss a window of opportunity from weeks to months where they had no addictive cravings during which they could make needed changes in their lives. Social workers who did pioneering psychotherapy with these patients also reveal their
findings.



In this segment NYC social worker Barbara Judd notes that, using classical psychotherapy, patients would take 2-3 years to achieve the insights and personal epiphanies that a single dose of ibogaine accomplished in 30-48 hours. These patients were not only able to re-experience critical formulative scenes from their past, but they could do so objectively at a distance, without the accompanying emotional trauma, a remarkable achievement unto itself.

Ibogaine patients were uniformly astonished by their lack of craving post treatment. One woman recounts being in the same room with other addicts who were using, shooting up, and snorting and realizing the comic-tragedy of how they fought over a little bit of powder, how something so insignificant could be so important. She gave her heroin away that day and, within 6 months, went back to school to get her life back on track.

Another young man recalls how, after his ibogaine treatment, he lit up a cigarette and was repulsed by the taste, choking on the smoke. Quitting smoking was the last thing on his mind when he undertook the procedure.

All of these patients eventually went back to using drugs. For some it was within weeks, for others, months. As they re-entered their lives and the effect of ibogaine gradually wore off, the daily pressures and their own insecurities re-asserted themselves and they eventually succumbed.

Social worker Rommell Washington explains that relapse is a familiar part of the addiction cycle. Most of these patients were later re-treated with ibogaine. Another woman explains that, with each treatment, her ability to cope and fend off her personal demons grew stronger. It was only a matter of time until she would be psychologically strong enough to live permanently without drugs.

This was another important lesson for Howard Lotsof and NDA International. A regimen of reinforcing psychotherapy, support groups, and retreatment emerged as the correct long term treatment model. What Howard originally believed was a single treatment modality was proving to be a single important tool in the established system of addiction treatment. This new model meant more economic opportunity for NDA: a series of ibogaine treatments over a period of years with accompanying support systems.

The cup was half full, not half empty. There was more work yet to do.

Ibogaine: ENDABUSE Report Video - Part 4

In Part 4 of this video series the addicts continue discussing their vivid and transforming experiences after taking Ibogaine. Their testimony is tangibly honest and real, and the revelations they share are nothing short of astonishing. A medical doctor shares his startling first-hand observations of patients who underwent the controversial ENDABUSE Procedure. Finally, social worker Rommel Washington of Reality House in New York recounts the remarkable changes and progress he saw in his clients after undergoing treatment.




After proving his discovery on ibogaine's addiction interruption properties again and again through addict volunteers who were treated free of charge overseas, Howard Lotsof allied with social workers who worked with these patients. They were able to verify distinctive behavioral shifts in the attitudes of their struggling addict patients, positive changes that made everyone optimistic.

A medical doctor also agreed to observe patients during their ibogaine treatments and provided, for the first time, objective clinical medical data on this test group that would speak to the medical establishment.

With positive animal studies, scientific and medical corroboration, the advocacy of social workers within the drug treatment establishment, and a growing legion of addicts, addict groups, the NY YIPPIES, Harm reduction coalitions, and HIV radicals who clamored quite noisily for treatment, all the ingredients were in place to assault the U.S. government and push for human clinical trials. This is exactly the direction Howard took NDA International in the coming years. Fighting the system. Davy versus Goliath.

The ENDABUSE Report Video is brought to the world free of charge by MEDIA WORKS CORP.

Sit back, enjoy, and please send me your comments. The fight is not yet over.

Hippy Drug Could Cure Alcoholism

Britain's daily tabloid THE SUN published an article today about the University of California at San Francisco's recent animal studies using ibogaine. This hallucinogenic drug taken by "hippies" was found to be surprisingly effective in interrupting the behavior of rats addicted to alcohol.

The Sun mistakenly characterizes ibogaine as becoming "popular in the Sixties because it caused vivid hallucinations" -- which is untrue. The ibogaine experience is extremely long, lasting in most cases over 30 hours, and is so physically taxing and mentally exhausting that nearly every person who's tried it recreationally swear never to do so again. This word-of-mouth has definitely prevented widespread abuse amongst psychedelic thrill seekers.

According to the article, "Experts at the University of California made the discovery by turning mice into alcoholics, making them give up drinking for two weeks, then giving some of them ibogaine. The rodents who took the drug no longer craved booze, while the rest continued to drink alcohol when offered it."

Quite shocking is the statistic that alcoholism accounts for 7% of the deaths of British men aged 15-44. It's easy to understand why the U.K. is pursuing every avenue to combat its massive alcohol problem. Fortunately, ibogaine is not illegal in England, and there is an underground of addicts treating addicts.

Check out the first part of a nationally broadcast BBC documentary that explores British ibogaine treatment called "Detox or Die".



Check out The Sun article, Hippy drug cures drunks.

Ibogaine: ENDABUSE Report Video - Part 3

Part 3 of the ENDABUSE Report deals with addict descriptions of the horrors of heroin cold turkey withdrawal and methadone detox. A medical doctor who evaluated and observed four patients treated with the ENDABUSE Procedure using Ibogaine and addicts explain the medical testing required prior to treatment to screen out those physically unfit.

Howard Lotsof then outlines the phases of experiences people treated with Ibogaine can expect:

1. Visualization Phase: lasting between 3 to 5 hours, this is a period of intense and rapid-fire playback of both symbolic and past experiences that appear on what's often been described as a "movie screen" in the viewer's mind. It sounds similar to Near Death Experiences where people describe their entire life flashing by them in seconds. These past experiences are typically not judged subjectively as either positive or negative but with a remarkable degree of objective and unemotional observation.

2. Cognitive Evaluation Phase: During this phase of self evaluation that lasts 6 to 8 hours, often the key events, relationships, emotions, and motivations that have resulted in someone's addiction are realized quite clearly by the patient, minus their emotional baggage. As a result, conscious decisions are made by the patient that reinforce their behavioral modification in breaking addictive patterns in their lives. As social worker Barbara Judd observed (she appears later in this series and formed a support group with several patients who were treated using the ENDABUSE Procedure), one treatment with Ibogaine seems to accomplish breakthroughs and self-awareness that typically takes years to accomplish using conventional psychotherapy.

3. Residual Stimulation Phase: This phase lasts up to 48 hours and is the most uncomfortable and difficult period patients endure. It follows the intense visual experiences and the decision-making phases. During this phase a patient cannot stand up on their own due to ataxia, they feel exhausted and overwhelmed but cannot rest or fall asleep. Often, patients now realize their cravings have disappeared, they're not "dope sick" -- perhaps for the first time in years. It's usually a very positive and welcome feeling, reinforcing the reason they sought treatment to begin with.

At the end of this phase, patients typically fall alseep for only a few hours and awaken completely refreshed, often hungry after their 30+ hour ordeal. Many who were smokers don't want a cigarette when they finally eat and have a cup of coffee. Most are amazed by their newfound sobriety. Food tastes delicious and the air entering their lungs feels good, they feel whole.

For observers of these patients, they can see a remarkable change in them, like night and day. No wonder so many former addicts want to help others through their Ibogaine treatment. It's an affirmation of life, of light versus dark, of hope versus self-defeat, of one's own glorious potential as a human being on this planet within this universe.

In the final section of Part 3 the addicts present their own experiences during their Ibogaine treatment, affirming Howard's claims and themselves.

Part 4 (coming soon) will have more testimonials. Thank you for staying tuned!

L.A. Times Ibogaine Article

In my quest to bring you the best articles and information on ibogaine, I came across an article from the Los Angeles Times written by Vince Beiser in 2004. I know this isn't exactly timely, but I believe content is king, and there's no doubt Mr. Beiser has composed a well written and researched journalistic piece on ibogaine treatment.

Beiser follows the treatment of Craig (not his real name) from Salt Lake City to San Diego to Tijuana, Mexico to be treated for his $1500 a month addiction to OxyContin and other painkillers.

Yes, there's all that stuff about Howard Lotsof and his discovery in the 1960's, the oft-repeated tale that has now become a full fledged urban legend and made Howard a bonafide folk hero and anti-establishment renegade. He's the poster child celebrity for addiction treatment around the world.

But when you peel away the repetitive addict crusader sub-story, there are actually kernels of information about Drs. Stanley Glick and Deborah Mash's significant efforts to obtain FDA approval for ibogaine analogues and metabolites. Not to mention Mash's Saint Kitt's Caribbean clinic where she has gathered scientific data on hundreds of patients. Mr. Beiser also reports on the efforts of Marc Emery, founder of the Iboga Therapy House in Vancouver, Canada and the Ibogaine Association in Mexico.

Overlooking the fact that Ms. Mash and Mr. Lotsof have had well publicized disputes and all around nastiness between them, I will say she did become an advocate and has done more in the scientific arena to bring ibogaine treatment to the people than any other scientist.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Getting that kind of proof requires controlled experiments on human subjects, which is what Mash is working toward. She has isolated a molecule called noribogaine, which is produced in the body as it metabolizes ibogaine, and which she believes is the key agent that blocks drug cravings. She is trying to get FDA approval to start human testing. On a parallel track, Stanley Glick has synthesized a chemical cousin of ibogaine dubbed 18-MC, which he also hopes to market.

Both Mash and Glick think their ibogaine derivatives will give users the drug-blocking effect without the hallucinations–something both believe is necessary if the FDA is to approve their products.

But would eliminating ibogaine’s psychedelic side diminish its effectiveness? No one knows. “For me, the ideal would be for people to take ibogaine in a controlled environment, and use the experience as part of their psychotherapy,” Mash says. “Then slap a noribogaine patch on them.”

To read the complete article, click The Magical Mystery Tour.

Ibogaine: ENDABUSE Report Video - Part 2

Part 2 of this six part series features the testimonials of 6 addicts (2 women and 4 men) with cocaine, heroin, and methadone dependencies who underwent treatment with the ENDABUSE Procedure using Ibogaine Hydrochloride.




This segment deals with their candid, graphic, and often disturbing accounts of how and why they became addicted to chemical substances. They are brutally honest about themselves, baring their inner souls and lives to the camera.

These six individuals (pioneers, actually) represented the first wave of those who went overseas to countries like Holland and Panama to be treated where Ibogaine was not restricted. In the early 1980's Howard Lotsof needed to demonstrate that the ENDABUSE Procedure to interrupt chemical dependencies and withdrawal symptoms was both valid and reproducible, not the rantings of a self-obsessed madman.

One of NDA International's early investors who was outside Howard's immediate circle of friends was a California psychotherapist, Dr. Leo Zeff, then in his late 70's, who treated dozens of patients in the 1960's using Ibogaine. Dr. Zeff, like Dr. Claudio Naranjo, were the first from the medical ranks to treat patients using Ibogaine as an adjunct to psychotherapy. When Leo went through his patient records, he discovered that a number of those who were addicts had their cravings interrupted after their Ibogaine sessions with him. The lightbulb went off in his head, and he made a sizable investment in NDA. No doubt, we were all delighted to have his professional affirmation and support.

One of the first things Howard did after Leo's involvement was to fly Dr. Zeff, his wife Norma, and himself to Gabon, Africa with a French interpreter and well known medical journal article translator, Bill Gladstone, to meet President Omar Bongo and his scientific advisor, Professor Jean-Noel Gassita. In the most diplomatic of moves, Howard told President Bongo that eboka (the Gabonese name for Iboga Tabernanthe, the name of the plant from which Ibogaine is derived) was Africa's gift to the world. Bongo immediately arranged to have several kilos of the raw botanical made available to Howard for alkaloid extraction. Howard now had access to supplies. The next part of the puzzle was treatment.

Howard traveled to Amsterdam where he found social activists in the Harm Reduction movement who advocated needle exchange to stop HIV and a society that tolerated soft drugs and prostitution. He hooked up with a prominent Dutch psychiatrist, Dr. Jan Bastiaans, who was famous for conducting psychotherapy sessions using LSD in the 1960's. Dr. Bastiaans was the first medical observer of the ENDABUSE Procedure, and his involvement created sanction from the law enforcement and medical establishment.

One by one, the addicts came from the United States to the Netherlands to be treated with Ibogaine, on nothing more than a tall tale and the conviction of Howard. They were moving into uncharted waters using their flesh and blood as guinea pigs. Dosing had to be determined. Timing and precautions had to be worked out. These people knew what was at stake, but their desire to break the horrible cycle of addiction was stronger than their fears.

And so they took the plunge.

The ENDABUSE Report Video on Ibogaine - Part 1 of 6

In 1994 Howard and Norma Lotsof and I decided to produce a corporate video on the status of NDA International's patents involving the ENDABUSE Procedure using Ibogaine Hydrochloride in the treatment of addictive chemical dependency disorders. The result was a 56 minute video that featured Howard as NDA president, scientists that presented ethnobotanical research (BeLinda Hayes, PhD) and animal studies (Patrica Broderick, Phd; Stanley Glick, MD and M.R. Dzoljic, PhD, MD) to the Food and Drug Administration, 6 addicts who were treated with ibogaine, social workers Rommell Washington and Barbara Judd, and a doctor who observed patients using the ENDABUSE Procedure (tm).




Part 1 of this 6 video series features the scientists who performed animal studies. Future videos will focus on testimonials from addicts and those who work with them.

Howard, Norma and I met as film students at New York University in 1973. It was a natural for us to document the early history of this project. I shot all the footage with Howard's assistance on lighting and Howard, Norma and I spent days in the editing room with a NewTek Video Toaster system painstakingly constructing each edit on a linear editing system using 2 VCRs. Although primitive compared to non-linear computer video editing systems today, we made do with what we had and put together the very first comprehensive video documenting the science of ibogaine combined with addict, social worker, and medical testimonials on its efficacy.

Since 1994, The ENDABUSE Report video has been shown at conferences all over the world to scientists, lay-people, organizers, and addicts. Dana Beal has ripped off parts without my permission for use in his own ibogaine videos (Dana is a friend, so I'm okay with this. He just never asked me for my okay).

This video has to be viewed in the context of history. In 1994 Howard Lotsof was still considered by the medical and 99.9% of the scientific community to be an ex-addict crackpot with unsubstantiated and ridiculous, laughable claims for a Schedule 1 illegal hallucinogen derived from the root of an African shrub that indigenous peoples have been using for centuries.

Nobody outside of a handful (counted on one hand) of scientific researchers and a very few of the addict community believed anything Howard had to say. To the medical, pharma-industrial complex, and our government, why should they believe a word of what this lay person and a bunch of outcast drug addicts were saying? Who the hell cares about society's lepers and this whining, pain-in-the-ass, ex-addict who just wouldn't shut up about ibo-who? Who did he think he was, anyway?

Fourteen years later over 300 scientific papers have been published on ibogaine. Ken Alper, MD, of NYU Medical Center estimates over 4,000 addicts have been successfully treated in mostly non-clinical settings using ibogaine to eliminate narcotic withdrawal and reduce drugs cravings from weeks to months to years. The U.S. government and your friendly neighborhood pharmaceutical conglomerates with tens of billions in profits each year continue to ignore ibogaine and millions of addicts around the world and choose to focus on drugs to maintain male erections (sorry for the dig, I know they manufacture a lot of very important drugs to treat diseases and help people like you and me).

Enough of my ranting! Thank goodness for blogs so people like me can rant and chill out in my spare time when I should be watching the tube.

BTW - I apologize for the quality of this video. The original was shot and edited on S-VHS; only a VHS dub could be found at this time to be digitized. I'm still in the process of locating the S-VHS edit master and hope to re-post a higher quality excerpt in the future.

In the meantime, please sit back, pull on some good squeeze, and enjoy.

Rocky Caravelli's Dream House Ibogaine Clinic

From Tristan Gulliford and RealitySandwich.com is a lengthy interview with ex-addict Rocky Caravelli, the Treatment Facilitator and House Manager for the Dream House, an ibogaine treatment facility in Mexico.

Dream House is a comfortable, home-style treatment environment that can accommodate up to 3 patients at a time. It has received many positive reviews from addict patients, whose testimonial videos can be seen on Youtube. Here's one of many:

Rocky goes into great depth about his experiences with ibogaine, his 25 year addiction kicked in 12 hours, his work at other ibogaine clinics, and his quest to open an ideal treatment facility to give patients the best possible experience.

Here's an excerpt:

"After two years of doing work in the underground, I got to see even more of what could make this treatment work more smoothly. People needed more time so they could get to feeling strong again, and a better environment was needed in which to do the work. It's hard to do treatments in the apartments of people where they've been using for months. It's also hard to bring people you just met into your home or to some other supporter's house. There is not enough medical support if something goes sideways and it's illegal to top it off. These are not the best of conditions to work in and I felt disrespectful to the spirit of the plant."

"Well, we have learned a lot about working with this medicine and have grown in intuition and clarity for what protocols to use. Everything is per individual. Everyone is unique in their needs. Sometimes we have to go slow, using many small treatments. Sometimes we need to really push through boundaries or blockages and address withdrawal symptoms. We see people with so many different situations. Hard core addiction to heroin and stimulants like meth-amphetamine require that we provide a strong support in pre-treatment and many additional boosters. Treatment for methadone can go on for days or weeks sometimes. We receive people with emotional issues due to sexual abuse, depression, and, in many cases, just the desire to reclaim their lost sense of self and being alive. Whether people come to us for addiction to substances or for psycho-spiritual development, the truth is that all of what needs to be addressed stems from a spiritual base, and that is why the treatment itself is just the beginning of the process. It takes time for people to process and integrate their session. Sometimes it takes months to pass in order for people to really understand and look back to see what's been changing from the inside out."

To read the entire article (highly recommended), click Spiritual Healing in the Dream House.

Yippie Leader Dana Beal on Ibogaine Clinics

Yipster Dana Beal was released from jail on drug money laundering charges. The $150K he had in his possession when he was arrested was, according to Dana, money raised to open an ibogaine clinic. In his interview on Paul De Rienzo's New York City public cable TV talk show "Let Them Talk", Dana talks about his recent arrest and ibogaine clinics in Mexico and Canada to treat methadone, opiate, alcohol, and other addictions.

Rocky Caravelli's "Dream House" clinic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where addicts treat addicts is mentioned (for details, call 503-922-1089 in Portland, OR) as well as Claire's medical clinic where doctors treat patients (for info, call 213-505-5992).

To see the video, click Dana Beal on Ibogaine Clinics.

The Politics and Polemics of Ibogaine

Ibogaine as a psychotropic would always be controversial. Howard Lotsof and I knew this from the get go. What we never expected was that greed and betrayal would ultimately sabotage an enormously worthwhile project, one that could potentially benefit millions of people.

Somewhere along the line, during a 20+ year odyssey that spanned the best years of my life, politics and polemics would get in the way of commercializing ibogaine treatment. What could not be stopped by the pharma-industrial complex or our shortsighted federal government, was the tide of the addicts themselves, weary and war-torn, always on the frontline of human suffering, who were desperate and clever enough to bypass all the oppressive societal mechanisms and treat themselves. This has become the almost righteous legacy of ibogaine.

Fifteen years ago when reports of ibogaine animal studies were being published from Eastern Europe, I turned to Howard and proclaimed, "This thing you started has taken on a life of its own. And no one can stop it. We are about to become bystanders."

Another friend warned me that Howard should never have attempted to make money off of ibogaine. She said he should give his discovery away as a "gift to mankind." Deep down, I felt the truth of her words gnaw at my soul, but the wheels had already been set into motion, and I became just another observer of a tsunami, a juggernaut that could not be stopped.

It should be noted, however, that Howard tried to raise money via a non-profit, his Dora Weiner Foundation, from 1983 through 1986. During this 3 year period do-gooders only kicked in about $10K, hardly enough to launch an effort to bring ibogaine to the world. It wasn't until Howard formed NDA International, Inc., a for-profit corporation, did significant cash start rolling in to finance this against-all-odds project. I remember people did see potential in securing patents and opening for-profit treatment centers, given the potential (and highly conservative) estimate of a patient base of a half million narcotic addicts in the United States.

From Simon Witter and the drugs-forum in the U.K. is an unabridged version of an article that appeared in The Times Magazine (London), July 1998. It is a detailed account of the disastrous struggle Howard Lotsof faced in the final years of our company, NDA International. It is also a breathless testament to the addict ibogaine experience and it illuminates why this gift to mankind will never go away.

The piece begins:

It may change society and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people (at a conservative estimate), but ibogaine development is being tied up in a bitter legal war that has already almost ruined the man who discovered it. Is this the blessed chalice, the cure to drug addiction and more? Is it the greatest pharmaceutical discovery of the late 20th century? Or will it turn out to be just another story of a maverick visionary being shafted, and all benefits lost to mankind?

Click to read the entire article, A Journalist Investigates Ibogaine: Its Effects and Its Politics.

Brain chemical suppresses alcohol craving

From Rose Hoban via the Voice of America comes another explanation for why ibogaine has addiction interruption properties, via a brain protein called GDNF: glial cell-derived neurotropic factor manufactured by nerve and glial cells. Looks like UCSF scientists have been doing even more amazing groundbreaking animal studies with ibogaine.

"Scientists became aware of GDNF because of side effects from a hallucinogenic drug called ibocaine that became popular in the 1960s. Researchers observed that when people took ibocaine, their brains produced more GDNF. At the same time, their cravings for alcohol virtually disappeared."

There are cautions regarding ibogaine's toxic side effects but the question remains: do the benefits outweigh the risks?

If you want to read more, click Brain Protein Suppresses Craving for Alcohol.

Thanks for tuning in.

YIPPIE Ibogaine Activist Dana Beal Arrested

I met Dana Beal through Howard Lotsof in the mid-70's when Howard and his wife Norma produced "Rock Against Racism" concerts in New York City that were sponsored by the Yippies. Dana was the de-facto Yippie honcho in NYC and had been a marijuana advocate since the 60's, staging famous "Smoke-Ins" and Marijuana Marches from Washington, DC to Greenwich Village.

Of course, Howard told Dana about his ibogaine discovery early on, but it wasn't until 1983 when Howard formed NDA International (I was its first investor, Senior V.P. and board member) that Dana started taking ibogaine's promise of addiction interruption seriously. This was fortuitous because, after pushing for the legalization of marijuana for over 20 years with little success and waning public interest, Dana refocused his activist energies on bringing public awareness to the cause of ibogaine.

His antics at FDA hearings in support of federal clinical ibogaine studies are the stuff of legend (I know; I was there) and he has dedicated so much of his energy and time that I must speak up for him.

Although the news hit the blogs many days prior, the New York Times picked up the story and has, in its own way, legitimized the very questionable arrest and jailing of Dana. Dana deserves our support and his freedom because he has been working to help others.

Here's an excerpt from the Times article:

"A. J. Weberman, a fellow Yippie who helped to popularize the practice of garbology (searching through trash for journalistic clues), said Mr. Beal had told friends that he was traveling with cash because he was planning to finance a clinic. Mr. Weberman said the clinic was to study ibogaine, a derivative of an African shrub that researchers have said can be used to counter addiction.
Mr. Beal is a longtime advocate of ibogaine, which he says produces a trancelike state when ingested that lasts for hours and can be used to interrupt addiction to heroin, nicotine and alcohol."

Click here for the entire article: A Yippie Veteran Is in Jail Far From the East Village

Ibogaine Treatment in Barcelona

From fellow blogger Mary Clare Ditton, hailing from the Huffington Post, comes an article about Eric Taub's personal odyssey with ibogaine, from Florida to Cameroon to Spain, culminating in the starting of an ibogaine center in Barcelona and a university study.

Here's an excerpt:
"Taub is starting an ibogaine center in Barcelona where he plans to offer intensive training to prospective ibogaine providers. He is also seeking the support of the Autonomous University of Barcelona to conduct a study on ibogaine. Since the winter of 1999, the university's research team has been conducting clinical studies giving ayahuasca to healthy volunteers and Taub is excited about the prospect of having the support of the scientific community. 'This is an example of the demand for effective treatment finally being great enough to motivate the scientific community to jump on board. I am hopeful that iboga and ayahuasca, two of the most powerful plant medicines on the planet, will finally be given validation for their effectiveness to treat human disease.' "

Other treatment centers are mentioned, including the Iboga Therapy House in Canada outside of Vancouver.

And the beat goes on...

To check out this story, click A Home for Ibogaine in Barcelona.

Symbiotic relationship between animal intelligence and botanical life

From blogger Sourmonkey who hails from Austin, TX (current hotbed of intellectual wildfire) comes RATTLE THE CAGE, a pulpit of sorts for the monkey's controversial views and flow-of-consciousness poetry.

Here's an interesting and stimulating excerpt from Sourmonkey's musings on "Consciousness Explained" that I feel is worth the read, if you're so inclined (hope you are):

"Why does Cannabis sativa produce cannabinoids like THC and CBD, and why does mammalian physiology also produce endogenous cannabinoids like anandamide? Why do Psychotria viridis, Acacia, Mimosa, and Pomegranite trees produce DMT, and why is this hallucinogenic molecule also produced in the human pineal gland? Why does caffeine mimic endogenous adenosine? Why do nicotine, atropine, and scopolamine mimic endogenous acetycholine? Why do psylocibine, LSA, LSD, and Ibogaine mimic endogenous serotonine? Why do mescaline and cocaine mimic endogenous dopamine? Why do opiates mimic endorphins? Why do secondary botanical metabolites mimic neurotransmitters in the animal central nervous system?"

Check it out: Consciousness Explained.

How fear and loathing have kept an addict's best friend underground

Here's a great article about underground ibogaine treatment from Mara Shalhoup of Creative Loafing in Atlanta, GA that leads off with this intriguing statement:

"Kevin Peace's addiction was no different than others' -- until he found a treatment few addicts knew existed. In his yearlong attempt to spread word of a miraculous treatment, he says he fixed a dozen lives. But he also broke the law and learned how hard it is for a controversial cure to reach the people who need it."

This is a long, detailed account of the trials and tribulations Mr. Peace faced in his quest to help others.

Check out the full article, Ibogaine's Long, Strange Trip

One Pill Makes You Better

From the Sacramento, California News & Review comes this article about Americans travelling abroad to receive ibogaine treatment.

"American Drug and Alcohol Addicts Are Going Abroad in Search Of Ibogaine, a Purported Miracle Treatment That Is Banned in the United States. Will the Drug Industry Ever Embrace a Substance That Causes A Hallucinatory High?"

Here's an excerpt from this well written account:

"The first thing was a loud buzzing in his ears, as though a swarm of bees was swirling around his head. Then the hallucinations kicked in. The patterns in the blanket tacked to the ceiling above him glowed vibrantly and then began transforming into the faces of members of his family, faces that turned themselves inside-out and back again. He saw his father finding him dead with a needle in his arm. He saw himself in a beautiful field of flowers. He saw Jesus standing outside the Earth, creating different races of men and placing them on different continents. While Shawn's mind reeled through this visual cacophony, his body lay quietly in a darkened room in a house near Tijuana, Mexico, deep in the grip of a powerful psychedelic drug. The South Sacramento house where he lived with his father was far, far away. Shawn ( who asked that his real name not be printed ) was in Tijuana because he was desperate. He was addicted to heroin and cocaine, a suffocating habit that had landed him in jail several times and had left him so wretched--even when he was out from behind bars--that he wanted to die."

Check it out: One Pill Makes You Better

African drug Ibogaine blocks alcohol cravings

Here's an article of interest from the University of California at San Francisco's Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center:

"A naturally occurring hallucinogen advocated by some clinicians as a potent anti-addiction drug has been rigorously studied for the first time, confirming its ability to block alcohol craving in rodents, and clarifying how it works in the brain."

Their findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

The complete article is "African drug Ibogaine blocks alcohol cravings". Well worth checking out.

Portlander establishes a new Mexican connection for ibogaine, a controverisal drug that some say can help addicts.

From http://www.shroomery.org/ comes a great human interest story about a man who opened an ibogaine treatment facility in Mexico as a result of his own experience with the drug:

Rocky Caravelli worked as a flooring contractor for 23 years installing hardwoods, linoleum and carpeting in Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. But three years ago, he became something else: an evangelist. Not for God, but for ibogaine, an illegal substance that is finding popularity in Portland.

Ibogaine is used to treat drug addiction, and Caravelli has plenty of experience with that. For 15 years, he abused methamphetamines, heroin and even methadone.

After visiting four different rehab clinics and spending time in and out of Narcotics Anonymous, Caravelli went to Mexico to learn about ibogaine, an alkaloid from the root bark of the iboga plant, which grows in West Central Africa. In 2003, Caravelli visited a Mexican ibogaine clinic, where he could legally buy the drug. He spent $3,000 to take two doses in three days. On the third day, he awoke in Tijuana and realized his teeth had stopped hurting and that all he wanted to do was lie naked in the sun.

"It was like I was returned to my natural state overnight," says Caravelli, 42.

Since then, Caravelli says, he's been clean. He returned to Portland, sought out other drug addicts and preached to them the gospel of ibogaine.

For the complete story, click here.

Boaz Wachtel on Ibogaine

I count Boaz Wachtel as a comrade. I met him in the mid-1990s through Howard and Norma Lotsof when he was living in New York City. If my memory is correct, he came to us through another close mutual friend Bob Sisko who established the International Coalition of Addict Self Help (ICASH) in the Netherlands circa 1993.

Like us all, Boaz became swept up in the ibogaine movement and was treated with ibogaine for nicotine addiction. I believe his experience included a vision that peace in the Middle East was possible through water, a project he has championed ever since. Boaz returned to Israel and has become an ibogaine advocate there.

Here's an interview with him:

The Ibogaine Underground

From WBUR, Boston's NPR news source, is a radio talk show segment. Here's the write-up:

When it comes to heroin and other powerful addictions, withdrawal is a long, painful process. And when it's over, it's not over, because the cravings are still there.

But there is a little-known drug called ibogaine that is traditionally used in Africa for certain tribal ceremonies. Taking it can induce visions, but mostly, people say, it is awful.

But not as awful as the withdrawal symptoms from drugs like heroin. And it seems to have a remarkable side effect: it temporarily stops the craving for highly addictive drugs like heroin. It is controversial, and except for research, its use is illegal.

Addicts in the United States travel to Mexico or the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts for treatments. Or, they can go the more dangerous route of contacting the so-called ibogaine underground in the U.S.

Imitri Mugianis, speaks from Detroit where he is going to give other people a backstreet ibogiane treatment.

To hear the broadcast, click here.

Rite of Passage DVD

This is one of the best documentaries on ibogaine and the African Bwiti religious rituals where the iboga root is used as a sacrament.



"Revealing documentary about the most promising treatment modality for drug dependance available. It is the only substance we know, which is capable of blocking acute withdrawal in opioid addicts as well as cocaine and alcohol.This natural occuring molecule cannot be patented and is not a maintanance drug with addictive properties; reason for the pharmaceutical industry not to show interest...Educate yourself about this unique tool."

You can purchase this video by visiting www.ibogainefilm.com

New and Noteworthy

The news just keeps on coming.

Here's a 57 minute radio podcast of interest:
Madness Radio: Treating Addiction with Psychedelic Ibogaine
Rocky Caravelli talks about his recovery from 25 years of methamphetamine and heroin addition and a bipolar diagnosis through treatment with Ibogaine, a visionary plant medicine from indigenous people in West Africa, and his work helping many others heal.

Voices and Visions from Outside Mental Health – Produced by freedom-center.org & theicarusproject.net. Broadcast live weekly Thursdays 4-5 pm EST on FM Pacifica Affiliates WXOJ-LP Northampton, Mass, & KWMD Kasilof, Alaska.

Comment on Sacred Addicts
by Moughessangana
Iboga is safer than ibogaine and being treated in Gabon by an Nganga would be first on my list just because of the history of Pentagon funded ‘Skunk Projects’ aimed at data collection, & duping unwitting guinea pigs into submitting to experimentation & unnecessary screening. Medical Apartheid.

Howard Lotsof Speaks About Ibogaine

Howard Lotsof, who discovered ibogaine's ability to interrupt addiction and narcotic withdrawal symptoms, is interviewed.

Ibogaine Sessions at the Int'l Harm Reduction Assoc Barcelona conference in Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona represents a unique opportunity for the expansion of ibogaine therapy and to provide information on ibogaine and the medical procedures in which it is used to treat addiction and substance dependence as well as, the user self-help movement providing ibogaine therapy on a user-to-user basis.

Ibogaine presentations will be made on Monday, May 12th, 2008, during the International Harm Reduction's (IHRA) 19th Conference and on Saturday, May 17th at RAI (Recursos d'Animació Intercultural). The May 12th presentations will be made during a special session sponsored by the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD).

The Saturday, May 17th ibogaine presentations are to afford the opportunity for addiction treatment specialists as well as, the drug using population who are not able to attend the IHRA conference to participate in the discussion of this experimental medication for those who cannot afford the costs of the harm reduction conference or for others who have conflicts on that date.

You can obtain information and view the agendas for both presentation sessions by clicking here.

New and Noteworthy

Here are some articles worth checking out (I know, I filter through a lot of chaff to find you the nuggets):

Brazzein, Bio-Tech, Iboga & Benefit Sharing in Gabon
by Caridad Del Cobre
Drug Addiction Treatment from Iboga -- Out of Central and West Africa For a very long time, Iboga (Tabernanthe iboga) has been used in Central and West Africa. In low doses, the plant serves as a stimulant to maintain alertness, for example, while hunting. In larger doses, it is a hallucinogen, traditionally used for religious purposes by ngangas and in initiation rites, (McGown, Jay, 'Out of Africa')...

Iboga Bio Piracy & Benefit Sharing
by simon
I have never heard of enyone getting rich off ibogaine and its hardly like the indegenouse people dont benefit from the process; I can say this because I deal directly with them and have also been in contact with Brainforest...

The lost promise of LSD
by Connie Littlefield
Prohibition of Albert Hofmann's 'problem child' failed to get it off the street -- and succeeded in killing legitimate research into its powerful potential to help people...