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!