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 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!

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.