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

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.

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.