Overview:
Ibogaine is a psychoactive indole alkaloid from root bark of the rain forest shrub Tabernanthe iboga. Like other hallucinogens, it can be made synthetically. Natives of western Africa cultivate and use iboga as a stimulant, aphrodisiac, hunting aid, and in higher doses as a sacrament in religious rituals.
The researchers identified ibogaine as the bark’s main psychoactive agent in 1901, then studied its central nervous system effects and cardiovascular pharmacology through the early twentieth century. In the nineteen fifties, CIBA Geigy Pharmaceutical Co. investigated ibogaine’s ability to lower blood pressure. At the same time, some French mountaineers used it on long expeditions to fight hunger and fatigue.
In 1962-63 Howard Lotsof, now head of a company called NDA International, held a series of group experiments to show ibogaine’s effect on cocaine and heroin addiction. In 1969 and 1973, psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo was first to report using ibogaine as a hallucinogen in experimental psychotherapy. Then in 1985, Lotsof applied for utility patents on ibogaine for the treatment of opiate-narcotics addiction, cocaine addiction, and as a treatment for polydrug dependence disorders.
While ibogaine's prohibition has slowed scientific research into ibogaine's anti-addictive properties, the use of ibogaine for drug treatment has grown in the form of a large worldwide harm reduction medical subculture. Ibogaine is now used by treatment clinics in 12 countries on 6 continents to treat addictions to heroin, alcohol, powder cocaine, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine as well as to facilitate psychological introspection and spiritual exploration.
Research:
Treatment of acute opioid withdrawal with ibogaine
Ibogaine: Complex Pharmacokinetics, Concerns for Safety, and Preliminary Efficacy Measures
NMDA antagonist properties of the putative antiaddictive drug, ibogaine
