Heroin has a very high potential for addiction, rarely are people able to experiment with the drug without developing a dependency. The painful withdrawal process from heroin keeps users in a desperate, destructive cycle.

A naturally occurring psychoactive compound has been scientifically identified as possessing anti-addictive properties. Ibogaine is used in Africa by the Bwiti tribe, for ritual and medicinal purposes. Research has proven that Ibogaine creates an immediate reduction in craving, even eliminating the potent withdrawal symptoms of heroin.

Have you ever heard of Ibogaine? Chances are that you haven’t.

Due to its controversial nature it is not used to treat opiate addiction in the United States.  Dr. Deborah Mash, from the University of Miami, is one of the few scientists in the world to study Ibogaine. She admits that she was a disbeliever when she first heard that Ibogaine could cure heroin addiction.  In 2000, she administered single doses of Ibogaine to 27 heroin addicts, followed with post treatment therapy. The team’s conclusion was that, “Ibogaine treatment decreased participants’ desire and intention to use heroin.”

Dr. Mash has a clinic offshore, on St. Kitt’s, for the purpose of studying and administering Ibogaine. Her website lists numerous positive, realistic testimonials. Patients comment that Ibogaine helped them with the cessation, but they still have to work a holistic recovery program.  The Chief Technical Officer of her research facility is the notorious Patrick Krupa, formerly a heroin addict for 16 years, at times shooting $1,000 of heroin daily. He is now heroin-free and attributes this to Ibogaine. In 2004, KRON 4, San Francisco News, aired a pro-Ibogaine story featuring Mash and Krupa.  The story investigated the documented proof that Ibogaine is an viable cure for heroin addiction, giving Ibogaine positive press despite its illegal status in the States.

Ibogaine is an illegal, Schedule I drug in the United States, as are heroin, ecstasy, LSD, and marijuana. Schedule I drugs are claimed to have a high tendency for abuse and no accepted medical use. LSD and ecstasy were also both used in psychotherapy until made illegal by the FDA and DEA. According to Daniel Pinchbeck, author of Breaking Open the Head, Ibogaine was given this Schedule I status in the late 60’s as a result of government hysteria over recreational use of psychedelics.

In his book Pinchbeck cites French chemist Robert Goutarel, saying that, “The 1967-68 resolutions of the World Health Assembly classified ibogaine among the drugs capable of producing dependency or impairing human health.”  Goutarel and other scientists have proven that Ibogaine does not develop dependency. It does just the opposite. As a testimony to Ibogaine’s medical value, Goutarel, discussing Ibogaine’s brief appearance in the sixties underground drug trade, says, “Ibogaine suddenly disappeared from the market and it seems that the drug dealers rapidly became aware of the fact that its use would deprive them of part of their clientele.”  Ironically, drug dealers didn’t want it around because it worked so well, yet the government, keeps it illegal, inadvertently bolstering business for drug dealers.

There have been 12 known fatalities from Ibogaine. Some studies of Ibogaine suggest the possibility of adverse interaction with heart conditions and within canines it affected the heart rate in respiration. So does meditation, by the way. It is necessary here to point out that heroin overdoses account for more deaths in a year than Ibogaine ever has. For those living with heroin addiction, the quality of life is poor.

Heroin Statistics:

* 3.8 million people (1.5 percent of the population above 12) say they have tried heroin at least once in their lifetimes.
* 560,000 people used heroin last year.
* 338,000 people used heroin last month.
* The rate of heroin lifetime heroin use is higher among those in prison (23.4 percent for State and    17.9 percent for Federal).

Studies indicates that heroin addicts, under proper treatment, could benefit from Ibogaine’s removal from the Schedule I drug class. Ibogaine has long been a tool of Bwiti shamans. Most users report experiencing visual phenomena in which they witness flashbacks of life events that led to their addiction; others report visions that help them get to the root of negative emotions that create the addictive tendencies. Daniel Pinchbeck reports for Salon that after his tribal initiation with Ibogaine he stopped binge drinking, but he is not sure how.

Pinchbeck points to one theory offered by Dr. Carl Anderson of the Developmental Biopsychiatry Research Program at McLean Hospital in Virgina. Anderson believes that ingestion of Ibogaine actually restores a balance between the two hemispheres of the brain. Anderson speculates that, “addicts are usually people who suffered an early childhood trauma–abuse, incest, or something else–that caused the development of an imbalance between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.”  Imbalanced hemispheres will disrupt one’s sleep. Anderson points out that REM sleep is, “essential for emotional regulation, learning, and memory consolidation.”

Many people claim that their need for sleep diminishes by several hours after ingesting Ibogaine, yet, they feel more rejeuvenated than ever before. Anderson notes that Ibogaine affects REM sleep cycles, in a positive way. He says, “In layman’s terms, you might say that ibogaine returns to psychically damaged people the healing power of their sleep and dreams.”

While it may seem strange to treat an illegal drug with another illegal drug, we must ask if prolonged methadone or Suboxone treatment is any better for a heroin addict. Many addicts report a dependency on methadone and are still confronted with dope sickness up to a year after finally weaning off of methadone.
America is a country that not only spends billions of dollars in a War on Drugs, it is a country still home to many drug addicts. It is also a country that takes pride in the medical advancement. Effective treatment for heroin dependency would be a worthy social contribution and a victory for all of us.

The KRON 4 report: