From: ibog@aol.com (Ibog)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Narco-Politics: Ibogaine
Date: 16 Jun 1995 22:18:53 -0400
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Ibogaine is an indole alkaloid originally found in the Tabernanthe iboga
plant of West Central Africa.  It has been used in traditional African
religion and medicine for centuries.  The center of the religious use of
Ibogaine, known as Iboga or Eboka in Africa, is the Republic of Gabon. 
The religion that uses it in initiation rites and healing ceremonies is
known as Bwiti.  The medical society that uses it is known as Mbiri.  The
best English language source for information on the Bwiti religion is
James W. Fernandez's, BWITI: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF  THE RELIGIOUS IMAGINATION
IN AFRICA (Princeton University Press, 1982).

In the 1960s Naranjo and others discovered Ibogaine's value in
psychotherapy and Lotsof discovered its ability to treat both heroin and
cocaine dependency.  In later work beginning in the 1980s, Lotsof
discovered Ibogaine to be useful in the treatment of Methadone, nicotine,
alcohol and poly-drug dependency (U.S. Patents 4,499,096; 4,587,243; 
4,857,523; 5,026,697 and 5,124,994).  The most comprehensive work on the
treatment of human addiction, IBOGAINE IN THE TREATMENT OF CHEMICAL
DEPENDENCE DISORDERS:  CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES, was published by Lotsof in
Bull. Maps V(3):16-27, 1995.

The Merck Index is a basic source to begin Ibogaine research.  Checking
Medline: The key researchers are Dr. Stanley D. Glick, Chairman, Dept of
Pharmacology, Albany Medical College;  Dr. Patricia Broderick, Dept. of
Pharmacology, City University of New York; Dr. Henry Sershen, Nathan Kline
Inst., NY; Dr. Mark Molliver, The Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. M.R.
Dzoljic, Medical Faculty, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The best single source of Ibogaine information is the Ibogaine Sourcebook,
a two volume set recently printed for research specialists by NDA
International, Inc., Staten Island, NY.  The books cover both human and
animal model research.

Currently the only country allowing hospital administered treatment with
Ibogaine is the Republic of Panama.  This puts Panama two to three years
ahead of the United States in the ability to treat addiction.  

Ibogaine appears to eliminate narcotic withdrawal from both heroin and
methadone in a two to four day procedure and is provided as a single
administration modality (SAM).  It is not a narcotic and does not cause
dependence.  Ibogaine's seeming ability to moderate Methadone withdrawal
in a period of days rather than months was a surprise do to Methadone's
long lasting activity.  In most patients it also appears to interrupt the
craving to continue drug use.  Ibogaine has been proposed to interrupt
drug use and is not a cure.  Multiple treatments over a period of months
or years may be more effective than a single treatment.

 It is a controlled substance in the United States and only persons with
DEA authorization to handle schedule I substances have access to Ibogaine
in the United States.