Can a hallucinogen from Africa cure addiction? (BBC) [View all]

[eppur_se_muova]

By Stephanie Hegarty
BBC World Service

Since the 1960s a disparate group of scientists and former drug addicts have been advocating a radical treatment for addiction - a hallucinogen called ibogaine, derived from an African plant, that in some cases seems to obliterate withdrawal symptoms from heroin, cocaine and alcohol. So why isn't it widely used?
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Jeewa estimates he has treated around 1,000 people with ibogaine but it remains largely unacknowledged by the medical mainstream.

The drug, derived from the root of a central African plant called iboga, had been used for centuries by the Bwiti people of Gabon and Cameroon, as part of a tribal initiation ceremony.

But it wasn't until 1962, when a young heroin addict called Howard Lotsof stumbled upon ibogaine, that its value as an addiction treatment was uncovered.

Lotsof took it to get high but when the hallucinogenic effects wore off, he realised he no longer had the compulsion to take heroin. He became convinced that he had found the solution to addiction and dedicated much of his life to promoting ibogaine as a treatment.

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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17666589




So ... there's a possible cure for addiction that's been known for fifty years, but it hasn't been subjected to much in the way of controlled scientific studies ? Gee, here I thought there was some kind of "war" on drugs.