Green | June 26, 2008 | 17 comments

Tripping The Habit

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EdOwles
Ibogaine is a hallucinogenic drug originating in Africa, and widely used there amongst the Bwiti tribe (Gabon/Cameroon) in initiation ceremonies.
It is now also used informally by practitioners across the world, including quite a few in the UK, as an anti-addiction treatment. People addicted to cocaine or heroin take Ibogaine, go into a hallucinatory trance-state for up to 24 hours and find that their cravings have subsided - it's not officially recognized as a treatment, but is known to be unusually successful. This film would follow someone's journey through the Ibogaine treatment - including the trance state in which the patient is often pretty physically active - exploring issues of addiction in today's society, alternative medicine and rehabilitation.
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17 comments // Tripping The Habit

  • cattheawesome
    • 0
      cattheawesome  

    • The refusal to run the necessary clinical trials to more accurately determine ibogaine's efficacy and adverse effects benefits no one but methadone manufacturers. I cannot understand the blatant disregard for such incredible healing potential, especially since a properly conducted trial would provide necessary evidence to discontinue this practice, should it return largely unsatisfactory results. Of course, considering the US government's current stance that marijuana is more dangerous than cocaine, i'm not surprised. Just disappointed.

    • 2 years ago
  • dtringas
    • 0
      dtringas  

    • My heart goes out to the gentleman in the video, drug addiction "treatments" in the US are abyssmal failures at helping us, yet extremely effective in robbing concerned parents and family of hard earned cash.
      At the risk of sounding like a hippy:
      In my experience, substances such as LSD and particularly MDMA (real MDMA, not some bathtub chem project gone wrong) when used as a revered and respected rite of passage have profound abilities to not only suppress withdrawal symptoms, but provide introspection and lucidity that we lost long ago. Of course, i've seen it go both ways, but everyone is different. Anyone else have these sort of experiences?

    • 3 years ago
  • evilmunky420
    • 0
      evilmunky420  
    • dtringas:

      I agree, if you use good MDMA with someone you love and are close to, you are able to take your relationship to places most people can't even imagine. It's easier to forgive and understand and love. BUT, make sure you are safe, have a sober friend to call, and do some research. (which goes for ANY drug). A good place is erowid.org. Most people think of MDMA as a party drug, but it might give you the most healing and profound trips ever. It's always who you are with, where, and what you want to get out of your experience. (A test kit is handy also, Ecstasy might only have trace amounts of MDMA, and lots of nasty stuff) And remember, be responsible with drug use and maybe we can one day change its negative connotation in society. Good book to read, Ecstasy: The MDMA Story

    • 3 years ago
  • evilmunky420
    • 0
      evilmunky420  

    • It is not only Ibogaine that can be used for addiction.
      Many hallucinogenic drugs have been widely known to treat addiction, depression and many other mental health problems. You will probably never see research about on these medicines in the US, but they have been used all over the world for thousands of years. Look into it. The Ayahuasca Vine or "The Vine of the Soul" is particularly interesting. Great pod, hope to see more like them.

    • 3 years ago
  • ruthie123
    • 0
      ruthie123  

    • as a parent who has a daughter who has an addiction to hard drugs, i'm on a low income and would trully love to get her on a programe useing ibogaine as an alternitive to methadone. after a piriod of one year she has yet again sercomed to the dreaded white powder. could anyone please tell me who or where i might find the answer to the question

      where can i get help?

    • 3 years ago
  • PWillemse
  • rambles
  • torybart
    • 0
      torybart  

    • I think this is pretty cool, and I'm not sure of the exact statistics, but before it was criminalized LSD was one of the most effective treatments of alcoholism that we have ever recorded so this seems like it could be something similar.

    • 3 years ago
  • dearmat23
    • 0
      dearmat23  
    • Image

    • Great, responsible pod from a fair and balanced perspective. There's still much to be learned about the healing effects of entheogens, but the stigma around research into psychedelics runs deep after the propagation and mass consumption of LSD during the 1960's onwards. Timothy Leary has a lot to answer for.

      For a more in depth and wide ranging yet still personal account of Iboga check out Bruce Parry's documentary program Tribe (known as Going Tribal in the United States), co-produced by the BBC and the Discovery Channel.

      The Babongo of Gabon used to be known, derogatively, as pygmies. They're still treated as second-class citizens by their neighbours. But their expertise and knowledge of the forests is unique and their use of Iboga, a powerful hallucinogenic which lies at the heart of Babongo culture, makes them famous throughout Gabon.

      Bwiti is a West Central African religion practiced by the forest-dwelling Babongo and Mitsogo people of Gabon (where it is one of the three official religions) and the Fang people of Gabon and Cameroon. Modern Bwiti is syncretistic, incorporating animism, ancestor worship and Christianity into its belief system. Bwiti use the hallucinogenic rootbark of the Tabernanthe iboga plant, specially cultivated for the religion, to induce a spiritual enlightenment, stabilize community and family structure, meet religious requirements and to solve problems of a spiritual and/or medical nature. The root bark has been used for hundreds of years as part of a Bwiti coming of age ceremony and other initiation rites and acts of healing, producing complex visions and insights anticipated to be valuable to the initiate and the chapel. The root bark or its extract are taken in doses high enough to cause vomiting and ataxia as common side effects.

    • 3 years ago
  • MrMinkus
  • pigmonkey
  • Dmitri_Molotov
  • Ayahuasca2012
    • 0
      Ayahuasca2012  

    • We need to push our governments into accepting things like Ibogaine as a valid treatment for drug addiction. But, big pharma has such a hold over our politicians they would do anything to strike down a safe alternative to their products which are anything but safe.

    • 3 years ago
  • rahulbrown
    • 0
      rahulbrown  

    • The potential for ibogaine is seems large. So many inmates are in prison because of drug addiction related offenses, but this seems like it has potential to turn that around. There are treatment centers in the US that use it, and its seems like its a magic bullet for those who don't have the discipline to learn to meditate.

    • 3 years ago
  • iOw
    • 0
      iOw  

    • Hooray for alternative medicines. And hooray for everyone working in all branches of addiction absolving. Its about time we realized that methodone is not the answer. Heroin is a poison that most dont have the power to kick. This, if it works, could be an incredible gift to a world ravaged by 80's 'artist/junkie/parents'.

    • 3 years ago
  • pirho338
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