Evolution of Ibogaine

Ibogaine is extracted from the root bark of a flowering African shrub called Tabernanthe iboga. The Iboga root bark is used by the Bwiti tribe for medicinal purposes, and for religious ceremonies.

The Ibogaine Drug was purified from the root bark around the turn of the century. Low doses of the purified for of Ibogaine were sold in France from 1939 to 1970. People would use Ibogaine as a tonic for fatigue and depression; however, Ibogaine’s amazing ability to cure addiction, was not discovered until 1962.

Howard Lotsof, a 19-year-old kid from New Jersey, was a heroin addict that had never shown any desire to stop using. One day, just to see what would happen, young Lotsof decided to try new experimental called Ibogaine that had been given to him by a friend who was a chemist.
Howard had no idea the Ibogaine would have such a life changing impact; causing his heroin addiction to simply vanish.

“Thirty-three hours later I was no longer a heroin addict”. Lotsof was so shocked that he decided to give the drug to his friends to try. Five heroin addicts agreed to try a single Ibogaine dose; they all stopped using heroin instantly. Like Lotsof, each of the five addicts experienced no withdrawal symptoms of any kind.

Lotsof didn’t know what to do about his discovery for several years. His own words were, “What does a 19 year-old kid know about anything” (Howard Lotsof). However in the 1980s Lotsof patented Ibogaine Treatments for a variety of addictions. Once Lotsof was completely convinced this was the real thing, he set out to introduce the Ibogaine Drug to major pharmaceutical companies.

“The first time Mr. Lotsof called me up and told me about this, I thought he was a lunatic,” recalled Dr. Stanley Glick, chairman of the pharmacology and neuroscience department at Albany Medical College.

Yet as Glick and others looked at Ibogaine’s performance in lab animals, they found evidence that the Ibogaine drug did act against addiction of cocaine, alcohol and opioids, (the class that includes heroin). These results began showing up in scientific journals about 15 years ago.

Since then, Lotsof hasn’t been able to sell American drug companies on Ibogaine. Lotsof says company officials have explained there disinterest in the Ibogaine as a lack of potential profit. Ibogaine is only taken one time, so the profitability is vastly reduced.

Unfortunately, Ibogaine Therapy is not yet legal in the United States; however, Ibogaine is safely administers in select clinics around the world: Rosarito Beach, Mexico(Transitions), The Netherlands, Panama, Europe, and Africa.