Ibogaine: One man’s journey to change his drug use
Alex has been dependent on opioids for 20 years. When conventional treatments did not help him reach his goal of abstinence, he looked to ibogaine treatment. UN interviewed him the week before and 2 weeks after the 7-day guided treatment.
About Ibogaine
Ibogaine is a psychedelic alkaloid extracted from the Tabernanthe iboga plant. It is illegal in Australia, but in central Africa it’s been used as a spiritual tool for several centuries, particularly in Gabon, where the Bwiti religion developed around it.
There have been several controlled trials looking at ibogaine for substance use. Overall, the data suggests it’s effective at reducing withdrawal and craving but there have been severe medical complications and even deaths associated with ibogaine use.
Ibogaine is illegal. It is hard to get in Australia, let alone find someone with the experience needed to guide you through the journey and the willingness to take on the risks. It can be pretty brutal on the human body and can even cause a heart attack. Furthermore, when taken recently after opioids, it increases the opioid effects to the point of overdose, which can also be fatal. In addition, ibogaine resets your opioid tolerance — so if you use opioids again afterwards your overdose risk skyrockets.
Before the treatment
UN: Despite the dangers, why do you want to do ibogaine?
Alex: I first heard about ibogaine about 10 years ago. An ibogaine advocate admitted at a conference how it had been a cure for his family who were all opioid users.
I wanted to move on from opioid use. I weighed the risks up and came to the conclusion that this is something I need to do. Not doing it has risks, too. For me, using had become a dead end and I didn’t want to live the rest of my life not growing, not moving forward.
UN: Why was this the right time?
Alex: I’m an example of what a ‘successful’ person you can be if you don’t get off drugs. But heroin ain’t cheap and I’m getting tired of the Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) lifestyle. The time for being on opioids is when I’m older and in pain that can’t be dealt with any other way.
I’ve tried to stop before many times. In my late 20s, I went on an overseas trip and pretty much went through withdrawal on the plane. It was actually a surprisingly easy withdrawal, but I started using as soon as I came back to Australia. I’ve tried both methadone and buprenorphine. I’m over being treated like a sick person and it’s dull for me. I would have preferred legal heroin.
Luckily, I’d been putting feelers out for ibogaine and one of my old tripper friends connected me with his friend who had recently used ibogaine to withdraw from opioids. This guy was interested in helping other people. I said “yes” on the spot, and my old friend agreed to be a sitter, too. I’m their first guinea pig.
UN: How much does it cost?
Alex: I spent a flat fee of $4000 for them to be able to source the drugs and spend the time with me. That fee does not include the Airbnb and other random stuff, which costs at least another $1000. It’s 7 days of being with the sitters, and 5 days of actually using ibogaine.
UN: What do you need to do to prepare for your trip?
Alex: I need to stay on heroin and not use any synthetic opioids like fentanyl or long-acting opioids like methadone or bupe. I also have to get an ECG test about a week prior to show that my heart is healthy.
2 weeks after the treatment
UN: How was your trip!?
Alex: The trip was amazing. Iboga completely withdrew me from my opioid dependence, but it was brutal (although nowhere near as brutal as cold turkey). Iboga is an intelligent plant medicine — it gives you what you need, not what you want. I feel like I’ve gone through a rebirth. I’m yet to see whether I can stick the landing now that I’m back in Sydney.
UN: How did ibogaine work for you?
Alex: I did a ‘flood dose’, not a ‘saturation dose’. I think a flood dose is how the Bwiti do it traditionally. It’s much more brutal, and much more of a rite of passage.
Because my body was so damaged from 20 years of opioid dependency, I didn’t have a particularly psychedelic experience. Instead, I had a very physiological trip. It’s weird that something so hard on the heart is so healing for the body. It is cardiotoxic and a flood dose of ibogaine is an ordeal — you’re awake for 72 hours. You have ataxia and can’t move and you’re eventually throwing up everything toxic in your system.
The iboga lodges in your heart and your heart beats it through you like a tidal wave to wash the gear out of your system. When you feel it flood you, it is like a freight train.
During the purge I could feel it gathering up every last bit of poison I’d built up in my life, then wringing me out like a squidgy with surgical precision. I felt violent waves of nausea, purging, shitting and vomiting out stuff. It felt ‘good’ because I could feel the relief as the poison exited.
I’d stopped using methamphetamine months ago, but it felt like I was purging toxic traces of meth or the adulterants in meth or opioids. Iboga literally got the poison out. It’s physical, not metaphorical.
You wake up after 18 more hours and are not dope sick. Western medicine can’t do that.
UN: What has your initial integration process been like?
Alex: If I was left without sitters to give me aftercare, I’d be fucked. In the immediate aftermath, I just needed to be nursed — almost like an infant. Everything is accentuated after ibogaine.
After your trip, you’re meant to give yourself at least 2 weeks of time to just integrate everything and care for yourself. You need to have a support system in place and have good guidance.
Some of the benefits have been immediate. It has fixed problems I didn’t even use ibogaine to fix — my back and spine were injured from a car accident and now I walk comfortably with good posture. But learning to listen to my body has been challenging — I had 20 years of avoiding feelings.
The patterns I set now need to be healthy, because your brain is really neuroplastic for 3 months after iboga. I must avoid getting overwhelmed by a toxic workplace or toxic relationships and going back to old patterns.
UN: How do you feel about heroin, opioids and other drugs now?
Alex: For me, iboga has killed the ‘shame and recovery’ narrative associated with ‘12-Step Programs’ that focus on abstinence. I’m no longer in ‘recovery’.
My model of treatment isn’t about not using drugs, it’s about freeing myself from habits that don’t serve me. I used psychedelics such as 5-MeO-DMT, bufotenine (toad) in the week following my flood dose, and I’m looking forward to using psilocybin soon.
I don’t hate heroin, but I no longer romanticise heroin. I didn’t go into my trip with an intent to reduce my use of benzodiazepines, but I’ve already cut down to less than a quarter of my previous dose.
I think iboga has something in common with 12-Step Programs — they are trying to reconnect people with spirituality. I’m not a spiritual person and I don’t like feelings and emotions — that’s probably why I got into opioids. But iboga has helped me connect with spirituality. I’ve been getting into ‘Wu Wei’, the Chinese art of not forcing anything.
This is absolutely not a ‘transformational testimonial’ — fuck that. I’m just unafraid for the first time in 20 years.