For decades, the opioid crisis has defied standard treatments
, but deep in the shadows of modern medicine lies
a radical but effective alternative. Ibigaine is a powerful
psychedelic, often described as miraculous by those who've tried
it because of its remarkable ability to erase years of
addiction and the agony of withdrawal. In just one
harrowing session, it is a revolutionary breakthrough. The
success rate is staggering, but ibigaine remains illegal in
the US in part because it can be deadly.
Despite the risks, thousands of desperate Americans addicted to
opioids are crossing borders to find hope in the treatment
. I'm going to die a slow, miserable death
from doing drugs anyways, so I would rather,
whether it's a short or long life, live it
not on drugs anymore. Ibogaine is a naturally occurring
psychoactive compound extracted from the root bark of a shrub
, Tabernantha eboga. For centuries, it's been used
in ceremonies in West Africa by followers of the witti
spiritual practice. Ibiga's potential to treat opioid addiction was
discovered by accident in 1962 when 19-year-old Howard Blotzoff,
who was addicted to heroin, took the drug and
found that it stopped both his cravings and withdrawals.
Word spread. Today, Ibbigaine is offered at a
small but growing number of clinics around the world.
Because Ibbigaine treatment exists largely outside mainstream medicine, the
medical subculture surrounding it has been described as a vast
uncontrolled experiment. In the US, Ibigaine is classified
as a Schedule I narcotic alongside heroin with no accepted
medical use, but in countries like Mexico and Brazil
, clinics operate legally under varying regulations. One of
the most prominent clinics, AMBO Life Sciences, is
located in Tijuana, Mexico. When people call and
they are really at their wits' end, ibogaine is
generally the final option for a lot of people.
So you're doing treatment what tomorrow? From the sounds
of it, yeah. Ambio offers medically supervised ibogaine
treatments tailored to each patient. One of those patients
is Kyle Diammaso, a 35-year-old mechanic from California who's
battled opioid addiction for two decades. I'm assuming I
can't remember much about my childhood because I've done drugs
since I was 15 years old. After high school
, Kyle joined the Marines in hopes of turning his
life around, but once he returned, he started
using again and more heavily. After multiple stints in
rehab, Kyle decided to try IBaine after hearing about
its effects on a podcast. Ibogaine represents something different
. I'm not saying that ibogaine is gonna cure me
of my drug addiction, but it might give me
a new chance to not do drugs again. Before
the IB game begins to work, Ambio's medical practitioners
and staff held a short ceremony to honor the weedy
tradition. We really don't know how your future will
be, but I'm pretty sure after this medicine we're
going to have a bunch of tools to take care
of our life in a better way. During the
treatment, Kyle was connected to a heart monitor and
constantly watched by Ambio's medical staff. He spent the
next 10 hours lying on a mattress. But IBgaine
treatment isn't easy. Patients often face hours of intense
, sometimes traumatic visions while lying semi-paralyzed. Many vomit
multiple times during the 10 to 12 hour trip,
so it's almost like a lucid dream type state for
some people. You might see visions that make sense
, visions that are meaningful, visions that help recontextualize
past traumatic events. Sometimes the visions are just sheer
chaos. Opioid addiction is notoriously difficult to overcome.
There is something really fundamental about opioid dependence. It's
the mother of all addiction. Dr. Kenneth Alper
has been studying ibogaine for decades. Opiates bind to
and activate something called the opioid receptor, and the
opioid receptor adapts to this. By becoming less sensitive
, this is pharmacological tolerance, which means that larger
and larger doses are needed to achieve the same effect
, and the development of tolerance also becomes the development
of dependence. When someone is physically dependent on opiates
and they stop using them abruptly, they go into
withdrawal, and the symptoms of withdrawal are quite dramatic
nausea, anxiety, sweating. Sleeplessness, muscle pains
, it's a really grueling ordeal that they go through
. Today, the standard treatment for opioid addiction in
the US is opioid replacement therapy, which involves swapping
an illegal opioid like heroin for an opioid medication that
reduces withdrawal symptoms and cravings without producing the same high
. But many people with opioid addiction like Kyle find
them mediocre at best. They decrease joy more than
anything. You're super flat. You don't experience emotion
still. Studies show that while current treatments for opioid
addiction are effective in reducing harm, they are not
very effective at getting off opioids. Still, there
is no question that medications like buprenorphine and methadone remain
the best legal treatment option for opioid addiction in the
US. Conventional treatment has saved a lot of lives
. It is certainly more effective than no treatment.
There has never been a formal clinical trial with IBaine
in the US. The evidence we do have of
IBaine's efficacy comes from small observational studies. A 2017
study found that 30% of participants reported never using opioids
again following IBaine treatment. Another study reported 75% of
patients stayed opioid free for a year after treatment,
but it would be misleading. to think of ibogaine
as a cure for opioid addiction. ibogaine is not
a magic bullet. What it is is it's a
powerful negative pattern interrupter, so powerful it can take
somebody off of heroin virtually overnight. Scientists still don't
understand exactly how ibigaine works. Basically, IBaine is
a is a new paradigm pharmacologically, I think it's
one of the most interesting pharmacological paradigms of you know
, our generation. But Ibiaine isn't without risk,
especially without proper screening and medical supervision. The biggest
risk of ibogaine use is death. Ibogaine does have
a cardiotoxicity issue. This is not something that you
do recreationally. For Kyle, the risks were worth
it. I've tried everything else. One way or
another, I go back. Texas can choose to
help end addiction. A movement is also underway to
make ibogaine a legal treatment option in the US.
Ibogaine has significant therapeutic value. Brian Hubbard led the
initiative, which successfully lobbied Texas to fund clinical research
into IBGaine. You have to create an incentive to
governmental expenditure. To foster the development of the therapeutic
, the Texas initiative will allocate millions in state funds
to establish a public-private research partnership for the first ever
IBA clinical trials in the US. Texas is now
leading the way in the United States. The evaluation
of Abigaine. Today, Ibigaine treatment remains out of
reach for most Americans addicted to opioids. Prices for
treatment range widely, depending on the provider, but
typically they run from about$5000 on the low end
to about$15,000. The Wall Street Journal last spoke
with Kyle about a month after his I began treatment
. It was definitely worth it because even though it
has sucked, it was way, way easier than
any other route. Kyle said his cravings disappeared immediately
, but some withdrawals did linger weeks after his treatment
. It's not something you can just like go and
do and you're going to be fixed. It doesn't
work that way. Like you have to be ready
to stop doing drugs for it to work and,
you know, that's where I was at. For
people who battle addiction like Kyle, and for a
country desperate for solutions, IBaine may not offer a
miracle, but a fighting chance. All right,
so today is June 7th. I'm along the coast
right now on a hike. Tomorrow will be a
week since you Iga, just the urge to do
drugs all the time is gone.