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from the we've-built-up-an-immunity-to-ibogaine-powder dept.
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Source: https://www.inverse.com/article/31461-ibogaine-cure-addiction
In West Africa, the roots of a native shrub contain a psychoactive substance called ibogaine. In small doses, ibogaine produces a mild euphoric effect somewhat comparable to other stimulant plants, like khat in the Horn of Africa or piri piri in the Amazon. But in large doses, its psychedelic effects are extraordinary.
[...] In Brazil, which has no such crisis, Gomes and his colleagues work with patients addicted to (predominately) crack cocaine. Though they'll meet with their patients a number of times, they'll administer ibogaine to each person only once. Speaking at the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference in California late last month, Gomes said most people he sees are addicts for whom traditional therapy and the various Anonymous programs have failed. They tend to be impatient with the precursor meetings and adherence to controlled settings, wanting mostly to get the drug, take it, and leave cured.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @12:22AM (8 children)
If only it were that easy to 'not be addicted'.
Addiction is usually mental as well as physical. You do not cure compulsion. You control it. Usually badly.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Tuesday May 30 2017, @12:26AM (4 children)
Not to rarely does addiction cover up some other emotional pain or physical issue. So once the addiction is cured. The next underlying problem might have to be dealt with.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @12:31AM (1 child)
I can stop shitposting anytime I want.
Niggers niggers everywhere and not a cock to suck! Everywhere are Black Lesbians!!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @01:04AM
I'll believe it when I don't see it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @12:42AM (1 child)
The seeds take a long time to get started... I had a few growing on my window sill for a few years before I got bored watching the tiny plants do nothing. YEARS. Maybe I did something wrong, but at least they were alive. (They weren't alive for long after I gave up--I put them outside and they disappeared after putting them in some loose soil...)
Interestingly enough, the ibogaine seeds were a free gift with my order of other curious stuff that probably could have caused an addition if used against the the site's EULA...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 30 2017, @04:18AM
Oh, thanks God the worst case scenario would have been an addition.
Can you imagine the world if, say, an exponentiation would occur? Extinction, I tell yea, pure mass extinction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @12:43AM (2 children)
given the right mental conditions, and the right chemical trip, that you could shake off the neurological effects of the addiction and given sufficient counselling beforehand, use the trip to explore and resolve the emotional/mental issues which lead you to substance abuse in the first place.
That is what the majority of vision-quest/guide type experiences are about, allowing your mind to float free, less tethered to reality so it can make rapid dreamlike experiences to work through things that otherwise might be impossible/take years to resolve.
But hey, other people have other opinions on that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @02:24AM (1 child)
Having dealt with *many* addicts over the years. I usually see remission not a cure. Even then it is 'one day at a time'. My father was alcohol free for 2 years. Right back to it. My wife is a 'pillhead'. 10 years clean. Right back into it a few months ago. It does not just 'go away'. It is a compulsion. They think they can control it. They cant. All they can do is avoid it.
Every pothead/pillhead/alcoholic/cokehead/crackhead I have come across always tell me the same thing. "they know what they are doing".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 30 2017, @03:06AM
In many cases, you are correct. Folks who have problems with addiction (although I'd remove 'pothead' from your list) often fall back into those holes. There are many reasons for this, and former addicts should leave their personal poison alone.
However, the idea of addiction as a chronic "disease" like diabetes that needs to be constantly treated is a product of the *Anonymous groups that have been shown to only work for a small minority [theatlantic.com].
There are many better treatment options than 12 step programs (I should know, I'm a member of 'Underachievers Anonymous', although that's an 8 step program).
What's more, many people confuse 'use' with 'abuse'. Many folks can have a few glasses of wine or get blotto on single-malt or smoke a blunt of KGB now and again and have no ill effects. As I tell my nephews and nieces, people have been altering their brain chemistry for (documented) millenia and likely tens of millenia. That isn't going to change and it's not necessarily a destructive thing. However, if such activity negatively impacts your ability to achieve your goals or live a decent life, then there's likely a problem.
Please understand, I'm not trying to minimize the terrible consequences that addiction visits on addicts, as well as on their friends, families and other loved ones. It's a horrible thing to lose control of one's life, or to watch someone you care about do so. I know this from sad experience. :(
I have close family members who have completely turned their lives around with AA (33 years clean just a few weeks ago), I have friends who walked away from their issues with drugs and haven't looked back. I did so myself. I have former friends who are long dead or who I occasionally see on the street, filthy and sparing change to get more drugs.
There are other, more effective treatments out there (and perhaps Ibogaine could be another one) that generally get drowned out by the hegemony of the 12 step programs.
All that said, the advice I'd give you and anyone else who has an addict in their lives is to encourage their loved one to seek help, but that addicts always blame someone else for their misfortunes, and they should never be trusted with money or drugs.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr