History+of+Ibogaine

__**History **__ Tabernanthe Iboga is a plant native to the Gabon forests of West Africa. Commonly called Iboga, this plant is a part of the Apocynacaea family. The chemical alkaloid contained in the roots and stems have come into prominence over the recent years because of the effectiveness in blood pressure reduction as well as their use as tranquilizers.

Iboga was first credited to the Pygmies of the interior jungles of West Africa, which in turn, passed their knowledge onto their neighbouring tribes, theApindji and the Mitsogho. They were the first to start the Bwitist rituals. Bwiti, translating as “dead”, was considered an ancestral cult. The origin of Bwiti included human sacrifice and ritual cannabalism. This eventually dwindled.

Iboga is widely cultivated by the Bwiti and Mbiri people for its rootbark. This bark is used as a sacrament that is ingested in a ceremonial ritual where it is believed that participants travel on an ancestral plane to meet their ancestors. During the ceremony there is singing and drumming until the highest state of excitement is reached under the influence of this plant. The participant then sits in front of a mirror, quietly staring at their image until they envision these ancestors.

It is described that this ritual allows the participant to return to infancy to experience rebirth and life in the womb. The ceremony allows them to return to what they call Mang Ayat, the land of the dead beyond the sea. This is said to be the place where spirits reside before birth and where they return after death.

In 1962, Howard Lotsof, a 19 year old heroin addict in New York, ordered some Iboga from a chemist and tried it for kicks. After consuming this drug, he experienced a tour of his early memories. After the effects had subsided, some 30 hours later, he noticed his craving for heroin had subsided without any withdrawal symptoms. It was then said that he gave seven other addicts the Iboga and five of them stopped taking drugs immediately after.

In 1986 Lotsof started a company called NDA International and filed patents for Ibogaine to treat addictions from heroin to nicotine. The company began a long process of getting the drug approved for humans in the United States, only to hit failure for approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The company then ran out of money for any more research. In the interim years, Ibogaine had been declared an illegal “schedule one” substance containing a hallucinigen, along with LSD and other psychedelic molecules with the potential for abuse and no medical value. In 1995 the National Institute of Health discontinued research into the substance and pharmaceutical companies have since ignored it.

