When an individual needs to detox from a drug addiction, they have certain choices. Some choices are readily available to be taken advantage of and others that are not widely accepted by medical professionals have to be sought out. Statistics show that of Americans over the age of 12, more than 20 million struggle with some kind of addiction. This does not include addiction to tobacco. In addition, illegal drug use is most common in individuals between the ages of 18 and 25.
Ibogaine is a new type of drug treatment that is still under observation by the medical community. Scientific data is currently being collected about this drug by professionals who are closely watching addicts undergoing ibogaine addiction treatment. Ibogaine is found in the iboga plant which is typical in West Africa. The substance, ibogaine, was, for many years, used by native West Africans as an aid in healing and as initiation into certain religious sects.
The attributes of Ibogaine as a treatment for addictions were first discovered by Howard Lotsof, who was, himself, a heroin addict. He came across ibogaine and tried it as a recreational drug. However, after a period of time, he noticed that he no longer had a craving for heroin, and that he was feeling better than he had since before his addiction. In addition, he was feeling no withdrawal symptoms from having not taken any heroin for a long period of time. Since that day, much experimentation has been done using ibogaine in the treatment of opiate addiction, and the same healing characteristics have shown to be successful over and over again. Individuals who have been given ibogaine treatment for opiate addiction have experienced the reduction of more than 98% of withdrawal symptoms and absolutely no more desire for the addictive drug. This type of detox has become extremely sought after by people suffering from drug addiction.
Ibogaine, in small doses, eliminates feelings of fatigue and boosts energy. Given in higher doses, it enables people to recover hidden memories, sometimes of events or acts that were conducive in causing their addiction. Under the influence of ibogaine, individuals have been able to retrieve those memories and deal with them, even resolving them, afterward moving on to their healing.
The first detox sessions utilizing ibogaine took place in the late 1980s in Amsterdam. Because the push to have ibogaine approved as a prescription drug to be used in the detoxing process for drug users has not yet been legalized, it is basically used underground. Ibogaine therapy providers are being called a medical subculture, and have performed over 3,000 successful sessions around the world. More ibogaine clinics are opening up all the time as a result of their success.
