Frequently Asked Questions

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What is ibogaine?

Over ten years ago, we discovered an ancient natural tribal remedy in the Tabernanthe Iboga shrub native to Gabon and other nations in West Central Africa. This substance is called Ibogaine and it has long been used in shamanic rituals of initiation and spiritual quests.

In more recent times it has been discovered that Ibogaine has the property of interrupting substance addiction. With the help of this natural extract, addicts can experience symptom-free withdrawal, a true full physiological release from chemical dependency. With a very specific type of counseling following ibogaine treatment, they are able to focus on underlying causes to heal the psychological aspects of addiction as well.
See introduction

How does ibogaine work?

Ibogaine is an oneirophrenic (dream-inducing) drug that activates the users long-term memory, briunging to the surfca informatioun from the unconscious, causing vast insight into oneself. Therapists consider one ibogaine experience to be equal to years of talk or group therapy. Some patients describe their experience as being in a dream and watching sketches or slights of their life. Other patients have described their experience as if they went into the file cabinets in their brain and reorganized it. Ibogaine allows someone to see their true self and to re-experience past events and repressed memories in a detached way without the emotional pain often associated with these memories. The psychotherapeutic benefits of an ibogain experience have served as a major breakthrough for addicts who have previously lacked an understanding of themselves.
See how it works

How is ibogaine administered?

Any treatment provided by an experienced and knowledgable Ibogaine therapist will include a medical and psychiatric review for the patients safety. After the reviews, Ibogaine is orally administered with a therapist present.
See treatment

Why should I choose the I Begin Again Center?

Our leading therapist, Eric Taub, has performed hundreds of therapeutic ibogaine sessions in the last ten years all over the world. He has been referenced in numerous scientific papers including Ibogaine: Proceedings of the First International Conference, The Journal of Primal Psychology, and also served as a contributing author for the Manual for Ibogaine Therapy. His interviews have been featured on such radio shows as the Conscious Café out of San Francisco and have also appeared in publications such as The Resonance Project and The London Times.

"Devout ibogaine advocate Eric Taub used to treat people on a boat in international waters. He now has clinics in Costa Rica and Italy, and is the source of most satisfied experience reports."
-- The London Times

Contact Eric!

What happens during the session?

See treatment

Is ibogaine recognized in the medical community?

Because ibogaine is illegal, it is only recognized by some doctors with others fearing for the repurcussions of endorsing an illegal drug. Please see our articles section for more on this debate between use and legality.

How much does it cost?

Contact us for more information

How can I find out more?

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Why is ibogaine illegal in the US?

Ibogaine was made illegal in the United States when it was classified in 1969 as a hallucinogen with the status of a schedule 1 drug due to it's

• "high potential of abuse"
• "no currently accepted medical use"
• "a lack of accepted safety for use"

Despite promising resultes during clinical trials on humans in the US there has not been enough funding to get Ibogaine approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Pharmaceutical companies are not interested in bringing it to the market due to the lack of monetary reward from ibogaine's sale or distribution. Also, the patent on ibogaine is about to end and the single administration modality of ibogaine does not create a prospect for adequate and continuous revenue as in methadone maintenance programs.

Although most countries were hightly influenced by the US legislation of ibogaine, most other countries did not explicitly made it illegal.

International legal restrictions of ibogaine

Australia: ibogaine figures as a schedule IV-drug, i.e. it is illegal to import it without a license.
Belgium: the posession of ibogaine-hydrochloride, the purified alcaloid, is restricted.
Sweden: ibogaine-hydrochloride, the purified salt, is listed as a schedule 1 drug.
Switzerland: ibogaine-hydrochloride is a restricted substance.

Negative side effects:

• ataxia (inability to coordinate voluntary bodily movements) for up to 24 hours
• nausea and dizziness for up to 24 hours
• visual and auditory distortions for up to 12 hours
• insomnia for up to 1 week

What can I expect?

• 80% to 100% painfree withdrawal
• Insights into the subconsciousness
• Healing the inner wounds of the mind and spirit.
• Feeling of freedom and autonomy

Who benefits?

In particular addicts to opiates, alcohol and cocaine.

What are the risks?

Under proper medical supervision there were no declared incidences so far. However during the last 20 years 2 fatalities happened. The first one was a German woman who underwent the treatment in Holland and died during a period when she wasn't observed by the staff. After careful examination of the data Dr. Ken Alpers from N.Y. defends the theory that the woman managed to leave the treatment-facilities and took heroin while the ibogaine was still very active in her body and hence overdosed on Heroin, since Ibogaine resensibilizes the body to opiates.
The other death happened in Switzerland during a treatment given by a psychiatrist who administered ibogaine inspite of a serious heart-defect of the patient (and might have used MDMA concurrently).

Can you get addicted to ibogaine?

While ibogaine can create fascinating experiences, it provides little or no bodily pleasure like Cocaine or Heroin. It contributes to a reintegration of the brain and as such helps to interrupt addiction rather than causing another addiction.

Contraindications

• Greatly abnormal values of the liver-panel and the blood-test.
• Severe psychological disorders.
• Cardiac problems.
• Some gastro-intestinal tract-problems (ulcer, gastric haemorragia...)
• Cerebro-cerebellar disorders
• Pregnany

Toxicity

Medication Development of Ibogaine as a Pharmacotherapy for Drug Dependence,Deborah C. Mash, Craid A. Kovera, Billy E. Buck, Michael D. Norenberg, Paul Shapshak W. Lee Hearn and Juan Sanchez-Ramos, (1998) Ann. NY AScad Sci, 844:274-291.

"...toxicological studies conducted in primates have demonstrated that oral ibogaine administration, given at doses (5 x 25 mg kg) recommended for the treatment of cocaine and opiate dependence appear to be safe and free of behavioral or cerebellar toxicity."

In the same paper the authors discuss the autopsy of a patient dying of natural causes who had received four ibogaine treatments of between 10 mg/kg and 29 mg/kg. "There were no degenerative changes seen in the cerebellum; cerebellar Purkinje cells were normal and there was no evidence of any significant cytopathology or neurodegeneration in any other brain area