This article by Jennifer Walker-Journey was originally published on Psychedelic Spotlight, and appears here with permission.
Access to ibogaine treatment could help slow the river of opioid addiction around the world. Here’s how it works.
Ibogaine treatment facilities are popping up all around the world offering those addicted to opioids hope at long-lasting recovery without enduring painful withdrawal. Yet, the therapy is outlawed in the United States, a country in the throes of an opioid epidemic. That could all soon change.
The Opioid Tsunami
The opioid crisis hit the United States in waves. The first surge hit in the 1990s as prescriptions for highly addictive opioids like OxyContin and fentanyl were doled out to Americans like Skittles for everything from minor backaches to dental work. More than a quarter of the people prescribed opioids for chronic pain went on to misuse them and between 8% and 12% became addicted, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse