An African rainforest plant offers drug addicts a "window of opportunity" to
break their destructive habits.
"Ibogaine is 95 per cent effective in alleviating the withdrawal symptoms
of heroin, cocaine, alcohol and nicotine," claims Hatty Wells, a London
researcher.
And in her experience this relief results in complete rehabilitation for one
in three addicts.
The dramatic effects of the plant, which is still widely used in Central
Africa as a medicine and in rituals, were discovered in the 1960s by a New
York drug user, Howard Lotsof.
Brian Mariano, who runs a clinic in Prague visited by English people, has
achieved "remarkable results" even with those addicted to methadone, the
so-called heroin replacement (see below). *
"Ibogaine give people freedom of choice," he says. "Thereafter it is up to
the addict. It depends on the level of commitment."
Wells affirms this: "The key is the journey to find out what is the cause of
the addiction."
Wells and Mariano have tried the plant extract on those suffering from food
and sex addictions, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. They are both
optimistic about the results.
They are campaigning to get this "wonder cure" accepted by the medical
establishment. They hope to create centres of residential treatment, along
the lines of the Healing Visions Clinic, in St Kitts, West Indies.
Mariano is clear that without a healing context the effects of Ibogaine can
be diminished. "It is not painful, but it is hard work. The treatment must
be supervised and it is best to stablise the addicts health by insuring
proper nutrition."
Despite a mounting body of evidence, neither the medical profession, nor,
surprisingly, the pharmaceutical industry are supportive of what could be a
life-line for our nation's ever rising tide addicts.
For more information: visit - www.ibogaine.co.uk, www.ibogainetreatment.net
1. Drug users
Government statistics say that there are over a quarter of million heroin
addicts in the UK. Thatıs greater than the population of York. But many
experts believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg with the true
figure more like the size of Leeds at three quarters of a million.
2. * Methadone; the FALSE CURE
Detox or "rehab" treatments are labour intensive. Junkies suffer
terribly in withdrawal and have to be nursed through a long, painful
process. After this they have to learn how to live without drugs.
Health authorities donıt much like to fund these facilities. Instead,
they favour a "cheap and cheerless" solution. Methadone.
Methadone has a very poor success rate for curing addiction but it is
good at helping heroin addicts keep withdrawal symptoms at bay.
Unfortunately it does this by hooking them onto a drug that is even
stronger - and harder to give up. Worse, because it offers no "high",
most junkies just use methadone to keep them going till they can next
afford heroin or crack cocaine. So they end up addicted to both.
The best that can be said for methadone is that it keeps the crime rate
down. Users are slightly less likely to break the law to pay for their
next fix.
(Methadone... a special note - we criticise the effectiveness of
methadone in the treatment of heroin addiction. We do not retract our
remarks but would like to point out that, in the absence of any
alternative treatment... and provided a person is truly and deeply
determined to stop taking heroin, methadone can be greatly helpful.)
