Hi all,
So, recent news has brought Ibogaine into the forefront as a treatment for opioid addiction. I don't agree with it, and it's not for political reasons. The efficacy, or effectiveness, of low-dose psychedelics for various mental health treatments is a topic of ongoing research, and I would not be surprised if it were a great treatment to help people get off of opioids. The problem is for long-term use. Ibogaine is highly cardiotoxic, meaning it interferes with heart rhythms. Methadone, the most common opiod replacement medication also causes "long QT syndrome" but it is manageable. Add Ibogaine to that mix and you have no idea wha the effects will be. From other discussions on blue light for instance, it is not a pretty situation.
Do I think psychedelics can help lower dose or more opiate naive patients, who only require 50mg or less methadone transition off? Absolutely, and it is worth study. However, I would hope the solution could be something like low dose psilocin, ie microdose mushrooms instead of a heavy hallucinogen like ibogaine. Even ketamine may be worth a try. But not ibogaine. Its just not worth the health risk, which is something this administration doesnt care about.
Ibogaine is a psychedelic that is quite different from psilocybin, but the current research suggests that it is highly effective at treating opiate addiction. While it is highly cardiotoxic, it is not something that would be used long term. It has already been used underground or in other countries as an addiction treatment for quite some time now. How its is used is that a patient would undergo a single session of taking one large dose or several small doses where they will experience a strong dream like hallucinatory state. During this, they are closely monitored by medical professionals ready to step in if the heart starts to struggle.
While ibogaine is not ideal because of its toxicity, more research and funding into it can help discover new analogues that are less toxic.