Since the 1960s a disparate group of scientists and former drug
addicts have been advocating a radical treatment for addiction –
a hallucinogen called ibogaine, derived from an African plant,
that in some cases seems to obliterate withdrawal symptoms from
heroin, cocaine and alcohol. So why isn’t it widely used? Dr.
Anwar Jeewa at the Minds Alive Rehab Centre in Chatsworth,
Naidoo, estimates he has treated around 1,000 people with
ibogaine but it remains largely unacknowledged by the medical
mainstream. The drug, derived from the root of a central African
plant called iboga, had been used for centuries by the Bwiti
people of Gabon and Cameroon, as part of a tribal initiation
ceremony. As far as scientists understand, ibogaine affects the
brain in two distinct ways. The first is metabolic. It creates a
protein that blocks receptors in the brain that trigger
cravings, stopping the symptoms of withdrawal. With normal detox
this process can take months. Its second effect is much less
understood. It seems to inspi