Historical Ibogaine Media & Press Archives
This is not a complete archive of ibogaine-related pieces from the 90s, it represents part of a collection of materials which were not accessible on the internet previously. In particular it focuses on the FDA and NIDA’s involvement during a period of time when ibogaine testing on human subjects had been approved by the FDA and permission granted to Dr. Deborah Mash and the University of Miami to proceed with clinical trials. Plus, also, it contains EVEN MORE Dana Beal than ever before.
The clinical trials for ibogaine eventually ground to a halt when NIDA refused to provide further funding to pursue the necessary research and instead turned their focus and attention to the opioid-maintenance drug buprenorphine (branded and marketed as: Subutex and Suboxone).
Due to strong financial backing and lobbying by Reckitt Benckiser (the pharmaceutical company that developed buprenorphine), the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) was passed; it allowed physicians who received special training to prescribe Schedule III, IV and V narcotic drugs for drug treatment. Prior to this historic event, most individuals on opioid-maintenance programs were required to attend opioid-maintenance clinics and were subjected to the often dehumanizing conditions of current methadone-maintenance programs.
Within the United States buprenorphine was rescheduled to Schedule III, and approved for maintenance of opioid addiction in October of 2002. This allowed opioid-dependent individuals to simply pick up their prescriptions at any pharmacy, instead of being treated like cattle or prisoners of the state (a realistic assessment of what many methadone-maintenance programs have devolved into).
Ibogaine was kicked to the curb, and Americans received yet another highly-addictive — and highly profitable — opioid for use in substitution therapy. While buprenorphine represents a significant harm reduction victory, and policy improvement over methadone maintenance; when all is said and done, it’s Yet Another highly-addictive opioid maintenance drug that falls far short of a providing a “cure” or interruption of drug dependence.