Crazy Wisdom
Episode #401: Unlocking the Secrets of Iboga: From Gabon’s Forests to Modern Healing
- Iboga
- Ibogaine
- addiction treatment
- heroin
- traumatic brain injury
- chronic pain
- Bwiti
- spiritual practice
This video isn't available here. Try YouTube, or listen to the audio below.
Watch on YouTubeAbout this episode
Timestamps
Key Insights
- Iboga and Ibogaine as Addiction Treatments: Ibogaine is primarily known for its effectiveness in treating heroin addiction. It interrupts the addiction cycle through a powerful psychoactive experience lasting 12-24 hours, which helps individuals detox from drugs like heroin and opioids. After the session, many report being free of withdrawal symptoms and cravings for months, providing a unique pathway out of addiction.
- Use in Treating Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Jonathan has worked extensively with veterans, especially Navy SEALs, using Ibogaine to address TBIs. These injuries, often from combat-related concussive forces, lead to symptoms that mirror PTSD. Ibogaine appears to regenerate brain function, as seen in a study conducted with Stanford University, where veterans exhibited significant brain activity improvement following treatment.
- Cultural Roots in Bwiti and African Traditions: Iboga has deep cultural significance in Gabon, particularly in Bwiti spiritual practices, which have been influenced by both indigenous Pygmy traditions and Bantu peoples. Bwiti uses Iboga in ceremonies for psycho-spiritual exploration, healing, and connection to ancestors, a tradition that has persisted for centuries and possibly millennia.
- Misunderstandings About Noribogaine: Many believe that noribogaine, a metabolite of Ibogaine, remains in the body for up to eight months, contributing to long-lasting effects. However, Jonathan clarifies that noribogaine remains in the system for only a few days or a week. The extended feeling of ease or afterglow people experience may be due to neurotrophic factors like GDNF, which stimulate brain healing and regeneration over time.
- Emerging Scientific Understanding of Ibogaine: Research into Ibogaine's mechanisms is still developing. It acts on many receptors in the brain, including the Sigma 2 receptor, which has been linked to pain relief and neuroprotective effects. There's also growing interest in its potential role in intracellular processes and energy metabolism, where it appears to improve cellular efficiency, possibly explaining its long-term regenerative effects on brain function.
- Decentralized Knowledge and Treatment Communities: Unlike tightly regulated pharmaceutical models, Ibogaine treatment has grown in a decentralized, community-driven way, with providers sharing their experiences and knowledge. This echoes the traditions of Bwiti and emphasizes the importance of communal support around Ibogaine therapy, where the intensity of the experience requires a supportive environment and a collective sharing of insights.
- Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing of Iboga: Jonathan is actively involved in ensuring the sustainable and ethical sourcing of Iboga through his company, Teregnosis. Working with Gabonese communities, Teregnosis follows the Nagoya Protocol to ensure that the benefits of Iboga's growing global interest are shared with the traditional communities that have long relied on this plant, protecting both the ecosystem and cultural heritage.
Episode transcript
Welcome to the Crazy Wisdom Podcast. This podcast is for you. If you have an insane drive to find the truth of things, it's not the good answers that we seek, but the good questions. I interview a range of different guests from many different fields, all with the intention to uncover the simple truths that are hidden in plain sight. Most people don't want to go there. I go there, my guests go there, and you benefit. Please let me know if you enjoy these episodes and as always, subscribe on itunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to the podcasts.
Welcome to the Crazy Wisdom Podcast. My guest today is. My guest today is Jonathan Dickinson. He is an Ebogaine treatment provider and the co founder and CEO of both Ambio Life Sciences and Pterognosis. Welcome to the show.
So what, so I wonder if I've now, it's now been a couple years since I did my last episode on Eboga and Ebo Gain. So I'm curious, I probably, probably should reintroduce my listeners to what those are if they don't know what they are already. Ebogain and Eboga are two very powerful treatments that are mostly used by people, people who are addicted to heroin to remove themselves from that lifetime addiction to heroin. But there's a 12 to 24 hour process that one goes after ingesting iboga or ibogaine that helps them to basically clear their, their, their systems of those drugs. But also it's a very powerful, very in, for a lot of people sort of terrifying experience. But at the end of it, they walk out of there without that same addiction for at least eight months. And so I went through an iboga and iboga ceremony and, and it was a very powerful part of my life and, and I've remained very interested in it. And so I'm very, very happy to be here with you today and, and kind of do another dive, deep dive into what's going on now with iboga and ibogaine. Would you agree with that description of what iboga, iboga or ibogaine is or would you add anything?
Your first full transcript is free. After that, an email opens every transcript in the index — a list of readers we can write to, not a guest book.