The intoxication by iboga (chewing) is slow and progressive and is
characterized by four
stages of oneiric manifestations.
The first three stages are essentially of the Freudian type; the
fourth one, called the stage
of normative visions, corresponds to the collective image of the tribe,
visions of the beyond
and of spiritual entities, Masters of the Universe.
The initiate will see the Bwiti only twice during his life, on the day
of his initiation and on the
day of his death, which means that the normative visions have some
similarities to the near
death experience (NDE).
The psychotherapeutic method of Naranjo involves only the Freudian
stages
produced by subtoxic doses of ibogaine, while H.S. Lotsof goes beyond
that stage to reach
another one comparable to the normative visions or NDE, bringing about
the cure of
addicts.
Based on recent "neuroscientific" evidence concerning the
mode of action
of ibogaine, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has added
ibogaine to the list of
drugs whose activity in the treatment of drug dependency is to be
evaluated. Ibogaine blocks
the morphine- and cocaine-induced stimulation of mesolimbic and striatal
dopamine and
reduces the intravenous self-administration of morphine in rats.
by Robert Goutarel,
Honorary Research Director; Otto Gollnhofer and Roger Sillans,
Ethnologists,
C.N.R.S. (French National Scientific Research Center)
"Clinical research, the one which is directly concerned with human illness, will be the bearer of great hopes."
Philippe Lazar, Director General of INSERM (French National Institute of
Health and
Medical Research), Madame Figaro, No. 14110, 88 (1990)
* The Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.
** This sample, along with the roots, was displayed at the Paris
Exposition in 1867, and had
been reported earlier by Aubry-Lecomte ("Note sur quelques poisons
de la côte
occidentale de l'Afrique, Archives de Médecine navale, 2, 1864,
p. 264-265). It was
then given to the Paris Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle.
At the beginning of this century, Dybowsky and Landrin (1901)17 isolated a crystallized alkaloid from the iboga roots and named it ibogaine.
The first step in the pharmacodynamic studies began when Phisalix (1901)43 showed that, in the dog, this alkaloid acts principally on the CNS and produces inebriation similar to alcoholic drunkenness (though this would be contradicted later).
This was the period of studies by the French pharmacologists, Lambert, 190130, 190231 Heckel, 190128 and Pouchet, 190544.
The results were that ibogaine, used clinically, was recommended as a stimulant in cardiac "atony" and neurasthenia by Pouchet and Chevalier (1905)44.
This period ended in 1905 with the thesis for a medical degree, "De l'Iboga et de l'ibogaïne" (de Closmenil 1905)9, defended in Paris by Mme de Closmenil, the daughter of Landrin, who advocated the use of ibogaine hydrochloride at doses of 10-30 mg/day in convalescence, neurasthenia and asthenia. Thus, it was the "antifatigue" properties of ibogaine that particularly attracted the attention of investigators of this period, and another 40 years were to pass before the study of this alkaloid was resumed.
Pharmacodynamics (1939-1950)
In 1941, Raymond-Hamet48 published a paper entitled "L'iboga, drogue défatigante mal connue" (Iboga, a poorly known antifatigue drug), in which he showed that ibogaine increases the responsiveness of animals to epinephrine and puts the organism in a state of hypersympathicotonus, and he would later refer to it as a "sympathicosthenic" agent, in contrast to yohimbines which, according to him, were "sympathicolytics".
During the same period, Delourme-Houdé prepared a remarkable thesis for a doctorate of pharmacy which he defended after the war was over in France in 1944. In this thesis, he discussed the botany, chemistry, and pharmacodynamics of iboga. He also isolated a new alkaloid which he named tabernanthine (Delourme-Houdé, 1944)13. Delourme-Houdé determined the LD50 of ibogaine in the guinea pig intraperitoneally to be 82 mg/kg.
In 1941, Raymond-Hamet had demonstrated the "sympathicosthenic" activity of ibogaine and the fact that this alkaloid suppressed the hypertensive effects produced by carotid occlusion, that it increases tyramine-induced hypertension, and he further demonstrated its own hypotensive action, confirmed by Miss Séro (1944)55. He showed that ibogaine acts as a true antagonist of "sympatholytics" (Raymond-Hamet 1939-1946)47. Vincent and Miss Séro, of Montpellier, demonstrated the inhibitory action of iboga on serum cholinesterase (Vincent, D. and Séro, I. 1942)56. Previously, in 1939, Wurman (1939)57 had published a Doctorate of Medicine thesis in Paris, entitled "Contribution à l'étude expérimentale et thérapeutique d'un extrait de T. manii (syn. T. Subsessilis), d'origine gabonaise" (Contribution to the experimental and therapeutic study of an extract of T. manii [syn. T. subsessilis] from Gabon). This extract reportedly contained about 6% total alkaloids including 4% ibogaine, as determined by the assays of Raymond-Hamet.
According to Wurman, this extract stimulates hematopoiesis in the mouse and has a hypotensive action.
Therapeutic application: Lambarène, 1939-1970
It was during this period, in 1939, that a proprietary pharmaceutical preparation called Lambarène in honor of Dr. Schweitzer, was first marketed in France: it was based on a dry pharmaceutical extract of roots of Tabernanthe manii, with a drug content of 0.20 g of extract per tablet (about 8 mg of ibogaine), whose therapeutic action, dosage regimen and effects were, according to package information, as follows: "a neuromuscular stimulant, promoting cell combustions and getting rid of fatigue, indicated in cases of depression, asthenia, in convalescence, infectious diseases, greater than normal physical or mental efforts by healthy individuals. 2-4 Tablets daily. Rapid and prolonged action, not followed by depression. May be administered to hypertensives."
The fact that it was recommended for physical or mental efforts by healthy individuals rapidly aroused the interest of post-war athletes (Paris-Strasbourg walking race competitors, mountain climbers, cyclists, cross-country runners, etc.). Haroun Tazieff* gave the following description of his experience with Lambarène in his book, "Le gouffre de la Pierre Saint-Martin" (Arnaud publ.). "Go ahead", said André (the expedition's doctor), "it will give you strength. And also swallow this, he added as he handed me a tablet. Do you think we should already be taking this? Shouldn't we save it until we are completely exhausted?" It was Lambarène, a stimulant, a "doping" agent which was supposed to enable us to find the necessary strength in our exhausted bodies. "No, go ahead, what we have to do is to prevent fatigue. Later on, we'll be taking some more, regularly..." We had just swallowed our third tablet of Lambarène, and we could feel a tonic effect.
I hastened, "doped up" on Lambarène, and jumped from one boulder to the next with renewed agility... Despite the Lambarène, I was really beginning to feel worn out and had trouble scaling the huge boulders which we immediately had to descend to start on the next one, while insidious cramps crept along the anterior portions of my thighs. I was hoping they wouldn't get worse... I took another Lambarène. While André climbed up the ladder, I massaged my legs. Within ten minutes, everything was in order and in turn I climbed up without any difficulty... In spite of the fact that I had swallowed a Lambarène, I really didn't feel talkative at all. Time flowed on, like a stream. One hour passed, and so did the effect of the Lambarène... *Celebrated French geologist and volcanologist, Honorary Research Director at the C.N.R.S.
And, on this last day, this frenzied race toward our discovery, these six hours of descent and climbing sustained by Lambarène, this day on top of all others, it was terrible... Only the stimulant enabled us to keep going. When the effect of the last tablet had passed and I had no more, I was nothing but a pitiful package of meat miserably dangling at the end of a wire."
Lambarène disappeared from the market around 1966 and the sale of ibogaine was prohibited.
Since 1989, this alkaloid has been on the list of doping substances banned by the International Olympic Committee, the International Union of Cyclists and the French State Secretariat for Youth and Sports. Pharmacodynamics, 1950s-1970s The 3rd period covers the time of the discovery of reserpine in the Rauwolfias by Schlittler (Mueller, J.M., Schlittler, E., Bein, H.J. 1952)40, which prompted a new interest in plants containing indole alkaloids.
French chemists were outstanding in this field by virtue of their discovery of new indole alkaloids and by establishing their structures, but we must say that foreign pharmacologists were mainly responsible for the new research on the pharmacodynamics of Iboga.
A description of these investigations can be found in the PhD thesis of Dhahir (1971)12, and in an article by J. Delourme-Houdé which was published in Fitoterapia (Delourme-Houdé 1977)19.
Structurally, ibogaine is a derivative of serotonin and an indole azepine.25 It was this comparison with serotonin that was the main subject of Dhahir's thesis (1971)14.
In this thesis at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Indiana in 1971, Dhahir established the acute and chronic toxicities of ibogaine: The intragastric LD50 in the rat is 327 mg/kg. The intraperitoneal LD50 in the rat is 145 mg/kg. The mouse and the guinea pig are more sensitive than the rat. The toxicity is not changed by the ingestion of 1 g/kg of alcohol. Alcohol suppresses tremor in the animal as a result of its depressant effect on the CNS which attenuates the stimulant effects of ibogaine.
Therefore, the inebriation in the dog reported in 1901 by Phisalix is not comparable to alcoholic inebriation. Larger quantities of alcohol (2 g/kg) slightly increase the toxicity of ibogaine. Atropine sulfate at doses of 1-2 mg/kg does not affect the toxicity of ibogaine but does away with the ataxia, tremors and most of the external signs of intoxication.
The study of chronic toxicity shows that when ibogaine was administered for 30 days at a dose of 10 mg/kg i.p., it caused no liver, kidney, heart or brain damage. The administration of 40 mg/kg for 12 days to 10 rats produced no pathological changes in the liver, kidneys, heart or brain. This is in contrast with the toxicity of serotonin which, at doses four times lower, causes serious damage to the kidneys: tubular dilatation and degeneration and the presence of eosinophils.
Thus, ibogaine appears to be a relatively nontoxic alkaloid, particularly by oral administration, with a wide therapeutic index ranging from 10 to 50 mg as an antidepressant in humans and, as we shall see later, from 300 mg to 1 g when used for its oneiric action, the toxic doses being similar to those of aspirin and quinine.
Schneider and Reinehart (1957)51 analyzed the cardiovascular effect of ibogaine hydrochloride in the dog and the cat and showed that at doses of 2 to 5 mg/kg, ibogaine exerts negative chronotropic and inotropic effects.
The slowing of the cardiac output is responsible for the drop in blood pressure. These effects are suppressed by atropine.
Gershon and Lang (1962)16 suggested that the changes in the electrocardiogram of the unanesthetized dog indicate that ibogaine enhances sinus arrhythmia and potentiates the vagal effects. They confirmed what had been pointed out by Raymond-Hamet: ibogaine potentiates hypertension produced by epinephrine and norepinephrine. They pointed out that the negative chronotropic activity of indole alkaloids is increased by the introduction of a methoxyl group on the indole ring. Zetler and Lessau (1972)58 synthesized two azepino-indoles and compared them with four indole alkaloids. These compounds have direct noncholinergic effects with negative chronotropic and inotropic actions.
Neuropharmacological studies were carried out by Schneider and Sigg(1957)52 using isolated cat brain preparations, as well as curarized cats and dogs. The electroencephalogram shows a typical arousal syndrome when 2 to 5 mg/kg of ibogaine hydrochloride are given intravenously. They suggested that the site of action of ibogaine must be in the ascending reticular formation.
Pretreatment with atropine (2 mg/kg) blocks this ibogaine-induced arousal. There is no effect on neuromuscular transmission.
Numerous researchers were interested in the tremor produced by certain indole alkaloids, particularly ibogaine. This tremor is of central origin and is suppressed by atropine. In addition, Schneider explained the morphine-potentiating effect of ibogaine by its inhibiting action on cholinesterase.53
Finally, in 1972, in a study on the effects of some CNS-active drugs that can interact with ceruloplasmin, Barrass and Coult (1972)2 indicated that at a concentration equal to that of the substrate, ibogaine inhibits 50% of the oxidation of serotonin and catalyzes the oxidation of catecholamines (200%) by the copper-containing plasma globulin. They classified ibogaine among the hallucinogens and noted that LSD produces the same effects at a concentration 10 times lower.
It should be noted that Naranjo (1969)41 explained the antifatigue and antidepressant properties of ibogaine by defining it as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). We should add that more recently in France, Wepierre45 studied the influence of tabernanthine, an isomer of ibogaine, on the kinetic parameters of the turnover of cardiac norepinephrine in the hypoxic rat. This hypoxia can serve as a model to assess the protective action of this substance against fatigue. In addition, at Gif-sur-Yvette, in the CNRS Laboratory of Physiology of the Nervous System, Dr. Naquet demonstrated that in the cat, tabernanthine produces a calm and prolonged wakefulness, very different from the one produced by amphetamines. (Da Costa, L., Sulklaper, I., Naquet, R., Rev. EEG Neurophysiol. 1980, 10, 1, 105)11. This wakefulness is followed by slow sleep without the anomalies that occur in REM sleep, the period of dreams (Da Costa, L. 1980).11 1970s-1990
This previous third period lasted about 25 years. It was not until the fourth period, which runs from the 1970s to the present, that knowledge was acquired, sometimes illegally, into the nature of the oneiric effects in humans of iboga and ibogaine, on the one hand through the remarkable studies in the field by the CNRS ethnologists O. Gollnhofer and R. Sillans and by the ORSTOM (Office of Overseas Scientific and Technical Research.) ethnologist J. Binet, concerning the Mitsogho Bwiti and its extension to the different Bwitis of the Fang (Gollnhofer, O. and Sillans, R., 1985); Gollnhofer, O. and Sillans, R., 1983; Binet, J., Gollnhofer O., Sillans, R., 1972)23,24,4, and on the other hand through the researches conducted in Chile by Claudio Naranjo (1969)41, and in North America by Howard Lotsof (1985, 1986, 1989, 1991)32-37. The Gabonese rituals of iboga: Bwiti of the Mitsogho4,23,24
The original Bwiti or Bwiti of the Mitsogho arose among the Mitsogho when they reached the territory that is now Gabon. In the remote period, the Bwiti itself was a product of a syncretism made up of ancestor worship enhanced by the discovery of iboga (perhaps imparted by the Pygmies of the equatorial forest) and of cultural elements acquired during the migrations of the Mitsogho.
Among the Mitsogho (and the Bapinzi), the Bwiti is strictly for males, and those who have been initiated are considered as Masters and sole custodians of the mystery of the visual knowledge of the beyond given to them by iboga, the "miraculous tree". This initiation is indispensable for social promotion within the tribe and any individual who is unable to joint the Bwiti becomes an outcast and is considered by one and all as a girl.
Iboga brings about the visual, tactile and auditory certainty of the irrefutable existence of the beyond. Through his spiritually immutable substance, man belongs on two planes of existence with which he blends, knowing not where birth and death begin. Physical death loses all meaning because it is nothing but a new life, another existence. "It is Iboga that conditions the several existences."
Iboga does away with the notion of time, the present, past and future blend into one, as in the superluminous universe of Régis and Brigitte Dutheil16: through the absorption of iboga, man returns to the birthplace whence he came. In order to be admitted to the Bwiti Society, the candidates must submit to a series of trials or rites of passage that begin in an enclosure strictly reserved for the initiates.
Each candidate has a "mother", who is an old initiate; this is a man who sees to it that the initiatory ceremony is conducted properly.
This ceremony consists essentially of ingesting scrapings of iboga root (Tabernanthe iboga H.Bn. var. ñoke and mbassoka).
This "chewing of iboga" is supervised by the "mother" who constantly checks the dosage of the drug according to the physiological reactions of his candidate who must take a very large quantity of root bark and stems of T. iboga.
This chewing is preceded by abstinence from sex and food the day before. The rite is very strict and each manifestation has great symbolic value.
Over a fire, the elders roast squash seeds. The sound they make as they pop symbolizes the release of the spirit -- which supposedly leaves the body through the fontanelle -- on its mystical journey. The candidate's skull is struck three times with a hammer to help free his spirit. The neophyte's tongue is pricked with a needle to give it the power to relate the visions to come.
Since the chewing can last several days, the disincarnation and the reincarnation of the neophyte are reenacted before the visions appear.
The candidate is led to the river, and a miniature dugout canoe made of a leaf, bearing a lit torch of okoumé resin, is set upon the waters. This rite represents the journey of the spirit, downstream, toward the West, the setting sun, death, and symbolizes disincarnation.
A stake surmounted by a diamond-shaped wooden structure is planted in midstream: it represents the female sexual organ, which the candidate must go through (in a fetal state) against the current, thus swimming upstream, from the East, the rising sun, from birth.
For the enactment of this initiatory birth, the neophyte's head is shaved and is sprinkled with a red wood (padouk), as is done with the newborn. Finally, as soon as the neophyte's psychological state after the chewing is considered satisfactory, he is led into the Temple where he is placed on the left side, symbolizing womanhood, darkness, death. He remains in the Temple, on the left side, absorbing iboga leaves until the normative perception of the visions occurs.
During the chewing, the effects of the drug begin to be manifested twenty minutes after the first absorption of iboga by violent and repeated vomiting: "The belly of the neophyte (banzi) is emptied even of its mother's milk."
To go to the beyond, one has to die; the body remains on the ground with the elders, the soul departs.
The physiological manifestations begin with drowsiness, followed by motor incoordination, strong agitation, tremor, crying and laughter, partial anesthesia with intermittent hypothermia and hyperthermia, panting that may go as far as choking.
To assess the progress of the intoxication and to adjust the dosage, those in charge take the pulse, listen to the heartbeat, check the temperature simply by touching the body and evaluate sensibility by pricking with a needle at different times. According to the physiological state, the "mothers" regulate the dose of iboga up or down from time to time. The oneiric effects do not begin to be manifested until after about ten hours, during which time the aforementioned rituals take place, partly in public with dances and music.
Among the Mitsogho, the subjects under the influence of iboga go through four stages to reach an image content corresponding to the required norms. The candidates are constantly questioned by the initiated elders as to the content of what they perceive. The elders are the ones who make a judgment as to the initiatory value of the vision described. The first vision consists of hazy, incoherent, disordered images devoid of religious significance, whose authenticity is often questioned by the neophyte. The second stage is characterized by a series of apparitions of menacing looking animals that sometimes break apart and at times form together again rapidly. In the third stage, the oneiric vision clearly progresses toward the mythical stereotype. The neophyte grows more and more calm, a sign of a pleasant, peaceful vision that dispels his doubts as to the objectivity and factualness of the image perceived. The neophyte feels himself enveloped by a wind that carries him off in the twinkling of an eye, to the sound of the Ngombi harp, to an immense village without a beginning or end.
We ought to say a word about the symbolic value of the musical bow whose melodious sounds accompany the ceremony. It represents a link between the village of the men here on earth and the village of the father in the beyond. The musical bow symbolizes the road of life and death. On the way over, voices are heard: "Who is it that you seek, stranger?" And the traveler answers: "I seek the Bwiti." The voices suddenly take on human forms that ask the question again and then respond in a chorus: "You are looking for the Bwiti. The Bwiti is us, your ancestors, we constitute the Bwiti." The vision tends more and more to become normative. The initiates then tell the candidate: "You are on the right path, the Bwiti will soon be here. Go further on. Look, and you will find it. You must not forsake the images; take up where you left off." A voice gives the candidate his initiatory name. The neophyte is watched constantly by his "mother", who regulates his psychophysiological reactions to prevent him from letting terrifying phantoms interfere, for they would lead him down the wrong path, down the road of death. The fourth stage, of vision (the one that ethnologists refer to as the stage of normative visions) is the one marked by the encounter with higher spiritual entities. After a dialogue with his ancestors, the neophyte suddenly finds "his legs immobilized, before two Extraordinary Beings" who disclose that he is in the "Village of the Bwiti" (village of the dead). They ask him why he has come to this place. After hearing the answer of the neophyte, the "Fantastic Beings" speak again. The first one says: "My name is Nzamba-Kana, the father of humankind, the first man on earth", and the one standing to his left says: "My name is Disumba, the mother of humankind (wife of Nzamba-Kana) and the first woman on earth." Suddenly, the "Village of the Dead" is covered with increasingly intense sparks, a "ball of light" takes shape and becomes distinct (Kombé, the sun). This ball of light questions the visitor as to the reasons for his journey. "Do you know who I am? I am the Chief of the World, I am the essential point!" This is my wife Ngondi (the moon) and these are my children (Minanga) the stars. The Bwiti is everything you have seen with your own eyes." After this dialogue, the sun and the moon change into a handsome boy and a beautiful girl. Without any warning, the moon and the sun resume their original forms and disappear. The thunder (Ngadi) is heard and calm returns everywhere. The wind wraps around the neophyte for a second time and carries him to earth among the living. The elders greet him with pride: "He has seen the Bwiti with his own eyes", and invite him to take his place on the right side of the Temple, the side of men and of life.