Apocynaceae
Tabernanthe iboga
Iboga
- Part used
- rootbark
- Native range
- Rainforest of Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo
- Morphology
- An understorey shrub to about two metres with small yellowish-white flowers and orange fruit, over a root whose bark carries most of the alkaloid.
What is in it
Evidence
Ibogaine has been investigated for opioid dependence, with observational reports of interrupted withdrawal. There are no adequate controlled trials, and the safety record has prevented them.
Safety
Ibogaine prolongs the QT interval and causes fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Deaths in treatment settings are documented and are the reason the compound is not in clinical use. Also causes ataxia and prolonged altered states lasting many hours. It is among the most dangerous substances in this collection.
Interactions: Additive QT prolongation with many drugs — a serious and specific hazard; Dangerous with opioids and with stimulants
Regulatory: Controlled in Australia and many jurisdictions; unregulated in some, which is where the treatment clinics and the deaths are.
Historical use
Central to Bwiti, a religious tradition of Gabon and neighbouring countries, where it is taken in initiation ceremonies. Iboga is recognised as a national cultural heritage of Gabon.
Recorded as history and attributed where possible. Long use establishes that a plant was widely used, not that it worked, and not that it was safe.
Worth knowing
Iboga is where the wellness market's appetite meets a genuinely lethal cardiac risk, and the results are documented.
Ibogaine's reported ability to interrupt opioid withdrawal has produced a network of clinics in jurisdictions where it is unregulated, treating people with opioid dependence — a population with elevated cardiac risk to begin with. Ibogaine prolongs the QT interval. Deaths in those settings are recorded in the medical literature, and the absence of controlled trials is a consequence of the risk rather than of neglect.
Gabon has declared iboga a national cultural heritage and regulates its export, in part because demand from outside Bwiti threatens both the plant and the practice.
Nomenclature verified against GBIF backbone taxonomy.