Comment:

     Whoever wrote this is a fucking lunatic and knows nothing of plant medicine and furthermore is an AA/NA cultist

Response:

     Thanks for making my point for me… I guess. But this is not very difficult to grasp. I have nothing against Ibogaine. I’ve read that it can quite effectively detox opiate addicts… but that is exactly my point.

     There is detox…

     …and then there is a lifetime of recovery.
     To note (briefly) regarding Ibogaine as effective in detoxing heroin junkies, according to Wikipedia, the action of the psychoactive drug within the plant “is metabolized in the human body by cytochrome P450 2D6 into noribogaine (12-hydroxyibogamine). Noribogaine is most potent as a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. It acts as a moderate κ-opioid receptor agonist^[27] and weak µ-opioid receptor agonist^[28] or weak partial agonist.[29” I can understand how a kappa-opioid receptor agonist may help detox an addict, but I don’t understand how inhibiting serotonin re-uptake (which means more serotonin) as well as activating the mu-opioid receptor would do any such thing except provide physical comfort to the addict, which by the way, I don’t believe is good for addicts. I don’t believe addicts should detox comfortably for several obvious reasons. 

     At any rate, I can’t believe I have to say this and state what seems so clear, but let’s proceed given that the Ibogaine pumpers, while also being generally enraged and unstable, believe the plant to be a comprehensive, lifelong solution, that by tripping their balls off once, albeit therapeutically, we are somehow free from the addict mind and heart. Don’t worry about doing any actual work on yourself day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year or decade after decade because the plant itself can somehow assume the day to day grind of human life – it can write your inventory, make your amends, give back to your family, friends and other loved ones all that you have taken. It can also meditate, exercise, eat right, work hard, contribute, serve and work with others (which, quite frankly, every addict must do, as service runs contrary to addiction, and thus service is the nature of the solution that undoes the selfishness within.)

     Once you are detoxed and you fall right off your pink cloud one day, all of the hard work of recovery, life, family and career you and you alone must gather the strength and willingness to take on. You and you alone must get up and act. The plant can’t do that for you, and by all accounts, detox is but a short clinical procedure. The ass must then rise up off of the couch, buddy. Sorry if that offends you or violates your “safe space.” The fever pitch nowadays about everybody’s feelings and how everything must be scrubbed and sanitized is insufferable. Is the notion of growing up and becoming an adult really so devastating that we have to castigate such language as discriminatory? Ridiculous.

     Apparently, I also know nothing about plant medicine (meaning nothing at all), despite having spent a fair amount of time studying Chinese herbs, tinctures, homeopathy, Ayurvedic medicine, drug action and psychopharmacology. Plant medicine? You mean like weed, bro? Let me guess, pot is medicine, too, right? Try telling that to your poor brain. Or how about heroin, a derivative of the poppy plant, or cocaine, a derivative of the coca plant?

     Here was my honest and thoughtful analysis of the post in question, and then we can decide who is lunatic cultist, k?

     “First of all, and this may be somewhat irrelevant, but regarding other types of drugs as a solution to drug addiction, more drugs don’t fix a drug problem just like more debt doesn’t fix a debt problem, obviously. Mood-altering drugs, regardless of class, are the antithesis of the spiritual life. Why is common sense is so lost on us when it comes to addiction and recovery? To make an insane drug addict sane again requires quite the opposite of dissociating from reality.

     Even if you receive some temporary clarity and the novelty of that keeps you sober for a while, trust me, it is only a matter of time before your old self smacks you back in the face. It is like building a house on sand. If your foundation hasn’t been laid solid through hard work and sacrifice, your house of cards will blow over when life challenges you and the going gets rough. Sure ibogaine may detox you properly, but then what? Nothing will stop you from wanting to get high once you’re clean… or rather, nothing will stop the mental obsession from randomly smacking you in the face. The fact is that chemical intervention has never made an insane man sane again. Let’s elaborate…”

     Now, you can go and read the rest of the post and decide if I’m being unfair and/or obtuse about the whole thing, but part of what motivated the post was the unhinged behavior of Ibogaine pumpers that you see trolling blogs. If you say anything they don’t like, watch out. But if it is indeed the healing of the nations and the bringer of peace, as asserted, then um, why are you guys so angry and hostile?

     What prompted my original post was observing the dialogue triggered by sincere questions and concerns by grieving parents on an Ibogaine blog. Two of the more frightening comments by the frantic trolls were, “I’m not in this for the money, I’m just saving addicts’ lives” and “Fine, let your kid die if you want.” Gee, how humble. That sort of grandiose vitriol should have you running.

     So are you sure it’s me who is the “f***ing lunatic cultist?” Admittedly, we should all take a moment from time to time to look in the mirror and assess the quality of our recovery, the quality of our character, the quality of our souls. I do, and while I fail often and constantly reassess, at least I know how damaged and messed up I am and try to work on myself. So are you really at peace with your plant? Or are you really just miserable and angry and looking to project?

      I know some people hate this blog and think I am negative and preachy, but many of them have read but a few lines and haven’t seen the pile of scathing self-indictment and honest self-deprecation contained within these blogs, let alone the many posts about God, love, meditation, inventory, courage, hope and positivity. I am well aware of all of my flaws and sin, but does that mean I shouldn’t write what I know? Remember also that a sponsor is not a friend to go bowling with and jerk you off. You don’t have to like me for me to able to help you, and thank goodness for that, because while I do plan on trying to live right, I don’t plan on becoming a different person to suit others any time soon.