Iboga Nights
Can an African plant root known as iboga provide the cure for chronic drug addiction? Documentary filmmakers David Graham Scott seems to think so. In Iboga Nights, Scott sets out to observe the potency of the psychedelic root on several heartbreaking subjects who have become withered slaves to their addictions.
Scott can attest to the effectiveness of iboga from personal experience. As documented in his previous film titled Detox or Die in 2004, he attempted to overcome his heroin addiction with a prescription to methadone, a popular opiate replacement therapy embraced by the medical mainstream. Like many addicts, his eventual reliance on methadone became even more troubling and all-consuming than the addiction it was designed to treat. Desperate for a remedy, Scott decided to take a chance on an ibogaine treatment, and was shocked to discover that he was able to kick his crippling heroin habit after only one dose of the mystical root.
A mainstay of certain tribal rituals for its ability to provoke hallucinatory episodes of spiritual awakening, iboga has been heralded as a miracle cure for the cravings and withdrawals that come with addiction, yet its overwhelming potency may harbor potential dangers as well. Evidence of the latter occurs early in the film as Scott points his camera at the goings-on of an iboga treatment clinic, where addicts converge in a Dutch suburb to be administered the controversial therapy. While two of the clinic's subjects experience miraculous recoveries free of withdrawals in a matter of hours, one of the patients must be transported to the hospital and placed on life support after he stops breathing.
Does iboga represent a viable solution to this growing crisis, or is its success or failure rate contingent on unrecognized factors? More serious scientific study must be conducted to further verify the efficacy of the iboga root as an addiction treatment method, but this is unlikely to occur. The medical industry is far too consumed by motivations of profit to explore the notion of a single-dose remedy to a disease as widespread as addiction. With great humanity and probing curiosity, Iboga Nights pleads for compassion, understanding and a renewed commitment towards the millions of addicts whose lives currently hang in the balance.
Who is the treatment provider at 1:00? I've seen a documentary involving her but I forget what it was called
Ibogaine helped me to completely overcome a decade+ long severe drinking problem. Ever since I did a flood dose of HCL, Ive been sober. Its been almost 5 years now and its easy. No AA, no cravings, no nothing. I can even be around people who are drinking and its fine. I don't want any.
It's like ibogaine gave me lifetimes worth of maturity regarding alcohol. It just seems uninteresting to me now.
Now Im one of those people who never, ever drink. I could never understand those people before.
A Laughable piece of engineered, sensationalised, dishonest garbage. This film is not something that's in the public interest regarding investigative journalism, but rather a cheap Self indulgent , Self promoted piece of crap that's built off the backs of very vulnerable individuals., two of which that did not want to be in the film and were completely ignored after please and legal letters. David G Scott has zero interest that come beneath his own Self absorbed egotism, human beings being one of them.
There is wonderful work being done with Iboga/Ibogaine to help people get off these terribly addictive drugs.
My son developed an opium addiction in his late teens. It was killing him. Nothing was working in the way of counselling or mainstream options. After having had over 100 psilocybin experiences myself, I very carefully considered that this was a possible option for him, to suspend his addiction and allow him to work through his demons. The backup plan was an Ibogaine treatment center in this country - I say backup, as I was conscious of the possible downside of Ibogaine in a small number of instances, as shown in this documentary.
My son had a massive dose of psilocybin and I was his sitter. This was something I didn't think lightly of - his parents bitter divorce was probably a contributor to his soul troubles, and as I expected, his demons surfaced during the experience. I would never recommend anyone sit for another's psychedelic experience unless they are fully conversant with the experience themselves. My son is drug free 4 years on, is a loving young man who is no longer angry, and cares about people and nature.
The much maligned psychedelics are thankfully being studied through a new lens by caring intelligent people, who can see the benefits to mankind in this crazy, modern world we live in.
Thank you for bringing this documentary into being.
Correction, Iboga and the HCL form Ibogaine is NOT technically a hallucinogen. It induces a waking REM state in the brain and this is what leads to its "psychedelic" properties. I worked at an Ibogaine clinic for sometime after studying in a lab and I can attest to its effectiveness when done with a good medical detox and protocol and safety measures such as an ekg and liver function testing. This is not the same as treating yourself with ayahuasca or lsd (terrible idea) for overcoming the psychological issues with an addiction. Its activity at many receptor sites have an additional physiological benefit that is quite powerful.
As someone who experienced a flood dose of HCL, the "waking REM state in the brain" is really on the money. When people ask me what it was like, part of what I say is 'I was dreaming while I was awake"
But these dreams have a different character than most regular dreams that are normal during sleep. For me they have a much richer emotional dimension to them, they are more meaningful with much more clarity.
i was long time opiate user,tried iboga as well but came back to drugs..
iboga is good for physical part of withdraval so you dont have to suffer,but does nothing for psychic part and everything that comes later..
i would never do iboga again because its a waste of money i payed 800-900USD for my dose i wish a did cold turkey for few days and saved money..
every junky experienced WD,it wont kill you,you'll survive few days its better than take this shit feeling like you swallowed 20LSD stamps..
I knew several of the people in this film well enough to know how they personally felt about their treatment and that they are all still abstaining from opiates at least, still. I am also a nurse and a believer that ibogaine can work for some in this very life and death matter. Thanks David Graham Scott!
David I fe your film should be shared around the world. This addiction has become a large problem in the world and to know of an option that can actually help someone live life again, it needs to be legalized. Your film is touching and real. I hope it goes far!
Fabulous! A real eye opener! I feel now that there is hope for more people.
Raw and visceral, close up working with these Real characters - very good documentary on this path
Always a pleasure to watch his work, never a dull moment ??????
David Graham, your work is brilliant, keep it up, peace love and light...
i have just watched Thomas Campbell. his concept is very interesting.. thanks CapnCanard
Sara is writing so good, how to become better documentary director. The trueth is defenetly the really big part of document. I think so long if you need to chance truth (if you don´t belive that would be great story, about guy who is so bad shape that even hospitals didn´t get him in. But Sara was only one with open door and guts to try give him some hope) there, and you would have tuching documentary wich tells about goverment, about people who care... but you put some party facepainting pic to the cover to sell this for "trippers" - but that is not gona work cause it´s not true. But I belive you, next documentary will be still practicing, but it´s not gona take too long time to grow up documenting real world, from your own perspective, don´t try to make it sell. Money will come if you are more clever than in this iboga documentation.
After puting my comments here , that this film doesn't represent any of my daily practices of the last 16 years, Ian had NO choice but to lie about his condition. sending him away means send him straight to his death bed. That would be okay with David Graham scott, another shot for Ian was a death shot and we knew that alright! but David needed to creat a sensational footage in order to be able to move out of Glasgow at the time, Junkies like Ian die everyday in Glasgow,just like Richard, we all know that, it doesn't make my treatment unsafe. it only make this film slanderous. clearly David does't understand that Iboga and Ibogaine is not the same thing. also that the Bwiti tradition is not a joke, and painting the face has a symbolic meaning which is made he to look as some kind of a joke. this is shameful and pitiful of an organization like MAPS to call this a documentry. this is far from the truth.
The two comments above are by characters (lackeys) who are personal friends of Sara Glatt who appears in the film. I gave a fair appraisal of Sara's detox treatments and filmed what happened in front of me.
If the comments were not motivated through friendship with Sara I'd take them more seriously. Words of hapless sycophants thus meaningless.
This is the worst film I ever seen, David had made hours of interviews with my clients and yet he has chosen to misrepresent me and my work. Ian in this film was at the time a drug dealer that could not stop his shooting habit, he got to the point of shooting bad dope and having an inflammation of the lining of his heart, each shoot that he was shooting made him OD. his friend Paul had to keep him awake with cold water each OD, they both knew that Ian was not going to live long this way. Ian has also to take care of 2 kids and an elderly mother, he could not go o rehab or to the hospital because no one will be able to take care of his kids and they will be taken away by the authorities.
Ian though that he just could do this iboga treatment and what ever happen happened he had no choice and had to lie to me in order to get a treatment. at the same time David was miserable he wanted to get out of Glasgow but could not sell his apartment. he needed the money and fast. so I told him that he could come when I had lots of clients so that he could film and interview them all in one week, his lack of funds made it all under a lot of pressure to get money. David left sara's house before Ian came back from the hospital were he got antibiotics for a week that saved his life. I visited Ian at the hospital after David already was back to Glasgow , got him back to Sara's House, ( Not Iboga House) and he told me exactly what happened to him after the hot shower, which was after he finished the Iboga treatment.
He took a risk and I did too but would you tell someone go kill yourself it is Okay, because I only can treat your friend. or would I give him a chance to save his life? in this case I was not jailed only arrested for three day. David is just full of shit, junkie is junkie does , this is the most malicious way to misrepresent me and my work of 16 years. what is my ethnical background to do with iboga nights? The man was telling David for more then an hour about his visions and how it helped him with his problems and David shows the most stupid moments from the hole time he spent at my house. it is just incredible how people full for this deformation and slander.
MAPS funding such a trash. just amaze me. this is what I deserve for having David for free at my home for sharing my space my knowledge to help his Junkie friend Bradley . while most of my clients are like Carla and Elle, ian and Paul are Heroin dealers but still alive how about that? isn't that better then Richard? and Micky? David who is a film maker can't have an opinion he has no 16 years of experience with different detoxes. Giving his opinion just shows that this is not a truthful documentary but a depicted film.
no, director had different motivations altogether - more of a personal and rather petty kind. phoney narrative, biased sensationalism, the little information presented - false, by a shameless quack of a doctor (personally supervised and carried out 1900 treatments? with 356 days in the year? as if those 'treatments' take place on an assembly line... and those other bombastic claims that make it sound as if ripped off a detergent advertisement) ... trying to endorse some people while discrediting others... there's quite a bit of intentional distortion and cherry-picking here.
Iboga is very important for many people. I have done documentarys and years of research for those objects. There is big responsibility by director. There is wrong information in this film, so it chance to be dramatic fiction and opinions. Maybe director did big job, but I gave one star.
That could work Paulo. WE're all experimenting and maybe you could come up with a great new method of easy detox.
All the best with it!
Hey David thank you very much for your reply. I aint got a facebook account. Anyway, what i meant was to take an opiate antagonist every 2 days for a 6 month period and micro dose during that period...
Thanks again and all the best
You can bet if this stuff works...the government will ban it...
Many thanks for the comments. Liz, I truly feel for you. I know there must be many drug workers etc who have relapsed or started a habit....the hard thing is they can't come out as the fear is they'll lose their jobs (as Eliot mentions in the film). Get me on Facebook if you want to chat in private about the issues.
Paulo, I'm not sure if you're talking about an implant to stop the effects of the opiates. I don't know of any issues with iboga. Might be better to do the microdosing first and then get the implant put in. You can get me on FB for a private chat too.
Cheers
DGS x
This is truly remarkable footage, thank you so much for highlighting this subject matter. My partner and I have been addicted to opiates for the past 6 years and despite being on subutex for the last three years our addiction is alive and well. As many people realise co dependency is a difficult relationship to break as there are many unspoken cues and cognitive imbalances at play. I am a registered social worker; working with people with addictions - the irony never escapes me - and I have witnessed (both as a practioner and a service user) the continued denigration of addicts and the criminalisation of substance misuse and the severe lack of funds means that this approach is more relevant than ever. I am unable to "come out" and as such this continues to feed into my stress and perceived lack of moral fibre as I am living a lie. Thank you again.
Hey David!
Great doc , both of them actually!
I saw the first one around 2 years ago, a little short after hearing about Iboga the first time.
I'd like to ask you something about Iboga : do you know if there is any kind of interaction between Iboga and opiate antagonist? Because im an heroin addict and i was clean for many years and i relapsed... Back when i detoxed the first time i took an opiate antagonist (wich i preferred over methadone or buprenorphine) during 6 months to help me cope with my cravings and it actually helped me. Now i'm gonna detox again and i'm thinking of walking the same walk, but i got some Iboga root bark from a friend and i was thinking of micro-dosing myself for a period, because i truly believe in the neurochemical power of Iboga on re-
-seting the brain.,
Maybe this not an appropriate circumstance to ask this sort of question, but i had to ask 'cause i found nothing on the subject throughout the www.
Thanks a lot for the 2 docs and all the best!
In Holland David films addicts undergoing a long night of psychedelic detox, watched by an experienced iboga practitioner. One client collapses, ends up on life-support, and the provider is jailed.
Really inspiring and informative and great to have a British made film about iboga treatment, thank you!
Lorraine, I think there definitely is something to low dose therapy. Many folk have gone down this route.
iboga nights is better than 'boogie nights',if you 'mark' my 'marky',eh?
I for one salute David Graham Scott for producing his bittersweet documentary about how 'Iboga' therapy is a potential cure for chronic drug addiction. And btw- I also wanted to mention how I wasn't the least bit surprised to learn that *after* Scott's interview with Sara, she is now facing legal repercussions when one of her patients, (out of approximately 900 she had treated with iboga) *mysteriously* decided to walk out onto a busy highway and was killed by a truck. (I'll not bother expanding on my hunches regarding this incident.)
I've also read several articles from whistle blowers who have come forward with accusations about the CIA supplying Americans with vast quantities of Heroin for years now. According to the whistle blowers, apparently the CIA has been busy, busy, creating even more supply and demand Hereon/Crack addicts in order to fund various black budget projects. Thus 'if' the whistle blowers are telling the truth about the CIA's drug involvement? Well then, you can be sure that the CIA will continue to make very sure that drug addiction and their supply of Heroine/Crack remains as statuesque... eh?
Btw- I've even read that a cure for Cancer has also been available for decades now as well. However here again, this type of knowledge has been, and currently still is, being withheld via the Big Pharma Cartel. Yup, it's actually pretty clear that the Big Pharma cartels, Agricultural Sugar glut cartels, and even the Oil cartels, (just to name a few) wants the 'herd' to remain sickly as it's being thinned out. But nuff said, as now I'm digressing onto other debate topics. (hah)
What a bunch of freaking losers, someone needs to smack em in the ead and simply say get your shite together or fkin starve to death.
did you watch a documentary featuring drug addicts to be the winner who gets to point a finger at losers? I think Iboga is the "smack in the head" theyre looking for
Great ending to a disturbing but necessary documentary.
Thanks David.
Hope you continue the crusade to use Plants instead of Big Pharma.
Most shocking was the realisation that most of these people are very bright!
Hopefully this is a Godsend for many people.
This plant reminds me of the plant( Ayahuasca) used in the amazon to cure addiction.
Yes possibly very helpful, as can be many, if not most, hallucinogens. But we live in the mistaken ideological paradigm of objective reality. Nope, no joke. re former NASA employee Thomas Campbell, PhD. concept of virtual reality.
Thanks for the comment re my film. I always wondered about reality. Good words there. I'll check the name out.
You're welcome. I was referrencing the work of Thomas Campbell, PhD former NASA employee whom I don't think has ever used DMT/IBoga/Shrooms etc. However he talks of "virtual reality" instead of objective reality. Plenty on Youtube, but there still might be a damn good movie there. ;) And nice doc on Iboga!
Hi David. Riveting documentary!
I notice that the two gentlemen who seemed to have the best outcome had developed a system of 'maintenance' doses even though one chose to employ a more conventional method. Do you think they might be on to something with the small dose approach?