The antiaddictive effects of ibogaine: a systematic literature review of human studies
Authors:
Rafael G. dos Santos, José Carlos Bouso, and Jaime E. C. Hallak.
Journal:
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
Year:
2017
About the study
Although some reviews analyzing the antiaddictive effects of ibogaine in humans were published, these were narrative and non-systematic reviews, so no systematic review analyzing the antiaddictive effects of ibogaine in humans was previously performed.
Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a systematic literature review of human studies that investigated the antiaddictive effects of ibogaine or of its main active metabolite, noribogaine.
Despite the small number of studies, the results suggest that ibogaine/noribogaine significantly reduced opiate/opioid withdrawal symptoms and that many subjects remained drug-free for several days after treatment.
Abstract
Background and aims: Ibogaine is a naturally occurring hallucinogenic alkaloid with a therapeutic potential for reducing drug craving and withdrawal. To the best of our knowledge, no systematic review was previously performed assessing these effects. Thus, we conducted a systematic literature review of human studies assessing the antiaddictive effects of ibogaine.
Methods: Papers published up to July 2, 2016 were included from PubMed, LILACS, and SciELO databases following a comprehensive search strategy and a pre-determined set of criteria for article selection.
Results: Two hundred and fifty-nine studies were identified, of which eight met the established criteria. Seven studies were open-label case series with ibogaine and one study was a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial with noribogaine. Case series suggest that a single dose or a few treatments with ibogaine may significantly reduce drug withdrawal, craving, and self-administration in dependent individuals lasting from 24 h to weeks or months. No significant effects of noribogaine on opiate/opioid withdrawal were observed in the clinical trial.
Conclusions: Considering the necessity of new drugs that may produce fast-acting and sustained effects in opiate/opioid and cocaine dependence, the potential beneficial effects of ibogaine/noribogaine should be further investigated in controlled trials.
Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash.
Categories:
Studies & papers
, Iboga and ibogaine
Tags:
substance use disorders
, noribogaine
, withdrawal
, ibogaine
, scientific research
, study
, drug dependence
, addiction treatment