So here it is. The voice. But back in freedomroot mode.
What will Affinity Resources do for the Safe Ibogaine Treatment movement?
I have been committed to "the" Ibogaine movement, if it can even still be called such a thing, since the summer of 2004.
After the COSM (Alex Grey's then in NYC Chapel of Sacred Mirrors gallery) Ibogaine conference in February 2005, Howard Lotsof mentored me in my policy studies of the scheduling of Iboga/ine under the U.S. narcotics control act.
Sometime in the Fall of 2006 I promised him -- he who patented the use of ibogaine for opiate withdrawal and cravings blunting -- that I would dedicate an hour of my days to doing work for drug addiction interruption treatment.
And then someone in my family had a relapse. And everything shifted...
This loved one -- I am from the friends-and-family wing of the program -- took Iboga/ine, the oneiric neurotrophogen. Not once, not twice, but four times in total, plus boosters and a lot of nutriceutical work and change in lifestyle, before he got "clean." Now it's been about two and a half years. I'm really proud of him.
Then in October 2014 tragedy struck. A truly close friend of like 100+ of my friends, Ted, died from an ibogaine ingestion gone wrong. It was horrifying and traumatic for his fiancee and roommate, who were with him in Colorado at the time. It was devastating for his family and friends. We mourned him intensely.
Sami has been pouring her grief into an incredible blog (that deserves to be a book), and describes the night he had a bad reaction on it in an entry called "Victim." It was written less than three weeks after her beloved left us prematurely.
She wrote every day... for a long time. And we all read, and wept with her, and tried to give her support. It was horrible. And heart-wrenching.
I braved myself, and reached out to her by email through her blog. We spoke on the phone once. She told me she honestly had no idea what the physiological risks were in him taking it.
That broke my heart. I was stricken. How could she not know?
Maybe he didn't want to worry her, so didn't tell her.
Maybe he was young, and healthy, and overconfident -- a risk-taker.
Maybe maybe maybe. For what that's worth. Point is: I don't really get it. This was a person who had the resources to get a medically supervised treatment. Why had he not? Could the safety message become diluted in the efficacy message?
My gut shivered talking to Sami. I had turned down a full-time lecturer appointment at my University around the time when my significant other was planning to take his ibogaine detox treatment.
I was too anxious, and got all worked up... like whipped cream... about the detox potentially taking his life. We knew it had a side effects profile. We had studied the risks, and talked them over deeply with our sponsors in the medical subculture before seeking treatment. We had a kid in college and so couldn't afford anything extra to travel off-shore for legal medical treatment. He opted for an underground treatment... and I'll stop there.
One because it's not really my story to tell.
And two, because I've already retailed it once, and I haven't re-read that "diary" lately to be factual about it.
Now, ten years later, a young woman was wracked with heartache and loss, a family bereft, and a community of musicians and music fans almost just as overwhelmed.
Why? Because of the medicine I believe could actually rescue this country from a major dimension of its drug abuse and over-prescription problems. Potentially because Ted didn't quite recognize the seriousness of the risk he was taking. The message about strength and efficacy didn't come with an equally strong warning label about physiological changes and the necessity of medical oversight.
I made a report to the people I know in the Movement who follow these things. Their organization is working on releasing a set of safety protocols and guidelines for minimal standards of care in an Iboga/ine process.
And because they care so much about safety, I have been impressed enough to take on a fundraising effort on their behalf.
I am beginning a nonprofit as part of this fundraising, in order to create an ongoing resource pool for providing affinity support to (medically prescreened) people in need of medically supervised ibogaine detoxification.
Our first benefit starts with helping support an incredible event. Experts around the world who give iboga/ine treatments will be gathering with the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance for a wonderful and important conference in mid-March 2016.
Please consider joining the Safe Ibogaine Treatment movement, or support our efforts to improve access to this very special neurologically-active rainforest root medicine. Help make Ibogaine for the World happen!
We will be holding a special benefit in the San Francisco Bay Area on December 12th. We could use your help. You can find more links about the campaign tweeting from @Hippystorian.
Safety first!!!
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