Hi! This is my first post, and while I've visited bluelight for some time I was motivated to register in order to share regarding a dvd of Bwiti traditional iboga initiation and other dance and music from Gabon I'm associated with. More on that later in the post.
While I haven't read this full thread, like most discussion of ibogaine in the west it seems focussed on ibogaine's potential in curing drug addiction. Here's my 2 cents on this. A friend I knew well here about 20 years ago underwent ibogaine treatment, can't recall but might have been in Mexico, in order to quit smoking which he'd been trying to do without success for 20 years. He succeeded and immediately completely stopped; but 6 or 9 months later thought he could smoke one cigarette and so resumed his tobacco habit. - A few years ago in Gabon I visited a couple bwiti groups and spoke to a number of Westerners there. Their stories completely convinced me that iboga is indeed effective for SOME people in quitting narcotics. One of the people I met there was Dimitri Mugianis, I think NY based who gave ibogaine treatments to quit drugs, and he told his own story, which I found very believable and compelling. In sum, from personal conversations with 6-10 people who used ibogaine including a friend I knew well, there's little doubt in my mind that ibogaine can provide amazing help to SOME people in quitting addictions. But as my friend's experience with tobacco shows, this cessation is not necessarily permanent. I also have little doubt it does NOT work for everyone, and what percentage of people are helped I have no idea.
Certainly such treatment is quite expensive, in the thousands of dollars - the drug itself is expensive and high-dose use is incapacitating and dangerous enough it shouldn't in my opinion be attempted without monitoring therapists over at least 2-3 days. But the $30,000 mentioned a few posts back is too high. There are at least 2 Bwiti groups in Libreville Gabon which provide initiations lasting I think I recall about a week for the full course for a few thousand dollars including everything but airfare. There are or were western therapists providing ibogaine treatment for around $5000 last I checked. While this is obviously too expensive for recreational drug use, it doesn't seem that different from costs of other addiction-quit therapies, which also are of questionable effectiveness.
Anyway, my own interest is more in traditional usage as an entheogen and ethnobotanical. Iboga's traditional usage derives probably from pygmy tribes in southern Gabon, Bwiti moving north in the last century or so to Gabon's capital Libreville, probably the Bwiti cult's current center, and into southern Cameroon. Bwiti is widespread in Gabon, with 90% of the population connected to the cult at least peripherally, and iboga is officially a national treasure there. Large dose iboga use in Bwiti is for initiations and some special occasions; low dose use at perhaps 1/20 the dosage is common during rituals. It seems to function somewhat as does peyote in the Native American Church to connect members to society and reduce destructive behaviors within an experienced cosmology.
I've visited both Ebando and Mbeng-N'Tam, two Bwiti groups near Libreville, Gabon who each have a French member who's arisen to the status of a nganga or elder. Presumably under the influence of these adopted outsiders, both groups while in essence very traditional, have opened to outsiders over the last couple decades in novel ways. I'm priveleged to be involved in a new dvd,Mbeng-N'tam: Bwiti Iboga Music and Dance from Gabon, just released and available on amazon. This disc features genuine Bwiti iboga cult initiation and other music and dance by the Fang Bwiti group/family Mbeng-N'tam, based near Libreville, the capital of Gabon in Central Africa. Mbeng-N'tam was founded in 1998. This authentic Bwiti group of about 60 men, women, and children is innovative in its openness and desire to share the traditions of Bwiti with outsiders. Besides their ritual activity, they have performed concerts of Bwiti music and dance in Gabon, Canada, and France. The troupe has won First Prize at the Fetes des cultures a Libreville, Gabon in 2001 and 2002 for costume and masked performance, and First Prize UNESCO at the same venue the following year for best instrumental traditional performance.
The first hour is amazing and lively dance and music from a public performance; the 2nd hour much quieter instrumental music performed during genuine traditional initiations. The disc is unlikely to be of compelling interest to those whose interest in ibogaine is simply as a possible aid in quitting drugs, but is fascinating and unique documentation of a living entheogenic tradition, and likely to be of interest to those who love traditional African music and dance.
Mods, I've read the FAQ and don't see this info as verboten but my apologies if so - and let me know if I should be posting in a different forum. Thanks!
