Research library / Observational study

Treatment of opioid use disorder with ibogaine: detoxification and drug use outcomes

Brown TK, Alper K. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 2018;44(1):24-36

This study followed 30 people with opioid dependence, mostly men using oxycodone or heroin who had already tried treatment about three times on average, through detoxification with ibogaine, a psychoactive plant alkaloid. Withdrawal symptoms roughly halved within about three days of treatment. One month later, half said they had not used opioids in the previous 30 days. Scores for drug use, legal problems and family and social life stayed better than before treatment over the following year, though the drug use benefit was largest at one month and partly faded. With no comparison group and self-reported drug use, the study cannot show ibogaine caused the improvements.