Anyone marginally familiar with psychedelics has heard of magic mushrooms, LSD, or even MDMA. But ibogaine, the psychoactive compound in the Central African shrub Tabernanthe iboga, may not be on many people’s radars. Researchers are beginning to test its efficacy in treating mental health disorders, much in the same way scientists are studying classic psychedelics, with one surprising discovery documented in 2024 by a Stanford research team: The psychedelic may also be able to help treat traumatic brain injury. 

Ibogaine remains a Schedule I substance in the U.S., despite showing promise in treating addiction and PTSD since the 1960s. Still, safety concerns persist, including reports of cardiac arrhythmia and deaths among retreat participants in recent years.

Traditions and treatments

Ibogaine has been used for centuries by indigenous peoples of Gabon, in Central Africa, for initiation rituals. Identified by Westerners in the late 19th century, it was taken to France and used as an ingredient in an anti-addiction tonic called Lambarène. Clinical researchers began to study it formally in the 1960s, and it spread into detox and retreat centers across Europe and the Americas in the 1990s, when research was halted due to health and safety concerns. 

Since the early 2000s, an increasing number of ibogaine retreats have cropped up around the world, while controlled clinical trials remain practically nonexistent. A considerable amount of controversy around the safe and effective use of ibogaine has been stirred up since the 2010 death of a retreat participant forced a clinic to close down in Mexico, where ibogaine remains unregulated. Since then, as reported by Matha Busby for Rolling Stone Magazine, a string of deaths have called into question how responsibly these retreats are operating, and whether clinical science can sh