“Smart drug and anti-addiction medication ibogaine can cause fatal heart rhythm disorders”, write doctors from the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, in a case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine on January 15, 2009. They are the first to describe the damaging properties of this controversial drug.
In the case report, internal medicine specialists describe a 31-year-old American woman who presented to the Emergency Department at UMC Utrecht when she became unwell after taking ibogaine. She had taken this to combat her alcohol addiction. While she was being treated at the Emergency Department, she developed a severe heart rhythm disorder which took nearly two days to disappear. According to the doctors at UMC Utrecht, there is a clear connection between taking ibogaine and the onset of the heart rhythm disorder.
Ibogaine is only freely available in a limited number of countries, one of which is the Netherlands, where it is used as a smart drug. In addition, alternative healers and some doctors claim that a single dose of the substance can help people beat their drug or alcohol addiction. Indeed, some scientific indications of this effect have been shown in studies on laboratory animals; however, no large-scale studies have been carried out in humans. Carrying out research into ibogaine is difficult as this substance can be life-threatening. It is known that ibogaine users sometimes die. Up to now, the reason for this has been unclear.
“In the Netherlands, ibogaine is currently being used as an aid to combating addiction in situations where there is no medical supervision. This makes it a real threat to life”, concludes endocrinologist Dr. Gerlof Valk, of UMC Utrecht, one of the specialists in internal medicine who attended the patient concerned on admission. “The health risks are the same if it is used either as a smart drug or as a means of combating addiction. We consider that ibogaine should only be used under medical supervision, and only for therapeutic purposes.”
The doctors have reported the ibogaine intoxication to the Dutch Health Care Inspectorate.