About this episode

This episode explores the journey of iboga from a sacred medicine to a subject of scientific inquiry, raising questions about ownership and Indigenous rights.

For centuries, the people of Gabon protected iboga as a sacred medicine. Then a gift intended to help others changed everything. In this episode, we trace Iboga's remarkable journey from colonial France to New York City, where a young man named Howard Lotsof discovered its potential to interrupt addiction and dedicated his life to bringing ibogaine into modern medicine. But as scientific interest grew, so did difficult questions about patents, ownership, and who should benefit from knowledge that had been safeguarded by Indigenous communities for generations. Featuring conservationist Yann Guignon, filmmaker Lucy Walker, and Indigenous scholar Dr. Christine Dindisi, this episode explores the history that shaped today's iboga renaissance, and asks whether scientific progress and Indigenous stewardship can move forward together. _______ A note to listeners: This series is intended to inform, not encourage the use of ibogaine. Ibogaine is a powerful psychoactive substance with serious medical risks and should never be used without thorough medical evaluation and appropriate supervision. As you'll hear throughout this series, increasing global demand has also had profound…

People in this episode

Guests: Yann Guignon, Lucy Walker, Dr. Christine Dindisi

Topics covered

• ibogaine
• sacred medicine
• addiction treatment
• Indigenous communities
• patents
• scientific progress

Keywords

• ibogaine
• sacred medicine
• addiction
• Indigenous rights
• patents
• colonial history
• Gabon
• New York City

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Gabon, New York City, France

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