The next ayahuasca? Gabon fights to protect sacred plant from US drug companies
Source: The Guardian ·
Iboga root, central to several Gabonese ritual traditions, is believed to have huge potential for use in treating addiction and some mental illnessesThe temple is dark, its sandy floor edged with candles. People sit shoulder to shoulder beneath palm fronds hung from the rafters. Through the night, they swallow what they have come here for: a bitter root bark called iboga.Tabernanthe iboga is a…
From the source
The temple is dark, its sandy floor edged with candles. People sit shoulder to shoulder beneath palm fronds hung from the rafters. Through the night, they swallow what they have come here for: a bitter root bark called iboga. Tabernanthe iboga is a slow-growing central African rainforest shrub, the root bark of which has long been used in several Gabonese ritual traditions. In Gabon’s villages and forests, iboga is cultivated and sometimes gathered from wild populations, often collected under ritual conditions. But nothing in its cultural usage, at sites such as this temple on the outskirts of Libreville, is comparable to the potential wave of demand fast approaching from abroad. A US executive order has turned a spotlight on ibogaine, a drug made from the plant, which pharmaceutical companies believe has huge potential for use in addiction treatment. In the Bwiti (also known as Bwété) spiritual tradition, iboga is used in many different ways. Apollon Obolo, a practitioner of Misoko…
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