The Drug to End All Drugs (addicts get high one last time, then never want to get high again)

Village Voice ^ | February 18th, 2005 6:39 PM | Aina Hunter

[cvq3842]

Interesting concept, however improbable.

[henkster]

Wasn't heroin the cure for the morphine addicts?

You can't use a drug to cure someone of a drug addiction. It's like using sex to cure someone of ever being pregnant again.

[kevkrom]

Interesting article, if a little "tin-foil"-ish. My guess is that the stuff was researched, but that the risks outweighed the benefits.

On the other hand, for a hard-core junkie who really wants to quit, and is willing to take a risk, why not? (All assuming this stuff actually works.)

[justshutupandtakeit]

Interesting. Wonder if William Burroughs ever tried this. He knew more about drugs than most pharmacists.

[SolidRedState]

If it really works, which I doubt, I wonder if they can come up with one for smokers. They could market that baby.

[zarf]

My apologies to FR:

MY ASS!

[Joe 6-pack]

I wonder if this stuff could get hardcore democrats off the kool-aid....

[goldstategop]

If there was a permanent cure for drug and alcohol addiction, every government on Earth would leap for it. Considering the costs of addiction, I'm surprised no one has found one by now. I'm skeptical ibogaine is the Wonder Drug some have touted it.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

[UCANSEE2]

If it works as claimed, it sure would put a dent in the pockets of:

Drug Dealers

Drug Manufacturers/Growers

Politicians on the take

LEO's on the take

Psychiatrists

Pharmaceutical Companies in and out of the US.

Pharmacists

Doctors who write illegal 'scrips'

Recovery and Addiction Clinics

Addiction Specialists

---

I PREDICT YOU WILL NEVER FIND THIS DRUG ON THE MARKET.

[kevkrom]

If there was a permanent cure for drug and alcohol addiction, every government on Earth would leap for it. Considering the costs of addiction, I'm surprised no one has found one by now. I'm skeptical ibogaine is the Wonder Drug some have touted it.

Agreed. It's possible, though, that the stuff might actually work, but have too many negative side-effects to get approved anywhere with a halfway decent regulatory system.

For now, all we have is anecdotal evidence (both pro and con), and a bunch of conspiracy theories.

[Durus]

To this point methadone is one of the more sucsessful methods of threating heroine addiction. Bupropion has proven to be a very effective aid to stop smoking.

[DainBramage]

I quit copenhagen and overnight never wanted tobacoo again.....about 3000 times.

[Tall_Texan]

With all the research money being thrown about for some very questionable products, why *can't* the money be found to try something like this in a controled environment?

And if it emptied the prisons and many of the drug rehab clinics, isn't that a *good* thing?

[Polonius]

Ed Muskie could not be reached for comment ...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Ibogaine was the subject of a CSI episode.

A drug-rehab-counselor/ibogaine-advocate cured some drug-dealer's "strawberry" of her addiction, and was offed for his trouble.

[ruiner]

I agree, I stopped taking the article seriously at " prison-industrial complex" . . .

[Oberon]

It's like using sex to cure someone of ever being pregnant again.

I got yer cure, sweetie...

[musical_airman]

I don't know if they would jump for it or not. It would also introduce the concept (maybe) of consequence free drug use- especially if it is affordable. Even if it does cure the addiction to a drug, who's to say it won't create a culture of people who will go on some sort of weird drug binge, then clean up (consequence free) for their own entertainment? Just a thought, though unlikely.

[kevkrom]

It would also introduce the concept (maybe) of consequence free drug use- especially if it is affordable. Even if it does cure the addiction to a drug, who's to say it won't create a culture of people who will go on some sort of weird drug binge, then clean up (consequence free) for their own entertainment?

Not necessarily a bad thing. It could lead to the eventual decriminalization of drugs, which otherwise takes up way too much time, effort, taxpayer money, and Constitutional freedoms.