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Celibate pornography addict ‘went through hell after Harley Street doctor gave him unlicensed hallucinogenic drug’

Australian-trained physician had claimed he would float in a ‘dreamlike state’ after taking Ibogaine
Man, 25, suffered paranoia, psychosis and insomnia
By Nick Enoch
Last updated at 7:14 PM on 12th October 2011

A Harley Street doctor who put a porn addict through ‘total hell’ by prescribing him an unlicensed hallucinogenic drug failed to fully explain the risks of the experimental treatment to him, a tribunal ruled.

Dr Peter Brackenridge gave the drug, Ibogaine, to the 25-year-old man who was obsessed with internet pornography.

The patient paid more than £1,900 for the treatment, which was administered in Brackenridge’s bedroom at his home in north London.

Dr Peter Brackenridge (above) gave Ibogaine, an unlicensed hallucinogenic drug (right), to a 25-year-old porn addict
The Australian-trained doctor claimed effects would be like ‘floating on a river’ and that he would spend 36 hours in a ‘waking but dreamlike state’, the General Medical Council heard.

But the celibate addict, known as patient A, said it was a ‘horrendous treatment’, and within minutes of taking the drug he felt ‘everything had changed’.

He went on to experience months of mental health problems, including insomnia, paranoia and psychosis.

Brackenridge now faces being banned from the profession after being found guilty of failing to properly explain the risks of the drug and gain his patient’s informed consent.

His website ‘failed to set out a single risk’ associated with the drug, which is banned in a number of countries, said panel chairman Dr Jack Crane.

‘The panel considered there to be an obligation upon you, as a registered medical practitioner, to set out a balanced view of the risks and benefits associated with the use of Ibogaine,’ he said.

‘This is particularly important because the drug is unlicensed.’

Brackenridge ran a website offering the controversial medicine and promised it could cure drug and alcohol addiction, the hearing has been told.

Patient A first visited Dr Brackenridge at his Harley Street Clinic in February 2009 and paid £100 per counselling session and £1,900 for the Ibogaine
But the medicine, which is derived from the root of an African plant, has been banned in a number of countries (see box below) after being linked to patient deaths and has a worrying catalogue of side effects.

Patient A first visited Dr Brackenridge at his Harley Street Clinic in February 2009 for a porn addiction, and paid £100 per counselling session and £1,900 for the Ibogaine.

The addict would watch hours and hours of internet pornography every night and could not stop himself from doing so despite knowing it was unhealthy and that he was ‘hooked’.

He was not told of risks including insomnia, vomiting, cardiac arrest and serious allergic reactions before being given the drug in Brackenridge’s home.

The medic only gave him a consent form listing previously unmentioned side effects just before administering the drug on August 1, 2009.

Patient A said: ‘I was hallucinating, seeing things inside the eye of my mind and then I didn’t know where I was and didn’t know what time it was.

‘It was horrible, I was panicking. I started having convulsions.

‘My chest was all over the place, I couldn’t control it. After a while, it felt like my heart was slowing down. It was total hell really.’

Giving evidence, Brackenridge claimed the treatment is ‘actually very safe’, and could provide patients with a ‘deeper experience’ and a ‘window of freedom from that addiction’.

IBOGAINE EXPLAINED

Ibogaine (seen above in powdered form) is an extract of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga, a relative of the coffee plant.

In West Africa, it is a well-known hallucinogen used in male rites of passage.

The drug is also used as a tool by hunters to increase awareness and allows them to remain very still for long periods.

Its current legal status in the UK, and much of the rest of the world, is that of an unlicensed, experimental medication, and it is not therefore an offence to possess it, though to act as a distributor may be breaking the law.

Ibogaine is a restricted substance (possession is illegal) in some countries, including the U.S., Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium.

The medic said he had been prescribing the drug for about a year and insisted that ‘practically all’ of 19 deaths associated with it had been caused by other medical ailments.

He said: ‘It has been used for centuries by traditional people who tend to avoid poisonous things that are harmful.

‘Also, it has been used by French and German workers in Africa, and it has been prescribed in Europe since the early part of the last century as a neuromuscular stimulant.

‘There isn’t a licensed alternative for this.’

Brackenridge was found to have failed to state that Ibogaine was an unlicensed drug and to set out possible risks in a website advertising treatment with the drug.

The medic admitted that he did not discuss alternative treatments that were licensed in the UK, and did not inform the patient’s GP about the treatment.

He further failed to explain the risks adequately to Patient A before handing him a consent form to sign on August 1, just before treatment began.

It meant Brackenridge did not ensure that the addict understood the risks involved in the treatment prior to prescribing the drug, and did not obtain his informed consent, the panel ruled.

‘The panel notes that the risks set out on the consent form are almost exclusively physical in nature,’ said Dr Crane.

‘The panel noted from the documentation provided that there may be psychological risks associated with treatment with Ibogaine.

‘Patient A denied being made aware of some of these risks, both physical and psychological.

‘The panel found that you had failed to ensure that patient A understood these risks.

Brackenridge also inappropriately treated patient A at his home address on 1 August 2009, as it did not have facilities for a ‘medical or psychiatric emergency which could have arisen’ the panel ruled.

The medic was cleared of ‘acting inappropriately’ by ‘laughing at and belittling’ the patient and dismissing his concerns he might lose his job, as the panel said there was not enough evidence to support the charges.

He was also cleared of refusing to allow his mother to attend a session, which the panel accepted would not be good practice.

But Brackenridge was found to have inappropriately refused to meet with Patient A’s parents, who were waiting outside his house, after a consultation on October 12, 2009.

‘By October 12, 2009, there had been a clear deterioration in Patient A’s mental health of which you were aware,’ said Dr Crane.

‘The parents had serious concerns regarding their son’s wellbeing to which you should have listened.’ The panel must now decide if the doctor is fit to continue practising unrestricted.

The hearing continues.

9/22/2011 12:43:00 PM
Beal gets prison, extended supervision

J. Patrick Reilly
Editor/Co-Publisher

Those who came to the Iowa County courthouse Tuesday to testify on Irvin (Dana) Beal’s behalf would not be shocked if he walked on water. Beal has that affect on those he has helped.

But the fact the 64 year old Beal was transporting 180 pounds of medium grade marijuana through Wisconsin when his 1997 Chevrolet Astro van was stopped last January 6 for expired registration, missing bumper and cracked tail light couldn’t let him walk out of the courthouse a free man.

Instead, Circuit Judge Robert P. Van De Hey sentenced Beal to five years in prison, 2 1/2 under incarceration and 2 1/2 under extended supervision.

Van De Hey also gave Beal credit for time served (267 days) and granted eligibility for early release. That is a better deal than the four years prison and four years extended supervision asked for by assistant DA Timothy Helmberger. It is a way better deal than the 15 years and $50,000 fine that is the maximum allowed by law.

Van De Hey reminded the crowded courtroom that while the passionate testimony offered by people from as far away as New Zealand, California, New York and Minnesota made valid points, he was forced to make a ruling that includes prison time.

“We are a country of laws,” he said. “People have acknowledged his deeds but it is not fair to give him a free pass especially with that much marijuana on board. He has committed the offense and now must be held accountable.”

“I have no problem with medical marijuana,” Van De Hey said. “But I have to keep in mind the 180 pounds he had in his vehicle.”

“I don’t make the laws but I have to enforce the laws as they are written,” he said.

This will be Beals’s sixth conviction. He was convicted of drug related offenses in 1971, 1987, 1993 and 2006. He was on probation for an arrest in Nebraska when his vehicle was stopped in Iowa County.

Beal testified prior to sentencing and told the judge he would not do that particular thing again.

“I am too old,” he said. “I need a different job.”

He said he was taking the marijuana to be used for medical purposes in Michigan, New York and Washington, DC where it is legal.

“Would law enforcement be upset if I was moving medical marijuana to where it was legal?” he asked.

A woman from New Zealand told the court how Beal had come to her country to help set up clinics and with the use of ibogaine, a drug that cures heroin addiction. Ibogaine is not legal in the United States.

“If you put Dana away his work will stop,” she said. “He has helped a lot of human beings in New Zealand and was planning to do the same in Australia. He is an expert and has paid for those who need treatment. This will all stop if he goes away. Help save our people from drug abuse.”

Ed Rosenthal came from California to testify.
“I have known Dana for 30 plus years,” he said. “Dana saves lives. He is not a drug dealer. You talk community service? Dana has put in 30 years of community service. Don’t be part of a system where a person is jailed for his efforts.”
Rabbi Issac Freese from Brooklyn said he has known Beal for 20 years and only knows good about him.

“He helped us open a medical co-op. He sacrificed himself. He lost money. He went ahead and did it anyway, not for himself but so people could get the help they need.”
“Dana is needed today by the people he has helped. He has given them shelter, relief and a trusting heart.”

A former meth addict credited Beal with getting her sober.
“Dana helped me get treatment,” she said. “Now I am sober and have a beautiful four year old daughter.”

Manhattan attorney Doug Green called Beal a champion of medical marijuana and ibogaine.
Dennis Brennen, formerly of New York and now of Wisconsin, turned to Dana when he couldn’t afford medical marijuana at $30 to $40 per gram.
“He could get it for me at $10 per gram. He has helped many get affordable medical marijuana.”

Jackie Rickard testified from her wheelchair and credited Beal with helping her get medical marijuana for her condition.

Paul DeReinzo, a school teacher in New York, compared Beal to Galileo who was eventually proven right in his theories after 300 years.

“Let’s not take 300 years to prove Dana right,” he said. “Dana’s been right all along. We can do the right thing here for future generations.”

Beal may eventually answer charges against him in other states.

IBORadio
IBORadio is a broadcast organization with a lofty goal, expose the world to the power of Iboga and Ibogaine one listener at a time! Hosted by Damon Matthew Smith.

http://www.ibo-radio.com

http://www.twitter.com/@iboradio

http://www.facebook.com/pages/IBO-Radio/205664446145466

July 17th, 2011 9:44 AM by Hilton Hater

It took being snapped with pot on the sidewalk, followed by an embarrassing confrontation with a stewardess on an airplane, but Brooke Mueller is headed back to rehab.

Sources tell TMZ that Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife is trying something unique this time around: she’ll spend seven days in a facility in Mexico. The reason? It offers a drug that is meant to help her kick her drug habit.

Will the 16th rehab trip be the charm for Brooke Mueller?

Illegal in America, Ibogaine is a substance extracted from an iboga plant. Some experts believe it rewires one’s addictions to alcohol, cocaine, methadone and heroin.

Brooke is reportedly referring to the program as “extreme” and she’s confident it will work. Sounds a bit loony and desperate to us, but those descriptions also apply Mueller. And, hey, it could be worse.

She could be seeing Dr. Drew instead.

We understand that times are tough, so if you are unable to give, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

But if you are able, we are working with the Harm Reduction Coalition and all contributions tax deductible:

On the HRC website designate your donation towards BWITI NOW!
Use the donation button at http://harmreduction.org/

OR send a check made out to HRC with BWITI NOW! in the memo line.

Harm Reduction Coalition
c/o Erica Poellot
22 West 27th Street, Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10001 USA
(212) 213-6376 x18

Arrest article LINK: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/03/dimitri_mobengo_mugianis_iboga.php

Pot activist still in the joint

Volume 80, Number 40 | March 3 – 9, 2011
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown
and Lower East Side, Since 1933

Pot activist still in the joint: ‘It was all medical marijuana’

By Lincoln Anderson

Dana Beal would rather be smoking a joint — but he’s in the joint.

Bleecker St. marijuana activist Beal continues to sit in jail in
Wisconsin after police arrested him and Lance Ramer of Omaha,
Nebraska, on Jan. 6 with an alleged 186 pounds of pot in a car that
Ramer was driving and in which Beal was a passenger.

Beal has been unable to make his $50,000 bail, though his lawyer has
been fighting to get the amount reduced. Bail bondsmen — who take a 10
percent payment to post bond — aren’t allowed in Wisconsin.

According to a source, Beal’s Wisconsin case probably won’t go to
trial until May. A leader of the Yippie movement and a pot activist
since the 1960’s, Beal also faces similar charges in a 2009 Nebraska
case, when he was arrested with 150 pounds of marijuana in a vehicle
he was riding in. That case could go to trial this month, the source
said.

Beal last year told this newspaper that the weed in the Nebraska
arrest was acquired in California, and that he was planning to deliver
it to medical marijuana buyers’ clubs in Michigan and New York City.

He currently reportedly faces up to seven-and-a-half years in jail.

In the meantime, as he passes the time imprisoned, Beal is, well,
being Beal. A passionate advocate of ibogaine — which he touts as a
miracle cure for heroin addiction — Beal reportedly has heard that the
son of the judge on his case might have a heroin problem, and if so,
could benefit from treatment with the African-plant-derived drug.

“He’s driving his lawyer crazy talking about ibogaine,” said Paul
DiRienzo, a former WBAI radio reporter and friend of Beal’s. “He
thinks ibogaine might be useful for the judge’s son if he’s on heroin
— now he can offer the judge’s son a cure for heroin. He would be
willing to do ibogaine with him,” as in monitor the man’s dosing with
the powerful drug.

Beal is also said to be giving advice to a man in a cell across from
him detoxing from dope.

DiRienzo noted the judge on the Wisconsin case, William Dyke, is “a
very conservative judge — he was the mayor of Madison in the ’60’s
when they were beating up protesters.” In 1976, Dyke was the
vice-presidential running mate of Lester Maddox, a staunch
segregationist, in his bid for the U.S. presidency.

DiRienzo spoke to this newspaper last week a few days after having had
a 20-mintue conversation with Beal and his lawyer, Bryon Walker. The
calls are expensive for Beal, and Aron Kay, a.k.a. “The Yippie Pie
Man,” has been raising money to pay for Beal’s daily phone calls and
other jailhouse expenses.

DiRienzo said the hope is that the authorities will just release Beal
and possibly only make him pay a fine. He said Walker will argue that,
at this point, Beal simply can’t be rehabilitated, prison’s purported
purpose.

“‘Why spend the time and money rehabilitating a 64-year-old pothead
who’s never going to change?’ That’s what the lawyer said to me,”
DiRienzo reported.

Beal, during the conversation, also complained that the guards aren’t
letting him take food back to his cell. DiRienzo said Beal has always
suffered from insomnia, and likes to eat small portions throughout the
night. Not being allowed to do so is worsening his insomnia, DiRienzo
said, plus, as a result, “he’s not getting roughage.”

DiRienzo said he couldn’t go into the case’s specifics.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “According to his lawyer, he’s innocent.”

“I’m not at liberty to talk about the case,” added Kay. “He’s being
victimized by neo-nazis who don’t like marijuana, in general.”

People who want to send money to Beal, can do it by PayPal, via
pieman@pieman.org, he said. There’s also a Facebook page, “Free Dana
Beal Free Ourselves,” with more information on how to send cash to
Beal. In addition to phone calls, the money allows Beal to pay for
juices, sweets and the like.

While locked up in Wisconsin, Beal obviously won’t be able to organize
the Global Marijuana March (a.k.a. The Million Marijuana March) on
Sat., May 7, as he has done for years.

“We’re going to pull it together, one way or another,” assured Kay.
“Nothing will stop it.”

Another Yippie source said, “Someone in Portland is picking up the slack.”

The pot march occurs in cities around the world. Organizers for this
year’s New York event are reportedly seeking a permit to march from
Washington Square Park to Battery Park City.

If there’s an upside to his time in jail, Beal at least gets to watch
four TV news channels there, noted the Yippie source, adding, “That’s
more than he gets at 9 Bleecker St.” During the Super Bowl, Beal
reportedly was telling his prison mates to pipe down, oblivious to the
fact that the Packers’ playing in the game was an event of historic
proportions in Wisconsin.

Beal’s arrest was also big news at least in part of the “Badger
State,” in Iowa County, 10 miles outside Madison. According to a Jan.
14 article in the Dodgeville Chronicle (“Barneveld police make huge
drug bust”), on Jan. 6 a police officer stopped the vehicle Beal was
in because it had a broken taillight and some expired registration
plates. Initially, Police Officer Nick Zimpel was prepared to issue
just a warning, “perhaps a citation,” but he said, “I approached the
vehicle and could smell an odor of marijuana coming, and at that time,
I called for backup.” Ava, a K-9 police dog, was called in and, not
surprisingly, immediately “hit on the vehicle.” Officers subsequently
found a duffel bag with a “brick” of marijuana, with the whole haul of
pot having a street value of more than $750,000.

A follow-up Dodgeville Chronicle article on Jan. 21 (“Who really is
Irvin Dana Beal?”) stated, “Federal investigators are being careful
with what information is released [about Beal’s case]. They feel it
could compromise an investigation into a national drug ring which runs
from California to New York with multiple locations.”

However, to hear Beal tell it, while he does admittedly transport
cannabis cross-country, it’s marijuana for medical purposes. He calls
people like himself “angels” for bringing pot to those who need it,
and says it’s a crime to prosecute them for doing so.

Speaking last year, referring to his October 2009 Nebraska bust, Beal
told this newspaper, “I’m just really offended by these a—holes in
Nebraska saying it’s not all medical marijuana.” That is: that all the
pot in the car was going to be used for medical purposes.

He’s been a medical marijuana advocate for more than two decades. He
showed a New York newspaper article from the 1980’s, with a photo of
him walking down the street, with a satchel over his shoulder, on his
way to make a health-related reefer delivery.

Last July, Beal and medical marijuana advocates gathered on the City
Hall steps in Lower Manhattan for a press conference to condemn
comments made by Bridget Brennan, the New York special narcotics
prosecutor, against a perennially pending bill to legalize medical
marijuana here. Last year, advocates had hoped the bill finally had a
chance to pass.

Those at the rally included AIDS sufferers, who said pot restored
their appetites and kept them from wasting away; and a woman with M.S.
and another, a survivor of third-stage breast cancer, who said
marijuana eased the pain they felt from their afflictions and, in the
case, of the woman who had fought cancer, painful radiation
treatments.

Basically, Beal said, he supplied pot to medical marijuana buyers’
clubs, not only in New York, but also in other places, like Michigan.

“Three-and-a-half clubs [in New York] are connected to me,” he said.
Beal said he supplied the clubs twice weekly, at locations in
Manhattan and “the Village,” but didn’t want to get more specific.
“They’re based on Tupperware parties,” he said. “More than 400 people
in New York City are in some kind of [medical marijuana] club.”

At the press conference, he stated, “Medical marijuana is well
established here and won’t be affected if I go to jail — except it
might cost a little more. I was keeping the cost down.”

Beal said he likes to buy pot in California because it’s less
expensive, adding, “I prefer stuff that’s grown outdoors. I prefer
stuff that’s strong.” People with health needs need strong pot in
order to benefit from the maximum medical effect, he explained. Beal
noted he has to get the pot cross-country quickly, or it will start to
“self-combust,” due to the volatile oils in it.

Told this, Special Narcotics Prosecutor Brennan scoffed that it
sounded like “Cheech and Chong.” In an interview, Brennan charged that
medical marijuana users mainly covet “the big bang to the head” that
pot provides. Among other things, she said marijuana should first be
removed from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, allowing it
to be tested for medical properties by federal researchers, only after
which it could potentially be legalized for medical use.

At the end of the City Hall press conference last July, Beal asked
everyone to hold up their “Cannabis Patients Registry” cards — but no
one did.

“That was embarrassing — everybody forgot to bring their cards,” he said.

Later, he said he realized they were afraid to show their cards
because they were out of date. He prints them up and laminates them at
the Yippie Cafe, where he lives, at 9 Bleecker St. in Noho. The card’s
front includes the person’s photo, while the back lists his or her
medical condition and special needs.

As the Dodgeville Chronicle noted, Beal isn’t unknown in Wisconsin,
where he first appeared more than 40 years ago as a leader of Yippie
protests against the Vietnam War.

In fact, DiRienzo said, he met both Beal and Kay in Madison, which was
known for its radicalism — “more radical than Berkeley,” he noted.
While he was a student at Madison, DiRienzo said he met Beal during a
conference about the 1980’s, where Beal argued with the organizer and
took over the event. DiRienzo said he first made the acquaintance of
“The Yippie Pie Man” when Kay pied Madison’s mayor.

DiRienzo said, if he has to make a choice, Beal would prefer to serve
time in Wisconsin since it’s an “intellectual state,” whereas, in
Nebraska, “they don’t like New Yorkers.”

A month after the press conference, Beal stopped by this newspaper’s
office to introduce John Pylka, who was visiting from Washington, D.C.
Pylka is a member there of the Cannabis Patients Registry, a medical
marijuana buyers’ club, for which Beal said he supplied pot.

At one point, Pylka unfolded and held out a small Tibetan compassion
flag (actually, a series of small flags tied together on a string),
then said, “It takes a lot of guts to do this. We wouldn’t be doing
this if the federal government allowed this.”

“See,” Beal said later, as they were leaving through the door, “there
really is an East Coast medical marijuana network.”

“News from the US is that another Ibogaine patient, has lost his life at a
clinic in Tepoztlan Mexico this past weekend. Details surrounding the death
are sketchy but the patient was a 40 year old male. He leaves his family in
San Diego.

The week before that a 25 year old male was declared brain dead after a dose
of Ibogaine had been administered by his mother. The patient stoped breathing,
cardiac arrest followed, he was then transported to a hospital where they
managed to get his heart going but there is no brain activity.”

DEA agents arrested Dimitri “Mobengo” Mugianis, a New York-based ibogaine therapy provider and two others yesterday in Seattle, Seattle Weekly has learned. Mugianis was recently the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary I’m Dangerous With Love, that details his work in the underground world of ibogaine, a potent — and illegal — hallucinogenic substance that is used to help drug users overcome their addictions.
Details about why, where and when exactly Mugianis was detained are still unavailable. However, a DEA spokeswoman confirms that Mugianis and two other people were, in fact, arrested sometime yesterday in Seattle and released early this afternoon.

Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the Western Washington U.S. Attorney’s office, says Mugianis and his two associates do not currently face charges but, “the matter is under review to determine whether an administrative or criminal resolution is most appropriate.”

Mugianis is a prominent figure in the ibogaine subculture. Ibogaine — the subject of a recent Village Voice Media feature story — has been used for decades by a handful of underground lay therapists as a means of treating drug addiction. Proponents of the illicit therapy say it eliminates opiate withdrawals and cravings almost overnight and jolts patients into changing their harmful behavior.

The substance is derived from the roots of an African shrub called Tabernathe iboga. Here’s how it was described in our feature last November:
Taken in sufficient quantity, the substance triggers a psychedelic experience that users say is more intense than LSD or psilocybin mushrooms. Practitioners of the Bwiti religion in the West African nation of Gabon use iboga root bark as a sacrament to induce visions in tribal ceremonies, similar to the way natives of South and Central America use ayahuasca and peyote…
…Ibogaine and iboga root bark are illegal in the United States but unregulated in many countries, including Canada and Mexico. [Clare] Wilkins, though, is hardly alone in her belief that iboga-based substances can be used as a legitimate treatment for drug addiction. Researchers at respected institutions have conducted experiments and ended up with hard evidence that the compound works — as long as you don’t mind the mindfuck.

“All drugs have side effects, but ibogaine is unique for the severity of its side effects,” says Dorit Ron, a neurology professor at the University of California-San Francisco. “I think ibogaine is a nasty drug. But if you can disassociate the side effects from the good effects, there is a mechanism of action in ibogaine that reduces relapse in humans.”

I interviewed Mugianis over the phone several times for the story, and he explained that he used ibogaine to overcome a heroin addiction. He was so taken by the experience that he eventually traveled to Gabon, where he was initiated into the Bwiti religion by shamans. Since then, Mugianis told me, he had performed more than 400 ritualistic ibogaine ceremonies on addicts, mostly in hotel rooms around New York city.
Mugianis transformation from junkie to shaman to underground drug therapist was chronicled by filmmaker Michel Negroponte, in his documentary “I’m Dangerous With Love.” Here’s a trailer for the film and an interview that Mugianis did with Seattle Weekly about his role in the project.

Reached by phone earlier this afternoon, Negroponte said he’d gotten wind of Mugianis’ arrest but was unsure of what exactly happened and why. He believes Mugianis was working with another ibogaine therapy provider based in Seattle and possibly performing ibogaine treatment at a hotel somewhere in the city.

“The information I’ve gotten so far has been a little fractured,” Negroponte said. “But I believe there is a woman [in Seattle] she’s also a therapist, she was planning to get involved with Dimitri and others and open a clinic in Costa Rica. This was all in the works the last several months. I believe [DEA] went in and took her her files and her stuff and arrested her yesterday.”

We’ve got a call out to Mugianis and we’ll have more details on this story when they become available.

Footnote:

We recently ran a feature story on ibogaine therapy so are following developments closely.

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2010-11-18/news/ibogaine-helps-addicts-heroin-meth-and-everything-in-betweenis-it-the-trip-that-does-the-trick/

A massage therapist who travelled to Africa to take part in a spiritual initiation ceremony died after consuming a “holy” root plant that was being used as part of the ritual, her inquest was told yesterday.

Laura Thornton (32), a renowned tennis and squash player of Whitestrand Park, Salthill, Co Galway, fell ill and died on January 2, 2010, after consuming iboga, a plant root — a “holy wood” — after travelling to Cameroon to take part in a a spiritual ritual involving a shaman, or traditional healer.

Following the inquest, her father, retired schoolteacher Kevin Thornton, spoke of his “lovely Laura” and said her family wanted to send out a strong warning about the great risk involved in taking iboga.

Her brother Ian Thornton told Dublin County Coroner’s Court that Laura was a massage therapist and was involved in healing and he believed she saw the initiation ceremony as part of her education in this area and the next step to developing her own spirituality.

Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said iboga was a psychoactive drug used by pygmies to help them get in touch with their ancestors and the spirits.

“There is a type of religion practised in Gabon and Cam-eroon and the taking of the drug is a sacramental part of that religion. They use a shaman to perform the ceremony and the initiation involves the taking of a very large amount of this root,” Dr Geraghty said.

Kevin said that he understood that on a previous occasion she had a mild reaction to iboga while in Wales and had travelled to Cameroon to take part in this initiation ceremony in which the plant was eaten.

A French nurse who had attended the ritual later spent four days with the family and told how she tried to resuscitate Laura after she fell ill.

“There is no structured organisation around this thing. This is a heavy ceremony and there is a big risk if it (iboga) is not administered by somebody who is competent,” Mr Thornton said.

“It was a ritual act for therapeutical and spiritual purposes. It was supposed to be a catalyst for her own evolution and she hoped to carry whatever benefits from it and pass them on to her clients.”

Consultant pathologist Dr Muna Sabah, who carried out a post-mortem, found that the most likely cause of death was cardiac arrest associated with the consumption of iboga.

She said ingestion of the plant was part of the culture in Africa and was used as a stimulant to combat hunger and thirst and also for healing.

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Dr Geraghty said Laura had died from cardiac arrest associated with iboga.

“It would also appear people are using this plant in Ireland, England and elsewhere and they should be aware of the dangers involved.”

Afterwards, Kevin warned of the dangers of taking iboga and said that it was being used “under the radar” in Ireland.

“It is unregulated and uncontrolled and the family and friends of Laura would wish through this inquest to send out a strong warning of the great risk involved in the use of iboga. We would not wish anyone else to die unnecessarily like our lovely Laura.”

Iboga: ‘visionary root’ taken during rituals

Iboga, described as the “visionary root” of Africa, is a perennial rainforest shrub that originated in the Congo Basin and was spread to Cameroon and Gabon by Pygmies and Bantu natives.

Also referred to as the “holy wood”, bark from from the plant root is chewed for pharmacological or ritualistic purposes and can stimulate the central nervous system and induce visions.

It is used by visionary healers called shamans for therapeutic and spiritual purposes.

Outside Africa, a derivative of the plant, ibogaine, is used to treat opiate addition like heroin but iboga is illegal in several western countries.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/massage-therapist-died-after-eating-plant-root-during-spiritual-ceremony-15066190.html#ixzz1DHxlkusB