Iboga is described as "an evergreen rainforest shrub native to Central Africa." It produces ibogaine. (Creative Commons photo via Wikipedia, information here).
While we all wait for SMI2LE to be fulfilled (we may not have the space colonies or life extension yet, but we're getting the intelligence increase, in the form of AI), it's worth noting again that Robert Anton Wilson apparently had a point when he condemned the long ban on psychedelic research.
Here's a New York Times story about ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic from Africa I had not heard about before:
"Ibogaine, a formidable psychedelic made from the root of a shrub native to Central Africa, is not for the timid. It unleashes a harrowing trip that can last more than 24 hours, and the drug can cause sudden cardiac arrest and death.
"But scientists who have studied ibogaine have reported startling findings. According to a number of small studies, between a third and two-thirds of the people who were addicted to opioids or crack cocaine and were treated with the compound in a therapeutic setting were effectively cured of their habits, many after just a single session."
The article is written by Andrew Jacobs, and the byline says he "writes about psychedelic medicine." Think about that -- the New York Times has a psychedelic medicine reporter.
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