Kentucky eyes ibogaine, a psychedelic, to treat opioid addiction

BRYAN HUBBARD heard the same story so often as a lawyer in Kentucky. It would come from the (a middle-aged woman from the Appalachian mountains) who had worked hard her whole life in the same kind of occupation (a low-wage, low-skill job). She would have a work accident (a slip-and-fall or a lifting injury) that sparked debilitating pain, with no observable source for that pain. A doctor would then , and then she would spiral into addiction.These women were truly experiencing pain, says Mr Hubbard with a thick southern drawl, “but the nature of their pain was emotional and spiritual”. They had become “completely hopeless about their ability to live a life with autonomy and dignity”, and this workplace accident was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. Any successful treatment must tackle that specific type of pain—and he says that ibogaine, a little-known psychedelic, is the answer.