What Is Tabernaemontana?

Name: Tabernaemontana
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Tabernaemontana is a natural psychoactive alkaloid derived from the bark of the Tabernanthe iboga plant, found across the Congo Basin but most prevalent in Gabon. While there are several alkaloids in the bark, ibogaine is the most important given the molecule’s effects on the body.

Ibogaine was first isolated from the plant by Dybowski and Landrin in 1901. Ibogaine was promoted as a mental and physical stimulant under the brand name Lambarène in France from the 1930s to the 1960s.

From the 1930s to 1960s, ibogaine was sold in France in the form of Lambarène, an extract of the Tabernanthe manii plant, and promoted as a mental and physical stimulant. The drug enjoyed some popularity among post World War II athletes.

While ibogaine was being investigated by Harris Isbell at the Addiction Research Center in Kentucky in the 1950s, it was Howard Lotsof who discovered ibogaine’s anti-addictive properties in 1962 in New York.

Ibogaine was being considered by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the 1990s, but research was stopped. While ibogaine is a Schedule 1 drug in the US, it is a prescription medicine in some countries (Canada, New Zealand, South Africa) it is unscheduled elsewhere.

Phase II clinical trials for ibogaine to address alcoholism begin in Brazil later this year.