What if you could take a medicine prescribed by your doctor… and it was able to prevent acute and post-acute withdrawal symptoms, cravings to use drugs, and rewired your brain away from desiring addictive substances? Well, this may be a possibility.
In 2019, Mindmed, a Silicon Valley startup, purchased a drug and the team behind it… which may just be the most extraordinary anti-addiction medicine to ever be investigated.
Mindmed is trying to turn psychedelic drugs (in microdose guidelines) into prescription medications. Pretty cool right?
But psychedelics (even microdosing) aren’t for everyone.
Fortunately, 18-MC, a lab-engineered derivative of the addiction interrupter drug known as ibogaine, is reported to not contain hallucinatory effects.
And it’s reported to have the same helpful withdrawal-preventing and addiction-interrupting benefits as ibogaine (at least in lab rats).
Human trials will show us a lot, and hopefully, 18-MC will become a prescription medication that could help save people from addiction on a nationwide scale.
Here are the main topics discussed in this episode:
- Mindmed purchases 18-MC and the team behind it
- Mindmed states goal is to turn psychedelic drugs into prescription meds
- The iboga root
- Iboga root’s active alkaloid (ibogaine)
- Iboga root used by African tribes for ceremonial purposes
- Ibogaine and other hallucinogens being used for addiction and other disorders
- Howard Lotsof uses ibogaine to cure his heroin addiction
- Howard Lotsof gets patent on ibogaine and starts company NDA International
- Stan Glick becomes interested in ibogaine and researches the compound on morphine-addicted rats
- Stan Glick teams up with others to create a new derivative of ibogaine without the hallucinatory and neurotoxic effects
- After creating around 60 compounds, Glick and his team discover 18-MC, which works comparatively to ibogaine but without the hallucinatory effects or neurotoxic effects
- After Glick and his team run out of funding, 18-MC loses momentum and doesn’t make progress for many years
- In June of 2019, Mindmed purchased 18-MC and the team behind it
- Mindmed’s plans for human trials of 18-MC
- The potential future of 18-MC and whether or not it will pass human trials, DEA-approval, and FDA-approval
Recommended resources to further your learning about Mindmed and 18-MC:
- Silicon Valley’s psychedelic wonder drug is almost here (article read in the episode)
- 18-MC and ibogaine: comparison of antiaddictive efficacy, toxicity, and mechanisms of action
- Mindmed Acquires Opioid Addiction Drug Candidate Based on the Natural Psychedelic Ibogaine
- Mindmed.com
- Mindmed Team
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My daughter has been an addict for 16 or more years, has been to rehab or detox 8 or more times, with relasping within a few months. She has overdosed 6 or more times that she can remember and has a 3 year old darling girl whom she loves with her whole life. And, most of the time she, herself just wants to die because of her addition. When I first heard of the drug ibogaine on a show SUV, and how it worked on herion addicts, I couldn’t believe it. I looked it up on the net and read alot of info on it. Even though there were deaths associated with the drug, I thought, how can they even consider a few deaths with this drug, compared to anumerable deaths with herion. My daughter, has had several of her own friends as well as other addicts OD on this herion. So what is the hesitation????? With millions of addicts in the US, and we’re thinking about a few deaths. Even most of the addicts will tell you, that they would rather die, than live a life like they are in. I read also where they are trying to come up with a alternative drug for the ibogaine. What’s wrong with our country? It’s ok for the pills for addition to be legal, but, God forbid for a pill that will CURE the addition.