Fentanyl dependence · Mexico City
Ibogaine Treatment for Fentanyl Addiction
The longest washout we run, and the reason we will not shorten it for anyone.
Fentanyl behaves differently from every other opioid we treat. It stores in fat, it leaves on its own schedule, and what is sold as fentanyl often is not only fentanyl. All 3 change the screening, and 2 of them change the cardiac risk. This page says how.
The short answer
Ibogaine treatment for fentanyl addiction is 1 supervised dose, given only after fentanyl has fully cleared.
It runs as a 7-day inpatient program in a licensed Mexico City facility with a cardiologist, an emergency physician and an ACLS-trained nurse in the room, under continuous 12-lead ECG, followed by 90 days of clinical follow-up. The price is $12,500.
The part specific to fentanyl is the waiting. Dosing before it has cleared risks precipitated withdrawal on the same day the heart is under the most strain, so the washout is set by the physician for your case and it is longer than for heroin or oxycodone. We will move the date. We will not move the rule.
It is not a cure, it is not FDA approved, and it is not given to anyone whose EKG, electrolytes or medication list fall outside written thresholds.
1
Supervised dose, on day 3 of 7, with 3 clinicians present and monitoring that continues overnight.
49
US states where xylazine has been detected in the drug supply. Every state except Wyoming, as of 2024.
$0
Cost of screening. The physician call and the cardiologist’s read of your EKG happen before any deposit.
Why it is treated differently
Fentanyl is not heroin under another name.
The 2 drugs produce the same dependence and a different clearance problem. Every row below is a reason the fentanyl protocol is not the heroin protocol with the dates moved.
The question nobody asks you
You may not be dependent on 1 drug.
What is sold as fentanyl in the United States is now routinely cut with sedatives that are not opioids. They do not respond to naloxone, they are not treated by ibogaine, and 2 of the 3 below matter to a heart that is about to be given a drug which prolongs the QT interval. We ask about all of them by name.
A veterinary sedative, not an opioid
Now the most common adulterant in the US fentanyl supply. Detections rose roughly 3-fold in fentanyl powder and 5-fold in pressed tablets between early 2020 and late 2024, and it has been found in every state except Wyoming.
It has its own withdrawal, which ibogaine does not touch, and it causes wounds that need treating before travel. Naloxone will not reverse its sedation.
The newer one, usually alongside xylazine
Appeared sharply in the supply during 2024. In sampling, the large majority of medetomidine-positive results also contained xylazine, so it tends to be an addition rather than a replacement.
Withdrawal from it has been reported with marked heart rate and blood pressure disturbance. That is a cardiac question, and it has to be settled before a dosing date exists.
Industrial compounds with no medical use
An industrial plastics additive turned up widely in the supply from mid-2024, on both coasts. Others come and go regionally.
We cannot screen for every one. What we can do is ask where you buy, what it looks like, and whether you have used test strips, then plan for what that suggests.
None of this is asked to catch you out. It is asked because a clinic that treats you as a straightforward opioid case, when the supply has not been straightforward for years, is a clinic that has stopped paying attention.
The washout
Why the wait is longer, and who decides how long.
We do not publish a number of days, because a number published on a website is a number somebody will hold us to for a body it was not calculated for. The length is set by the physician for your case, in writing, before any deposit.
Step 1
Your actual pattern, not a category
How long you have used, how often, by what route, and when you last used. Long heavy use loads more into fat tissue, and that is what lengthens the wait. Smoked and injected use are asked about separately because they behave differently.
Step 2
What else is on board
Xylazine, medetomidine, benzodiazepines, gabapentin, stimulants, and every prescription. Anything that also prolongs the QT interval is identified here, and paused only with your own prescriber’s agreement.
Step 3
The cardiologist reads your EKG
A 12-lead EKG plus potassium, magnesium and a liver panel, ordered where you live. The read happens before a date is offered, not after you have paid for a flight.
Step 4
A written window, and what would move it
You get the washout length in writing, with the conditions that would extend it. If you use during the window, you tell us and we move the date. That has no penalty attached and it is not a moral matter, it is a safety one.
Step 5
Day 1 checks it all again
Repeat EKG and repeat labs on arrival, compared against the trace we approved you on. If the numbers have moved, the answer changes here rather than in the dosing room. Withdrawal on days 1 and 2 is managed by the physician, not left to you.
Screening
4 gates. Any 1 of them can end it.
They run in order, and each one is a real stop rather than a formality. Most people who are turned away are turned away at gate 2, and the reason is usually a medication rather than a heart.
The dependence itself
Fentanyl dependence qualifies under the opioid protocol. If the main problem turns out to be benzodiazepines, the answer is no and we say so on the first call.
The medication list
Everything prescribed and everything not. Any drug that adds to the QT effect has to be safely pausable, decided with your prescriber rather than around them.
The heart
QTc and conduction against written thresholds, read by a cardiologist. Correctable findings such as low potassium are a not yet. Structural disease is a no.
Day 1, in person
The same tests repeated on arrival. A result that does not match the one you were approved on ends the process at the facility, with the stay refunded.
The evidence
What the research supports for fentanyl, and what it does not.
Worth stating plainly: the published ibogaine studies were run on opioid-dependent people, and fentanyl was not the dominant supply when most of that work was done. What follows is inference from opioid data, and we label it as such.
What the evidence supports
- Opioid withdrawal scores fell within 36 hours of a single dose in the largest monitored inpatient series (Mash and colleagues, 2018)
- Reduced opioid use at 30 days and abstinence in a share of patients at 3 months, in a 30-person series treated in Mexico (Brown and Alper, 2018)
- Reduced drug-use scores held at 12 months in the only study with a year of follow-up, in 14 people (Noller and colleagues, 2018)
- Safety at treatment doses inside a monitored facility with cardiac screening, which is the setting all of the above describe
What it does not support
- Any claim specific to fentanyl. No published trial has studied ibogaine in a fentanyl-dominant population
- A cure. Every study measures reduction in use, not resolution of dependence
- Odds for an individual. Samples are small, there is no control group, and outcomes are self-reported
- Safety outside a monitored setting. 1 participant died during treatment in the 14-person study
- Anything about xylazine or medetomidine. Ibogaine does not treat either one
The papers themselves, with their limits set out, are on the what we treat page. The broader opioid picture is on the opioid overview.
Who we turn away
A no and a not yet are different answers.
Both come in writing, with the reason. Any deposit is refunded in full, and where we can we hand you a referral to a clinician near you. Nobody is passed to another clinic for a fee.
Structural heart disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, or a prior cardiac event.
A QTc or conduction finding above our written thresholds that is not caused by something correctable.
Benzodiazepine dependence as the main problem. The withdrawal can cause seizures and ibogaine does not shorten the taper.
Pregnancy or breastfeeding, and anyone under 18.
Anyone who wants the dose without the screening, the 7 days, or the follow-up.
The washout is not complete, or you have used during the window. Tell us and the date moves.
Potassium, magnesium or liver values outside range, pending correction and a recheck.
Open xylazine-related wounds that need treatment before you are fit to travel.
A QT-prolonging medication that your own prescriber has not yet agreed a plan for.
One thing that is never a reason for a no: telling us the truth about what you have used. The full decline list covers every dependence we treat.
Common questions
Fentanyl and ibogaine, answered plainly.
Most of what decides your case is an EKG and a medication list, which is why the screening call exists and why it is free.
How long is the fentanyl washout?
Longer than for heroin or oxycodone, and set for your case rather than taken from a chart. It depends on how long and how heavily you have used, because fentanyl stores in fat tissue and releases slowly. You get the length in writing before any deposit. Any clinic quoting you a fixed number of days before asking about your use pattern is guessing.
Can I be screened while I am still using?
Yes, and most people are. Screening happens while you are still using and you are never asked to detox alone before travelling. What we need is an honest account of what you take, how often and when, including anything not prescribed.
Why not just dose me sooner?
Dosing while fentanyl is still leaving the body risks precipitated withdrawal on the same day your heart is under the most strain from the ibogaine itself. Those 2 things should never land together. That is the whole reason for the wait, and it is the one part of the protocol nobody here can override.
What if my supply had xylazine in it?
Assume it did unless you have been testing. Xylazine is not an opioid, so ibogaine does not treat it and naloxone does not reverse it. It has its own withdrawal and it causes wounds that may need treating before you are fit to fly. We ask about it directly and plan around what you tell us.
Does ibogaine work for fentanyl specifically?
No published trial has studied ibogaine in a fentanyl-dominant population. What exists is opioid research from a period when heroin and prescription opioids dominated the supply. We treat fentanyl under that opioid protocol and we tell you the evidence is inference rather than direct proof. Anyone claiming fentanyl-specific results is claiming something that has not been published.
I use fentanyl and take a prescription. Does that rule me out?
It depends entirely on which prescription. Anything that also prolongs the QT interval has to be safely pausable, and that is decided with your own prescriber rather than around them. This is the most common reason for a not yet, and a not yet often becomes a yes.
What happens after I go home?
Weekly clinician calls through day 30, then psychiatrist calls at days 45, 60 and 90, plus a written clinical summary for your own doctor and a referral list. One thing said at discharge and repeated on the first call: treatment lowers your opioid tolerance, so using again at your old amount carries a higher overdose risk than before you came. With fentanyl’s potency that margin is thinner than with any other opioid. Naloxone at home is part of that conversation.
What does it cost?
$12,500 for the 7 days and the 90 days of follow-up. Not included: flights, the EKG and labs your own doctor orders before screening, extra nights beyond 7, medications prescribed after discharge, and family accommodation outside the facility. All of it is itemised on the pricing page.
Screening costs nothing
Ask now. The washout starts before you book, not after.
3 questions on the contact page. A physician or nurse calls you back within 1 business day and tells you which tests to order at home. The answer comes in writing, whether it is yes, not yet, or no.