32 questions families ask before they call, answered without a sales pitch.

Ibogaine is an alkaloid from the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga, a shrub from West Central Africa, where the bark has been used in Bwiti ceremonies for generations. Its effect on opioid withdrawal was first described in 1962 by Howard Lotsof, a heroin user who noticed he had no withdrawal after taking it. What we use is purified ibogaine hydrochloride at a dose the physician sets by body weight, not root bark or a total extract.

Ibogaine and its long-acting metabolite, noribogaine, act on at least 3 receptor systems at once, including opioid, serotonin and NMDA receptors, and noribogaine stays in the body for days. In the largest published inpatient series, withdrawal scores fell within 36 hours of dosing. The full mechanism is not settled science, and we say so. What is settled is that the same receptor activity is why the heart has to be watched.

No. In the studies we cite, 1 supervised dose reduced withdrawal and craving for weeks to months in a share of people, and a share relapsed. Nobody has shown what it does at 5 years. That is why the program is 7 days plus 90 days of follow-up rather than 1 day, and why we publish no success rate: we cannot measure one properly, and neither can anyone else yet.

Ibogaine slows the heart’s conduction and prolongs the QT interval, which can trigger a fatal arrhythmia. The 2012 review of 19 deaths found most had pre-existing heart disease, other drugs on board, or withdrawal seizures, and most were dosed without cardiac monitoring. Every part of our screening exists because of that paper: the EKG read by a cardiologist, the electrolyte thresholds, the washout, the continuous monitoring and the hospital 9 minutes away.

Ibogaine is a Schedule I substance in the United States, so possessing it there is illegal and we never provide take-home doses. Treatment happens in Mexico, where it is not a scheduled substance and is administered in medical settings. Texas funded $50 million of clinical trials in 2025; until those report, US access remains research only.

No. A ceremony uses root bark or a total alkaloid extract, at a dose nobody has weighed, in a setting with no cardiac monitoring. We use pharmaceutical-grade ibogaine hydrochloride at a physician-set dose, in a licensed facility, with a cardiologist in the room. You can have a guide or sitter present if it matters to you; they do not make medical decisions and they do not replace the nurse.

The call happens within 1 business day. After that, the time is mostly yours: getting the EKG and labs done near home usually takes 2 to 5 days, and the cardiologist reads them within days of receiving them. If a medication washout is needed, that adds weeks, and the plan for it is set before any deposit. Most people have a written answer in 1 to 3 weeks; anyone on Suboxone or methadone should expect longer.

Borderline is a not yet, not a no. The cardiologist tells you what is off, whether it is correctable (low potassium or magnesium often is), and what to do. Then the EKG is repeated. If it is still outside the written threshold after correction, the answer becomes a no, with the reason. Nothing is billed at any point in that loop.

Yes. That is the usual situation and it does not count against you. What matters is that the history is accurate: what, how much, how recently, and whether fentanyl is involved, because that changes how the physician plans days 1 to 2. Do not stop or taper anything on your own to look like a better candidate; a sudden stop is more dangerous than the truth.

You are screened exactly the same way. A previous dose does not qualify you, and a previous clinic’s EKG does not replace a current one. If you have records from the earlier treatment, send them; they help the cardiologist compare, and they help the psychiatrist understand what happened afterwards.

We prefer it. Your doctor or prescriber can order the pre-travel tests, plan any washout with our psychiatrist, and receive the written clinical summary after discharge. We contact them only with your permission, and nothing about the program requires you to keep it from them.

A morning EKG, physician rounds, meals planned around your treatment, rest, and time with family in visiting hours. On day 2 the physician walks you through the session hour by hour. On days 5 to 6 the psychiatrist meets you to plan the 90 days. The coordinator checks in every day. It is a medical stay, not a retreat: quiet, structured, and watched.

Never. A cardiologist, an emergency physician and an ACLS-trained nurse are in the room from the first dose until the physician signs the session off, and the nurse stays through the night. Family are not in the room during the session; the coordinator updates your family contact instead.

Nicotine is not a reason to decline you. Where you can smoke or vape in the facility, and when, is set out in your pre-travel pack. Nothing is used from the evening before the session until the physician signs off the monitoring the day after, because nicotine changes heart rate and the EKG the cardiologist is reading.

You can leave at any time; you are a patient, not a resident. If you leave before the physician has signed the discharge, you do so against medical advice, we ask you to sign that you understand why, and we still help you get to the airport. Whether anything is refunded depends on the point you leave and is set out on your quote before you pay.

Meals are prepared in the facility and planned around the washout and the session, which means light and simple on days 2 to 4. Tell the coordinator about allergies, intolerances, and religious or vegetarian requirements on the screening call and they are written into your stay. Alcohol is not served, for anyone, at any point.

US and Canadian citizens enter as tourists with a valid passport and no visa for a stay of this length; other nationalities should check the current rules for their passport. Immigration may ask the purpose of your visit; “medical treatment” is an ordinary answer in Mexico City, which receives medical visitors every day.

Mexico City International Airport (MEX), Terminal 1. A private driver meets you with a name card and takes you straight to the facility. In Mexico City traffic, allow up to 1 hour. The return transfer on day 7 is included, and the coordinator books the pick-up around your flight.

No. During the session the room holds the patient and the clinical team, and it stays that way through the monitoring night. Family are welcome in visiting hours every other day of the stay, can join the day-2 explanation and the follow-up planning, and receive updates from the coordinator during the session itself.

Family accommodation is outside the facility and not included; the coordinator can point you to hotels within a short taxi ride. The neighbourhoods around the facility are ordinary business and residential districts of the capital, and Mexico City carries a Level 2 US travel advisory, the same as much of Western Europe. Use the same sense you would in any large city.

No. The coordinator and the clinicians who speak with you work in English, and every document you sign or receive is in English. If you speak only Spanish, the same is true in Spanish.

No. The call, the cardiologist’s reading and the written decision cost nothing, whichever of the 3 answers you get. The only cost before a written yes is the EKG and labs your own doctor orders, which are yours and are often covered by your insurance at home.

Not for the program; everything in it is paid before you travel. Personal spending, family meals outside the facility and any hospital charges in the rare event of a transfer are separate, which is why we ask you to carry travel insurance that covers medical care in Mexico. Cards are accepted almost everywhere in the city.

Because a success rate needs a definition of success, a way of following every patient for a year or more, and someone independent to check the numbers, and no ibogaine clinic has all 3. A percentage on a website is a marketing figure. We would rather show you the published studies with their limits and let you decide what they are worth.

No. It is a licensed medical facility built for this program: private rooms, a monitored dosing room with a crash cart, oxygen and a defibrillator, and clinicians on site around the clock. What it does not have, an emergency department and an ICU, is 9 minutes away under a written transfer agreement with a private hospital. That combination is deliberate, and it is why the clinic is in Mexico City.

The facility operates under a COFEPRIS aviso de funcionamiento, Mexico’s health-regulator registration for establishments that provide medical services, with a named physician as responsable sanitario. Both are in your screening pack, alongside the cédula numbers of every clinician on your case, so you can check them before any deposit.

The emergency physician signs the discharge on day 7 after the final EKG. You leave with a written clinical summary for your doctor at home, your medication list as it stands, the 90-day follow-up schedule with dates, the coordinator’s contact details, and the referral list of US clinicians near you.

Your clinical record is held separately from the website, with access limited to the clinicians on your case, and kept for the period Mexican clinical-record rules require. Your doctor at home sees it only with your permission, and family see only what you have authorised. The full detail is in the privacy policy.

You tell the coordinator, or your family does, and the psychiatrist calls you the same day. Nobody is judged and nobody is dropped from the program. The conversation is about what changed, what to do this week, and whether a clinician near you should be involved. A second session is never the automatic answer; it is a medical decision, screened from scratch if it is ever considered.

Yes, with your written permission, which you can give at screening or at any point afterwards. Clinician-to-clinician calls are usual before a washout and after discharge, and the written summary is addressed to your doctor for that reason.

Yes. Before you leave, you receive a referral list of US clinicians who understand what you have done: physicians, therapists and support programs near you. We do not pay them and they do not pay us. The list is yours whether or not you use it, and the coordinator will help you make the first contact if you want.

The scheduled calls end and there is no ongoing charge. Your record stays with the clinic for the legally required period, the summary stays with your doctor, and you can contact the coordinator afterwards if something medical comes up that relates to the treatment. Most people do not need to. Some do, and the door is not closed.