so much research agrees & still it is the way it is

Boy, is it...seems I was just in heavy discussion only last night with another member about the very thing. Whether or no it would benefit IT or US to have it legalized. It would put it 'other' hands. Not ones I would be optimistic about. Yet, there's even more irony, because the "underground" is NOT this cohesive, gelled entity that -to onlookers- it may appear. Rather a serial cluster of disparate constellations and cliques. Many of whom are at out and out odds with one another...all the time. Little globs and cells pop up - mainly comprised of (ex)addicts which is slippery by nature. And the rapid rise in popularity - well, it really is hard to tell whether or not it has caused more harm than good. People die, man. More often than the numbers show, you bet your life on it. What clandestine rogue provider is going to allow THOSE statistics out? But those are the kinds of data we really need...much much more transparency - and I mean you can absolutely achieve this and maintain discretion if you have what it takes to work as a facilitator anyway. I often look at 'all of this', the collective - from a bit of a distance to try to feel the scope of just how damned many people are aware of it these days...its crazy. Five years ago it was invisible, even on most entheogen forums. Now, I'm too sleepy to go into my ADD analysis of how I perceive the current paradigm - but it is amorphous, and in constant flux. It's momentum is more evident than ever. I'm not saying it's all bad by a long shot. I wouldn't put so much of my own life into it if I didn't SEE. But, for sure - though regulation would provide for more [human] research (which I do believe is pertinent) and likely scale back emergencies and the disasters you read about all too often from clumsy or greedy 'providers', it would also turn into an industry. More accurately be absorbed into the Monster Pharmatocracy...a disaster in its own right. I am truly ambivalent, about so much of this 'scene'. Not the Work, or the Medicine - but...frankly, US.  People: They fuck up alot of things. And this, as we all know, must be handled and understood in very exceptional ways. SO much hair splitting about nit picky protocol stuff goes on, even between people who actually KNOW something, it can look bleak. But something tells me not to worry, that if enough honest energy finds its way into the collective, that not only could it be kept safe, it could have a shot at reaching its potential ( in Western culture/society)- which thought STAGGERS me. Love and Capitalism is like a cross-eyed Cyclops. It just ISN'T.  Completely impossible way before being impractical. So it is something to deeply recognize, the time is rife with motion...globally. I don't know - it is both exciting and frightening to understand that WE will determine this. Whoever WE are, or rather whoever we show ourselves to be. It's on the fulcrum of swinging strongly in one direction or another. I only pray that enough of whoever we are have enough of whatever it takes to make it happen. It is sacred. If everyone agreed on that, the default priorities would never be in danger. We can only do our best, and be humble.

Thanks brightwillow!  After reading your wonderful response I had a stunning realization.. The fate of the world lies in the hands of ex- addicts.  Wouldnt that be a funny twist?  The whole rest of the consumer-driven world is caught up fully in the rat race for more, more, more!  Only the ex -addict, having been treated with Iboga, can navigate the new world.  It will be fully up to them since we are obviously rapidly running out of time.  Having the only clear heads in the nation, maybe in the industrialized world, they are the best suited for saving us, from ourselves, before we go over the cliff.  I sure hope they figure it all out in time!

Its kindof like the whole pharmaceutical grade fiasco; pharm grade just means that its ground to an evenly fine SIZE granules so that every pill is relatively equal in dosage, but it refers to size of the grinds, not potency, as we all assume.  Big pharm is about big profits for a very select few, which is not what Iboga is about.  In fact its in opposition to what I learned, once the veil is lightened and the satiation system begins to function again.  I think it clears up the head in a way nothing else has ever been shown to do, even agreed upon by experts witnessing addiction cures without withdrawal symptoms, like never before.  There's exciting stuff on the horizon, and maybe its going to pertain more to the individual ability to take firm control of his or her health, with knowledge about plants essential, as always, but with the information now available sop widely, perhaps we can all know enough to cure ourselves of our many addictions and even share our advances with friends and family and tribesmen we trust.  Maybe it will happen slowly over time and from the ground up; no pun intended.  Evolution brothers and sisters; this is complex yet simple evolution.

Somehow I think there are those who don't like Iboga's potential at all. Like some people have a deep seated fear of anything that can possibly open your and other's eyes. It can undermine or subdue the current ways in which this world in controlled. Those in power will loose their grip and have to make way for a new kind. I guess most here agree that a blanket is pulled over people's head as it is now. Tucked away safe from more true aspects of life. If people come to see stuff, have their eyes opened, that would be someone's greatest fear come true. I'm not a conspiracy protagnist in the strict sense, but I am tempted to see certain patterns in the whole that are opposed to any kind of spiritual unfolding or evolution. As it stands now Iboga is going to be public domain. No one can claim any patent on it and by it's very nature it causes people to respect and promote it. I am curious as to how this will evolve over time.

How all that we've discovered can be applied to non-addicts.. that is the question we should work on.. I think its a difficult part of the future of Iboga that is the question of the wider application. This is the part of the equation, that we should consider well I sure would love to explore that part of the equation..

The Bwiti seemed to have mastered this realm inside and out.  I was addicted to ganja which many say is not an addiction and I certainly had a life changing experience.  Learned so much about purpose and healing from identity of who I use to be.

I too am addicted to that non- existent addiction.  How many more people are addicted to alcohol?  How many are addicted to food, carbs, sugar?  How many sex-aholics are among us?  How many people are actively addicted to gambling?  How many people are addicted to work, more money, willing to forgo many of their own values for more money, willing to kill for it, how many will do anything for more?  How many of us are afflicted with this deep urge to get for more of 'our piece of the pie?'  How many have this underpinning concept below all of our actions thats invested in the idea that we dont have enough (in general), a perpetual sense of lack.  This is what I think Iboga fixes.  At least for a moment, we can be fresh and clean as a baby's butt again.  What we do with it then.. is up for grabs.  I made it 8 months without my DOC, alcohol; one of my many but maybe most destructive harmful habit.  Now I know what helps best to clean it up from within.  As you can see, I didnt have a booster or whatever, so I now understand the value of the 'booster' concept.  I plan to attempt to double that to 16 months, and keep more focused on avoiding that fucking monkey.  So I suppose this is where the counseling part comes in, at a treatment facility.. Yes, that'd be nice.  Ah, we do our best this way, dont we?

I don't see why big pharma even needs to get involved.  Iboga should be treated like marijuana is...screw outdated harmful federal laws (here in US anyway) let the smarter states deal with it.  Iboga should be available like dispensary pot is, I don't want a dose of ibogaine from grubby big pharma's hands.

That is exactly what Im talking about.  Maybe Im slow, but its absolutely blowing my mind that its better off the way it is...that it would NOT serve the better interests of anyone but big pharm if and when its legitamized.  It may be a pipe dream for those behind, but its a slap in the face to those already ahead.  The way I see it, its only a matter of time before big pharm figures out its losing money and engulfs it overnight.  These sort of things can change in a hurry, and with the so many highly visible and overwhelming studies already pushing its potential to big pharm, Id say its close.

Honestly I don't think "Big Pharma" wants anything to do with Ibogaine in 2013 regardless of the studies, UNLESS they can find a way to isolate the Addictive behavior blocking element from the psychedelic part of it, which would take most of the magic out of the experience. At least for me anyway.  I dont think "Big Pharma" wants anything to do with Ibogaine in 2013 or anytime in the near future because there was a very strong movement in the 1990's to get it approved & it was blocked by elements in the system in every way & at almost every turn. Ibogaine would possibly hurt so many different industries in West from Drug Task Forces to the Prison Industrial Complex to Doctors to methadone clinics. Its not profitable for any big industry to replace a long term maintenance product with a product that could take care of a problem with 1 to 5 buys from each consumer in a lifetime , even if the product is $1000.00 a dose.  Besides as more & more people start rallying to get Ibogaine legalized or even decriminalized expect allot of negative & mis-leading propaganda to start hitting the media.