New Psychedelic Drug Could Treat Addiction and Depression, Without Hallucinations

A non-hallucinogenic version of the psychedelic drug ibogaine, with potential for treating addiction, depression and other psychiatric disorders, has been developed by researchers at the University of California, Davis. A paper describing the work is published Dec. 9 in Nature.

“Psychedelics are some of the most powerful drugs we know of that affect the brain,” said David Olson, assistant professor of chemistry at UC Davis and senior author on the paper. “It’s unbelievable how little we know about them.”

Ibogaine is extracted from the plant Tabernanthe iboga. There are anecdotal reports that it can have powerful anti-addiction effects such as reducing drug cravings and preventing relapse. But there are also serious side-effects, including hallucinations and cardiac toxicity, and the drug is a Schedule 1 controlled substance under U.S. law.
======================================================
I think many psychoactive drugs, including THC, aid in lowering emotional defenses about trauma in early life. The more conflicts you can resolve using these drugs is a path to psychological freedom from neurosis & anxiety.

The reason I no longer regard objects with knobs, switches and dials as more important than people...
The reason I now FEEL the music I listen to rather than just respond as an automaton...
The reason I no longer feel like a robot running "human simulation mode" from a windowless concrete room...

Is because I experimented with psychedelics starting around age fifteen.
Except for one or two mild dalliances in the 80's for fun, my psychedelic journey ended around age eighteen or so (1974) but it is the reason an Aspie like myself actually FEELS human.A
And no, I didn't know I was an Aspie until I was diagnosed many years later, all of it was just a gut recognition that I was not "wired" like everyone else.
I didn't have a name for it.
And with that diagnosis, suddenly everything made a whole lot of sense, all the puzzle pieces finally fit together.

Psychedelic drugs have enormous potential to do a lot of good.
The dirty goddamn hippies were right.

Checkerboard Strangler said:

The reason I no longer regard objects with knobs, switches and dials as more important than people...
The reason I now FEEL the music I listen to rather than just respond as an automaton...
The reason I no longer feel like a robot running "human simulation mode" from a windowless concrete room...

Is because I experimented with psychedelics starting around age fifteen.
Except for one or two mild dalliances in the 80's for fun, my psychedelic journey ended around age eighteen or so (1974) but it is the reason an Aspie like myself actually FEELS human.A
And no, I didn't know I was an Aspie until I was diagnosed many years later, all of it was just a gut recognition that I was not "wired" like everyone else.
I didn't have a name for it.
And with that diagnosis, suddenly everything made a whole lot of sense, all the puzzle pieces finally fit together.

Psychedelic drugs have enormous potential to do a lot of good.
The dirty goddamn hippies were right.

Click to expand...

I had the rare luxury of doing organic mescaline in my own house. Some intense spatial hallucinations where my desk suddenly leaped up at me. Hours of a constant feeling that the world was a limitless flat plane extending in all directions & I was in the center of it, like at a crossroads with a stop light in multiple directions. When I first did ditchweed pot I hallucinated about the front door lights on houses. But pot helped me far more than psychiatrists & medication did. Psychedelic drugs have this in common, a stimulus to the need to talk about whatever pops into your mind. Talking about past conflicts that are still affecting you helps resolve them so you feel better.

JacksinPA said:

I had the rare luxury of doing organic mescaline in my own house. Some intense spatial hallucinations where my desk suddenly leaped up at me. Hours of a constant feeling that the world was a limitless flat plane extending in all directions & I was in the center of it, like at a crossroads with a stop light in multiple directions. When I first did ditchweed pot I hallucinated about the front door lights on houses. But pot helped me far more than psychiatrists & medication did. Psychedelic drugs have this in common, a stimulus to the need to talk about whatever pops into your mind. Talking about past conflicts that are still affecting you helps resolve them so you feel better.

Click to expand...

A non-hallucinogenic psychedelic analogue with therapeutic potential

Psychedelic alkaloids served as lead structures for the development of tabernanthalog, a non-hallucinogenic and non-toxic analogue that reduces alcohol- and heroin-seeking behaviour and produces antidepressant-like effects in rodents.

www.nature.com

A non-hallucinogenic psychedelic analogue with therapeutic potential​

Nature volume 589, pages474–479 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract​

The psychedelic alkaloid ibogaine has anti-addictive properties in both humans and animals1. Unlike most medications for the treatment of substance use disorders, anecdotal reports suggest that ibogaine has the potential to treat addiction to various substances, including opiates, alcohol and psychostimulants. The effects of ibogaine—like those of other psychedelic compounds—are long-lasting2, which has been attributed to its ability to modify addiction-related neural circuitry through the activation of neurotrophic factor signalling3,4. However, several safety concerns have hindered the clinical development of ibogaine, including its toxicity, hallucinogenic potential and tendency to induce cardiac arrhythmias. Here we apply the principles of function-oriented synthesis to identify the key structural elements of the potential therapeutic pharmacophore of ibogaine, and we use this information to engineer tabernanthalog—a water-soluble, non-hallucinogenic, non-toxic analogue of ibogaine that can be prepared in a single step. In rodents, tabernanthalog was found to promote structural neural plasticity, reduce alcohol- and heroin-seeking behaviour, and produce antidepressant-like effects. This work demonstrates that, through careful chemical design, it is possible to modify a psychedelic compound to produce a safer, non-hallucinogenic variant that has therapeutic potential.
===========================================================
New to me. I've been interested in ibogaine itself but have never tried it.

​

Not that it wouldn't be useful without it, and certainly more tolerable to take., but It makes me wonder how much is lost when you lose the psychedelic effects? Is it then less effective?

Demon said:

Not that it wouldn't be useful without it, and certainly more tolerable to take., but It makes me wonder how much is lost when you lose the psychedelic effects? Is it then less effective?

Click to expand...

When I had the most psychologically effective talks with my wife I was just stoned but not hallucinating.

JacksinPA said:

When I had the most psychologically effective talks with my wife I was just stoned but not hallucinating.

Click to expand...

Interesting. But did it actually help more mentally, or was it just your perception that it did? It just seems like psychedelics fire different parts of your brain, and that's what made me wonder if removing that would make it less effective.

Another perhaps promising treatment (but it's very expensive) is ketamine inhalation therapy. I know someone who was about to begin this treatment, but the insurance company refused to cover it. Another treatment possibility is transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Demon said:

Interesting. But did it actually help more mentally, or was it just your perception that it did? It just seems like psychedelics fire different parts of your brain, and that's what made me wonder if removing that would make it less effective.

Click to expand...

When I am stoned I just want to talk if there is someone with me or on the phone. I don't know the correct term for it (euphoriant?), but it relaxes inhibitions & frees your mind up to talk about whatever pops into your mind, about things that are bothering you but you've kept bottled up.

nota bene said:

transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Click to expand...

I had to go look that one up!

JacksinPA said:

When I am stoned I just want to talk if there is someone with me or on the phone. I don't know the correct term for it (euphoriant?), but it relaxes inhibitions & frees your mind up to talk about whatever pops into your mind, about things that are bothering you but you've kept bottled up.

Click to expand...

Never seemed to have that effect on me. Wanting to talk, sometimes but its never brought up things I've kept repressed, for me.

nota bene said:

Another perhaps promising treatment (but it's very expensive) is ketamine inhalation therapy. I know someone who was about to begin this treatment, but the insurance company refused to cover it. Another treatment possibility is transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Click to expand...

I'd skip the latter option. It reminds me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I had not heard of this method of inhaling the powerful dissociative anesthetic. I was surprised to learn that cops carry syringes of ketamine to subdue uncooperative detainees.

Demon said:

Never seemed to have that effect on me. Wanting to talk, sometimes but its never brought up things I've kept repressed, for me.

Click to expand...

In my experience many women love to talk. In fact, if you want to spread gossip quickly there are 3 ways: telephone, telegraph & teleWoman.

JacksinPA said:

I'd skip the latter option. It reminds me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Click to expand...

Yeah, psychedelics are less scary to me than that. A few serious, if rare, possible side effects:

Serious side effects are rare. They may include:

• Seizures
• Mania, particularly in people with bipolar disorder
• Hearing loss if there is inadequate ear protection during treatment

JacksinPA said:

In my experience many women love to talk. In fact, if you want to spread gossip quickly there are 3 ways: telephone, telegraph & teleWoman.

Click to expand...

I'm not your average woman then.

With Nancy on one side and Mitch on the other, I want a double dose.

JacksinPA said:

I'd skip the latter option. It reminds me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I had not heard of this method of inhaling the powerful dissociative anesthetic. I was surprised to learn that cops carry syringes of ketamine to subdue uncooperative detainees.

Click to expand...

All I can tell you is that the ketamine inhalation therapy works to block particular neurotransmitters while stimulating others. Here is more info: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/...oved-for-depression-but-its-not-for-everyone/