Can a natural drug get you off drugs?
Co-founder of Ambio Life Sciences (@ambiolifesciences) and one of the leading voices on ibogaine, Jonathan has spent over 15 years inside the clinical, traditional, and research sides of this medicine.
Being handed a Zoloft prescription after a nine-item questionnaire became his first real entry into altered states, a lens on the world that also left him feeling trapped. Harm reduction research in Vancouver and the NAOMI heroin trial pulled him into drug policy, where ibogaine became the bridge between that world and psychedelics.
My own history with opiate withdrawal and Effexor comes in, along with the paradox at the center of this field: a psychoactive substance that helps people put down other substances. You’ll hear about Jonathan’s first Bwiti initiation in Gabon, the Stanford research on Navy SEALs, and why the real work happens in the weeks after the ceremony.
You’ll learn:
[0:00] Introduction
[4:57] The literature that pulled Jonathan toward altered states
[11:49] Effexor samples my Century City psychiatrist left in the bushes
[20:20] Harm reduction and prescribing heroin to stabilize addicts
[24:52] A spiritual experience as the seed of Alcoholics Anonymous
[35:35] Reconciling the paradox of using drugs to get off drugs
[44:27] Agency and reconnection ibogaine gives beyond withdrawal
[51:44] Years of low ibogaine doses and a helicopter sound on the beach
[1:02:09] Bwiti initiation in Gabon with 72 grams of iboga
[1:16:52] Initiation as a door rather than a qualification
[1:23:06] What iboga is and where it grows in Gabon
[1:36:41] Semi-synthetic ibogaine and the voacangine supply chain
[1:42:28] A Fang Nganga told in a vision to plant iboga trees
[1:52:04] How substances keep us attached by enabling flow states
[2:11:05] The Stanford study that shook the regulatory world
[2:21:06] Whether the executive order opens the floodgates for other psychedelics
Resources Mentioned:
Read: Writing on Drugs by Sadie Plant | https://amzn.to/46aHaxP
Ibogaine | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine
Iboga | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabernanthe_iboga
The North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI): Profile of Participants in North America’s First Trial of Heroin-Assisted Treatment by Oviedo-Joekes et al. | https://bit.ly/NAOMI-article
Blessings of the Forest | https://blessingsoftheforest.org
Bufo Toad | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufo
Paul F. Austin | https://www.paulaustin.co
Dock Phillip Ellis Jr., LSD No Hitter | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dock_Ellis
Read: Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad by James Oroc | https://link.amazon/B0cxubJq2
In Waves and War | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33108207
Full show notes at https://lukestorey.com/ibogaine
Find more from Jonathan:
Jonathan Dickinson | https://jonathandickinson.ca | https://instagram.com/jonathandickinson.ca
Ambio Life Sciences | https://ambio.life | https://www.instagram.com/ambiolifesciences | https://www.facebook.com/AmbioLifeSciences | https://www.tiktok.com/@ambio.life.sciences | https://www.youtube.com/@ambiolifesciences
Read: Ibogaine and the Bicameral Mind: The Transformational Potential of the World’s Most Complex Psychedelic Medicine by Jonathan Dickinson | https://amzn.to/4gz6FPi
Find more from Luke:
Luke Storey | https://www.instagram.com/lukestorey/ | https://www.facebook.com/lukecstorey/ | https://x.com/MrLukeStorey | https://www.youtube.com/lukestorey | https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrlukestorey
My new book, A Horse Named Lonesome, launches November 17, 2026. Pre-order now at https://ahorsenamedlonesome.com and get bonuses: access to my Inner Circle Book Club, an exclusive Lonesome Conversations six-part miniseries, and an ebook transcript of the series.
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