Can a mind-altering drug cure heroin addiction?

摘要

I have been struggling with an addiction to opiates for the past three years. It started with prescription painkillers and progressed to full-blown heroin dependence. In an attempt to kick the habit I signed up for a traditional 30-step inpatient treatment that involved individual and group counselling, and which cost about $30,000. That was a year ago, and it didn't work. I felt unable to stay away from heroin. Now I am at a small clinic in Baja California, Mexico, where I am taking part in the first trial to investigate the effectiveness of treating heroin addiction with a single dose of ibogaine -a psychoactive substance derived from the rainforest shrub Tabernanthe iboga.