Iboga vs Ibogaine
Iboga is the root bark of a West African shrub, containing more than thirty alkaloids. Ibogaine is one of those alkaloids, isolated and purified. The names are used interchangeably almost everywhere, and they should not be.
The distinction matters for a practical reason: nearly all published research is about ibogaine, while a good deal of retreat marketing is about iboga. When those two get blurred, people end up believing the evidence says something it does not.
The difference in plain terms
| Iboga | Ibogaine | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Whole root bark of Tabernanthe iboga | One alkaloid isolated from that bark |
| Composition | 30+ alkaloids including ibogaine, ibogamine, ibogaline, tabernanthine | A single compound, usually as ibogaine hydrochloride |
| Dosing | Alkaloid content varies between harvests, so dosing depends on practitioner experience | Precise and repeatable, measured in mg/kg |
| Typical setting | Ceremonial and psycho-spiritual work, often in the Bwiti tradition | Clinics, primarily for interrupting opioid dependence |
| Published outcome research | Essentially none | Small observational studies, no large randomised trials |
| Cardiac risk | Present | Present |
The claim we will not make
You will read, often, that whole plant iboga is safer than isolated ibogaine because the other alkaloids buffer one another. We work with whole root bark, so that claim would suit us. We are not going to make it.
It has not been established in clinical trials. The principal danger with either form is cardiac, and it applies to both. If anything, isolated ibogaine holds one clear advantage: the dose is exact, whereas root bark varies between harvests.
What actually determines whether this is safe for a given person is not which form they take. It is whether they were screened properly beforehand, and whether the people present know what they are watching for.
Why the cardiac question dominates
Ibogaine and its metabolite block hERG potassium channels in heart muscle. Those channels handle the electrical reset between beats, so blocking them delays repolarisation. On an ECG that shows up as a prolonged QT interval, and a sufficiently prolonged QT interval can tip into a dangerous arrhythmia. Heart rate also tends to slow, sometimes into the 40s or 50s during a session.
In a 2022 open-label study of opioid-dependent patients given 10 mg/kg of ibogaine hydrochloride in hospital, the average QTc interval rose by approximately 95 ms, and half the participants exceeded 500 ms, the threshold generally treated as high risk.
Here is the part that gets missed. Ibogaine's half-life is around seven hours, but the liver converts it to noribogaine, which has a half-life of roughly 24 to 50 hours. QT prolongation usually persists beyond 24 hours and has been observed lasting more than a week, which points to the longer-lived metabolite carrying much of the cardiac risk rather than ibogaine itself.
The practical consequence: the risk window outlasts the experience. A provider whose attention ends when the ceremony ends has misunderstood the pharmacology.
What this means for screening
Because the risk is the same in kind for both forms, the screening should be too. Before a place is confirmed at Revela, every participant completes a health screening that includes an ECG, a full review of current medications, liver function tests, and a psychological readiness assessment. Dr. Tracy is trained to read ECGs and reviews yours herself.
Some conditions rule this out entirely: heart arrhythmias, severe liver disease, and active psychosis. Screening results in people being declined, which is the point of doing it.
Revela is a wellness retreat, not a licensed medical facility. Our clinical psychologist is licensed in Costa Rica; the rest of us are not licensed clinicians there. We hold a membership with a private 24/7 medical service in Atenas that includes ambulance transport, and the regional hospital is about thirty minutes away. If what you need is a clinical setting with physicians on site, an ibogaine clinic is the better choice, and we would rather tell you that than take your booking.
Whole root bark tends to suit
- Psycho-spiritual work rather than detoxification
- People drawn to the Bwiti ceremonial tradition
- Trauma, meaning, and long-standing patterns
- Those who want the ceremony held rather than clinically managed
Isolated ibogaine tends to suit
- Interrupting active opioid dependence
- Anyone who needs an exactly known dose
- People with risk factors requiring on-site physicians
- Those who want the setting clinical rather than ceremonial
Common questions
Is iboga the same as ibogaine?
No. Iboga is the root bark of the Tabernanthe iboga shrub, which contains more than thirty alkaloids. Ibogaine is a single one of those alkaloids, isolated and usually given as ibogaine hydrochloride. Ibogaine is the most studied of them, so nearly all published research describes ibogaine rather than whole root bark.
Is whole plant iboga safer than ibogaine?
The honest answer is that this is not established. The main risk with either form is cardiac: both prolong the QT interval on an ECG. Some practitioners argue that whole root bark carries a gentler cardiac profile because the alkaloids buffer one another, but that has not been demonstrated in clinical trials. Isolated ibogaine has one genuine advantage, which is precise dosing, because the alkaloid content of root bark varies between harvests. Anyone telling you one form removes the cardiac risk is overstating the evidence.
Why does the cardiac risk last longer than the experience?
Ibogaine has a half-life of roughly seven hours, but the body converts it into noribogaine, whose half-life is around 24 to 50 hours. QT prolongation typically persists more than 24 hours after a session and has been observed to last over a week, which suggests the longer-lived metabolite carries much of the cardiac risk rather than the parent compound. This is why aftercare and monitoring matter beyond the ceremony night itself.
Which form does Revela work with?
We work with whole root bark. That is a choice about the tradition the work comes from and about the character of the experience, not a claim that it is pharmacologically safer. We screen every participant for cardiac risk regardless, and we decline people whose screening indicates they should not proceed.
Does ibogaine work better for opioid dependence?
Published outcome research on opioid dependence used ibogaine hydrochloride in clinical settings, so the evidence base that exists is about that form. Brown and Alper followed 30 people and found half reported no opioid use in the 30 days after treatment, with improvements sustained but reduced from three to twelve months. Whole root bark has no comparable published outcome data. If interrupting opioid dependence is the specific goal, an ibogaine clinic with physicians on site is a reasonable choice and we will say so.
Sources
- Brown TK, Alper K. Treatment of opioid use disorder with ibogaine: detoxification and drug use outcomes. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2018;44(1):24–36. Observational, 30 participants.
- Noller GE, Frampton CM, Yazar-Klosinski B. Ibogaine treatment outcomes for opioid dependence from a twelve-month follow-up observational study.American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2018. 14 participants, 8 completing all interviews.
- Koenig X, Hilber K. The anti-addiction drug ibogaine and the heart: a delicate relation. Molecules, 2015;20(2):2208–2228. hERG channel blockade and QT prolongation.
- Brunt TM, et al. Ibogaine and cardiovascular complications: prolonged QT interval and ventricular arrhythmias. Addiction, 2026.
The published evidence base for either form is small and largely observational. There are no large randomised trials of iboga or ibogaine for any indication. We would rather say that plainly than quote a percentage that cannot be supported.
Not sure which is right for you?
That is what the consultation is for. Places cannot be booked directly: everyone speaks with Dr. Tracy and completes a health screening first, and some people are declined. If a clinic suits you better, we will say so.