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Conversations That Matter: Searching for innovative addiction treatment

Hirpal Hundial, the Director of Clinical Services at Universal Ibogaine, joins Stuart McNish for Conversations That Matter

Author of the article:

Stu McNish  •  Special To The Sun
Hirpal Hundial, the Director of Clinical Services at Universal Ibogaine, joins Stuart McNish for Conversations That Matter on Oct. 1, 2022.
Hirpal Hundial, the Director of Clinical Services at Universal Ibogaine, joins Stuart McNish for Conversations That Matter on Oct. 1, 2022. Photo by Stuart McNish /jpg

The numbers are staggering, almost five people a day in B.C. are dying from what the coroner calls “illicit drug toxicity,” also known as opioid deaths. That adds up to 1,095 people from Jan. 1, 2022 to the end of June.

“There has been nothing transformative or innovative in the field of addiction medicine to assist people going through detoxication for the last 25 years,” says Hirpal Hundial, the Director of Clinical Services at Universal Ibogaine.

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The current solution is to switch users from their opioid of choice to an opioid agonist therapy like suboxone or methadone, both of which research demonstrates produce marginal benefits.

“Time is up — we need access to innovative and transformative solutions otherwise there will continue to be escalating numbers of deaths.”

One such alternative is Ibogaine, a psychoactive substance that shows promise in the treatment of opioid users. In New Zealand where the use of Ibogaine is legal a study available online at the National Library of Medicine reported that, “A single Ibogaine treatment reduced opioid withdrawal symptoms and achieved opioid cessation or sustained reduced use in dependent individuals as measured over 12 months.”

The report went on to say, “Ibogaine’s legal availability in New Zealand may offer improved outcomes where legislation supports treatment providers to work closely with other health professionals.”

The same is not true in Canada.

I invited Hundial about the risks and the benefits of Ibogaine in addressing one of our biggest health challenges.

Join us at a Conversations Live event, sign up for advance notice about upcoming events at conversationslive.ca.