Ibogaine psychoactivity

Both ayahuasca and ibogaine contain natural MAO inhibitors as a result, the mind-altering compounds are not inactivated so quickly. No one is sure why the plants create the psychoactive compounds. Perhaps the chemicals keep away insects or plant-eating animals. Perhaps they attract plant eaters who seek mind-alteration and thus eat the plant and spread the seeds in their feces. People who have just one strong dose of ibogaine can go for many weeks with very little sleep, and scientists wonder how a drug that exits the system rather quickly can exert such a long-term effect. 

Ibogaine (12-methoxyibogamine, NIH 10567, Endabuse) is one of the psychoactive indole alkaloids found in the West African shrub,... 

Compared to other psychoactive compounds (e.g., psilocybin, JB-336, and bufotenine), ibogaine (10 mg/kg) had a negligible effect on the aggressiveness of isolated mice and muricidal behavior in rats (126). 

The psychoactive properties of ibogaine and related compounds were studied by Naranjo (33,142), who reported that patients described the psychic state produced by ibogaine ( 300 mg) as similar to a dream state without loss of consciousness. Ibogaine-induced fantasies [often described as a movie run at high speed or slide show (7)] were reported as rich in archetypal contents, involving animals and/or the subject with or without other individuals. These fantasies were easy to manipulate by both the subjects and the psychotherapist (33,142). At higher doses, ibogaine appears to produce visual and other hallucinations associated with severe anxiety and apprehension (101,144,145). 

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