LYNN SMITH WAS LYING IN A BED ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF A BEACHFRONT HOUSE, unable to move her body from the neck down. A buzzing grew louder in her eardrums; just when she thought she couldn’t take it any more, it stopped. Then the visuals started.
For 22 hours after a nurse administered three pills of the psychedelic ibogaine, Smith relived the series of events that had led her to this treatment clinic just south of Tijuana, Mexico, including being ejected from a truck years prior. The accident left her with a crushed skull and prescriptions for the opioids she was addicted to for almost 20 years.
“It was horrific, it was the worst thing in the world, what I saw,” said Smith (whose name has been changed to protect her identity), referring to her experience on ibogaine. Behind closed eyelids, she witnessed wires in her brain being ripped apart, singed and pieced back together like a puzzle. As a nurse kept an eye on her vital signs, Smith’s body shot straight upright in bed then flopped back down before darting up again – all part of an ibogaine trip.
She spent five weeks at the clinic, where, not unlike upscale in-patient substance misuse treatment centres in the United States, she was offered psychotherapy sessions, acupuncture and lounge chairs overlooking the beach. But
