I will begin by quoting Gabor Maté's definition of addiction;
Addiction manifests itself in any behavior that a person craves, finds temporary relief or pleasure from, but from which they suffer negative consequences, and which they still have difficulty giving up.
Based on this definition, many people can probably recognize themselves. Addiction encompasses much more than drugs, with everything from food, work, internet use, porn, exercise, sex and gambling.
What causes addiction?
Many believe that addiction is fundamentally a choice. Others believe that it is based on genetic predisposition, a kind of hereditary disease. Or that it is the drug/action itself that is so addictive that one cannot stop. From these points of view, one would think that “saying no”, punishment or detoxification programs would work well. Sometimes it works, but the results often fail.
But what if addiction has nothing to do with a (conscious) choice and not a gene you inherited? If you look at what we know today about brain/personality development in early developmental years, you can see that it takes very little for people to feel that “something is missing” in their everyday lives. Many people find that they become more vulnerable to addiction if they are in a vulnerable period in their lives. Stress, sadness, boredom, frustration, anger are all catalysts for addiction. If you look at the reasons why the person seeks to get away from their normal life in the first place, you may get closer to the core of the problem. Watch a lecture by Gabor Maté that explains this in detail here .
So how and why might psychedelics work?
It may seem counterintuitive to many to use drugs to stop using drugs. I believe that the relationship with the drug is what separates use from abuse. All drugs can be taken (or performed) with the intention of limiting the experience of life, or of expanding it. If it is to limit the experience of life, there is an underlying reason for this, that ordinary life is not good enough.
If one sees addiction as a natural reaction/adaptation to a lack of connection to oneself and the world around one, one can also explain how psychedelics or altered states of consciousness can affect addiction. Psychedelics give many a temporary feeling of connection and satisfaction with oneself, while at the same time one can experience seeing/feeling things in a new light. This gives one the opportunity to feel to what extent one has actually adapted, which in turn shows that there are possibilities for change.
A special plant for addiction
All classic psychedelics work well against addiction, but there is also a special plant medicine that has proven to be particularly effective against heavy drug addiction, namely iboga. This is a traditional African plant medicine that has psychedelic and dissociative properties, but is not classified as a classic psychedelic. The active ingredient in iboga, ibogaine, is legal for use in treatment in some countries such as Canada and Mexico and has shown good results. One of the reasons for this is that opioid addicts also experience an end to their physical addiction in addition to their psychological one. There are a number of providers of this around the world, but it is important to do your research. It costs from 5,000 to 10,000 USD for a treatment and not all of them deliver quite what they promise. There is a small guide to getting started here . It is also important to know that the physical strain of such a treatment is greater than with classic psychedelics, so it is extra important to have medical personnel available on site.