After years of work and a number of significant changes to the original protocol, a MAPS-sponsored research team has received “conditional approval” from a Canadian Institutional Review Board (IRB) to proceed with a long-term observational case study that will examine changes in substance use in 20 consecutive people seeking ibogaine-based addiction treatment for opiate dependence at Iboga Therapy House in Vancouver. While originally designed as an “outcome study,” the protocol was later changed to an observational case-study when the IRB expressed concerns that the initial design was too close to a clinical trial, which has a much stricter approval process, and was never the intention of the research team anyhow. The Principal Investigator is none other than Rick Doblin, Ph.D., and he’ll be aided by Dr. Ken Alper and Leah Martin, with data analysis to be conducted by MAPS Research Associate Ilsa Jerome, Ph.D.
