Is there any Ibogaine groups on this platform?
Hey guys, just wanted to introduce myself and let you all know how much I appreciate this platform. Ive been looking for a space to share my work besides the mainstream social media sites like FB. H... View MoreHey guys, just wanted to introduce myself and let you all know how much I appreciate this platform. Ive been looking for a space to share my work besides the mainstream social media sites like FB. Heres a short piece I wrote for the Thank You Plant Medicine site last month.I look forward to hearing some of your stories and experiences also. I specialize in Ibogaine and Ketamine for addiction treatment so if any of you have any questions feel free to shoot me a message or friend request. Basse!Thank You Plant MedicineA Memoir by Michael SlaterThis is How Plant Medicine Saved My Life!My name is Michael Slater and I am a recovering polysubstance addict.I don’t like labels, and I was never able to accept the disease theory of addiction. I spent twenty years in Alcoholics Anonymous trying to convince myself that I was flawed and that through the combined efforts of Jesus and the group, it may one day remove the insatiable thirst to drown my sorrows through drugs and alcohol. It never worked. You see, ever since I was a young boy and was first introduced to the psychoactive effects of marijuana, I knew I was on to something big. Marijuana opened the door to psychedelic healing and addressed many of my interpersonal issues like growing up without a father and lack of self esteem. Unfortunately, I never had anyone to help me integrate my experience, so marijuana went from a healing medicine to a means of life. Just like the many opportunist entrepreneurs out there today, I saw marijuana (and drugs in general) as a way to a means; a way out of poverty and a way to be popular, which I later will learn is everything this plant teaches against. Perhaps it was all just karma, but the years ahead had nothing but pain in store for me. By the time I was 15, I was taking LSD, was kicked out of mainstream school, and was running around with gang members selling drugs. A couple years later I was introduced to the rave community, which would forever change the course of my life. I began organizing and hosting raves in the early 90s, which I did for over a decade. Back then, drugs were fun. With the birth of the internet, so many new compounds were popping up all over; it was basically a hedonistic free-for-all that never ended. That is, until Methamphetamine came onto the scene.I watched as this drug crept into the fabric of our beloved scene and slowly ripped it apart. Over the years it stole everything from me; I lost my job, my possessions, my family, my daughter, my brother, and my self respect. The party was officially over and I had gone from epic rave promoter to a washed up meth fiend. I spent the next decade of my life trying to find recovery and put the pieces back together again.I went to a handful of rehabilitation programs in the past, but nothing ever stuck. This time was different, I was determined to change my life. I cashed in my 401k and went to the best rehab I could find like Passages Malibu.Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready, and it was just a waste of money. They did, however, help plant the seed of evidence based treatment and harm reduction which I advocate today. I tried everything; AA, NA, CBT, DBT, Faith Based, Shock Therapy, Ultra Rapid Detox, Equine, Acupuncture, Hypnosis, EMDR, and the list goes on. Over 20 inpatient treatment would follow.Every time I got sober, the relapse would be more severe. When I was in a program of forced abstinence, I would find dangerous ways to get high by using new psychoactive research chemicals which opened a whole new genre of drugs to me. What I’ve learned is that if you do not get to the root cause of the trauma, you will never really be set free. Sure, all these programs touched the surface of the issue, but none of them went deep. I don’t believe that the greatest psychologists in the world were equipped to help me address my level of trauma. That’s where plant medicine comes in, it does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. THANK YOU PLANT MEDICINE!In June of 2014 I had decided to end my life. I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I just could not take it anymore. I made my peace with the world and hoped for a better afterlife. I took back a bottle of Xanax and Percocet and washed it back with a liter of Vodka. 2 days later I awoke from a coma and was packing my bags to fly to Mexico to do an obscure drug called Ibogaine, native to Gabon, Africa which somehow has the ability to detoxify the body and halt addiction in it’s tracks. Throughout those years of seeking a solution, I somehow came across Ibogaine and mentioned it to my Mother. While on my deathbed, they reached out to Gabor Maté who agreed it was my only hope. On July 3rd 2014 I had an Ibogaine flood dose which would ultimately transform the trajectory of my life. Ibogaine is not a traditional psychedelic, technically it is an oneirogen, from the Greek ???????; óneiros meaning "dream" and gen "to create", is that which produces or enhances dream-like states of consciousness. It is a master plant teacher which, within minutes of ingestion, was showing me the root cause of all my pain.My very first vision was that of my murdered brother floating down from the heavens telling me to forgive myself and that he was safe. Ibogaine is not a cure all, but it did more in 24 hours than 10 years of rehab, which could only scratch the surface. It taught me to love myself, and to allow others to love me. It taught me to forgive myself and to forgive those who have harmed me. This medicine is much more than a psychoactive drug, it is a direct link to the creator and all the wisdom of the world. Now it may have been all the years of 12 step concepts in my head, but after such a profound experience I knew it was my duty to share this with others. On July 6th I created a Facebook group called Modern Recovery Now as a way to share my experience with others and raise awareness of alternative treatment options. By this point I had spent over $200k and wasted 10 years of my life searching for a solution… and the whole time the solution was just across the border in Mexico, yet prohibited in America. I made it my goal to learn as much about this medicine as I could to pass what I learned onto others so that nobody else would have to go through what I had been through in my search for addiction recovery. Luckily, the plant medicine community, especially the Ibogaine community, was not very big, so making friends was not all that challenging. A year later I found myself at the Global Ibogaine Conference and was able to meet many of the industry leaders in both Ibogaine, recovery, and harm reduction.My little Facebook group had really taken off and it soon became the place for people seeking alternatives to the traditional Minnesota model. It became a place for others to share their stories of recovery as we do here today and inspired others to create their own groups and movements.One problem I noticed amongst the Ibogaine community was the amount of charlatans feeding off other’s pain. So many Ibogaine providers would open shop just to make a quick buck. Most were either over or under dosing clients, giving the medicine a bad name and causing fatalities.Every one of these deaths could have been prevented, so I connected with Ibogaine leaders such as Jefferey Kamlet, who wrote the book of Ibogaine safety, and I began advocating for higher safety standards amongst our community. This process gave birth to my next project, Addiction Alternatives. Addiction Alternatives is a concept which I am still adapting. It is designed to help clients find a safe provider who will best meet their needs the first time, so that they don’t have to go through years of searching as I had to. We work with providers who use Ibogaine as well as a broad range of additional medicines and modalities such as Ayahuasca, 5-Meo-Dmt, evidence based treatments such as CBT, DBT, and traditional pharmacology if needed. I don’t believe there is just one path to recovery; I believe that all addiction stems from trauma and that depending on the specific situation, there is a plant medicine which can be used to help aid in the process of healing your pain. I pride myself in working with the very best providers worldwide and have been developing a global directory index of providers which consumers and can rank and review, making it easier for potential clients to choose a practitioner. Similar to a “Yelp” platform for the plant medicine community. My goal is to acknowledge those providers who are doing moral and ethical work, and to expose those who aren’t. Over the past 6 years I have had the opportunity to work with some of the best in the business and have had the opportunity to do many different plant medicines. Ayahyasca, she taught me the true meaning of love and how to forgive, Bufo taught me to be humble and to honor all which is life. Yopo taught me to respect things in small packages, and Kambo has taught me to let go of my past. I was recently honored with a scholarship from Dr. Gabor Maté to go to the “Temple of the Way of Light” to learn more about traditional Shipibo Ayahuasca. I am still very much a work in progress but I can say that, without a doubt, I would not be here if it were not for plant medicine.I am proud to say that through this work I have brought nearly 100 people to Ibogaine and saved countless lives through harm reduction outreach projects like on-site drug testing and Narcan outreach. This is what I've learned my friends, you cannot keep it if we do not give it away, this is what the plant wants us to do and this is what we do here today.#ThankYouPlantMedicine for restoring my life! You haven’t seen anything yet!
page=2&profile_user_id=12745&year=&month=
View More
