INTRODUCTION

A LEGACY

It is with great pride and a sense of returning home that I have been invited to and am attending the Invitational Conference on Drug User Advocacy sponsored by The Danish Drug Users Union "BrugerForeningen" and the Dutch National Interest Group of Drug Users "LSD". My participation is as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates (NAMA); as the discover of Ibogaine's antiaddictive effects, and as President of the Dora Weiner Foundation (DWF), an organization dedicated to education in the treatment of chemical dependence and to supporting the human and medical ethical rights of drug users.

The purpose of my presentation is to recall recent history describing Ibogaine's ability to treat opiate withdrawal in an improved manner that elicited the work of drug users and drug user advocates to move national governments in the United States and The Netherlands in an attempt to make Ibogaine available as an approved medication. This was the work principally of myself, Norma Alexander, Bob Sisko, G. Frenken, the late Nico Adriaans, J. Harms and others.

The brochure of which this writing is a part is provided in support of demonstrating the use of ibogaine and to provide information on the drug user advocates who took part in this endeavor and to leave you their work so this knowledge shall not be forgotten.

In keeping with the language of this Conference the majority of the papers in this brochure are in English except one that was only available in Dutch and is presented in that language to honor the Dutch drug user advocates who played an important part in the development of and experimentation with ibogaine. It should also be recognized that the Dutch academic community provided significant support and worked closely with Nico Adriaans and other members of Dutch Addict Self-Help (DASH), the organization established by Adriaans and Frenken to make ibogaine available to drug users in The Netherlands.

The selections in this brochure include the work of Bob Sisko, founder of the International Coalition of Addict Self-Help (ICASH), selected from his publication, The Addict Advocate; an article from De Groene Amsterdammer of an Ibogaine experience; Jean-Paul Grundís Letter for Nico, originally published in Mainline; and the definitive chapter on the history of drug user activism in support of ibogaine by HS Lotsof and NE Alexander that includes reviews of several experiences with the drug as well as, a discussion of some of the more interesting aspects of Ibogaine therapy including waking dreamlike visualization, psychological effects and aftereffects. This is your legacy.

HS Lotsof

Howard S. Lotsof
President
Dora Weiner Foundation
P.O. Box 10032
Staten Island, NY 10301-0032
USA
dir tel, 718 442-2754
dir fax, 718 442-1957
email, dwf123@earthlink.net
http://www.doraweiner.org

Board of Directors
NAMA
http://www.methadone.org