One of the curiosities about drug addiction is that addicts can often be cured of their dependency by taking other drugs. Methadone is probably the best known of these substitute drugs, but another drug, ibogaine, has shown promise as a treatment in recent years.

Ibogaine began to be developed as a treatment for chemical dependency in the early 1960s. Traditionally used as a hallucinogen in Africa, ibogaine is derived from the plant Tabernanthe iboga. Its effectiveness in treating addiction—both heroin and cocaine—was discovered in 1962 by Howard Lotsof. The National Institute on Drug Abuse and drug rehabilitation centers in New York, the Netherlands, and Panama have since conducted studies on the drug’s efficacy. Tests have shown that ibogaine is 70 percent effective in treating chemical dependency and is not addictive. Nearly 25 percent of addicts who...