In this week’s cover story, writer Keegan Hamilton investigates the controversy surrounding ibogaine, the experimental hallucinogen drug that has helped kick meth and heroin addictions.
Ibogaine is illegal, even though its power to cure addicts has been proven. Hamilton’s story describes the many reasons the medical establishment and the government are wary of Ibogaine, despite its benefits, but one of them really stood out:
Because Ibogaine is an outright cure, drug companies want nothing to do with it.
Martin Kuehne, a chemist at the University of Vermont, is quoted in the story, saying, “Pharmaceutical companies don’t like cures. Really, they don’t — that’s the sad thing. They like treatment. Something for cholesterol or high blood pressure that you take for years and years, every day. That’s where the profit is.”
When we read that, a light went on. The worst thing for a drug company is a pill you take that completely cures you of your ailment with one dose, right? Where’s the money in that?
That’s the stuff Edmond Muskie was hooked on.
“I immediately recognized The Ibogaine Effect — from Muskie’s tearful breakdown on the flatbed truck in New Hampshire, the delusions and altered thinking that characterized his campaign in Florida, and finally the condition of “total rage” that gripped him in Wisconsin.” – HST
What a bogus article. Of course, any medicine that is taken multiple times will generate more income and more profit.
I could say the same for the food industry. They make profits on repeat business.
Let me paraphrase the blogger’s comment: When we read that, a light went on. The worst thing for a food company is a cereal you take that completely cures you of your hunger with one portion, right? Where’s the money in that?
Silly blogger!
Duh!!!!
As someone who has taken allergy medication for decades, Duh!
It’s like with any research program. If it actually achieves what it sets out to do, you have to shut the program down.
Or for that matter anti-poverty programs that actually eradicated poverty.
Let’s not forget why “heroin” have been named with such name… Because they thought it was the perfect non-addictive cure with great potential. Ibogaine=Heroin2.0.
#8 Milos said:
An outright cure for cancer or diabetes wouldn’t be very profitable in the long run for these companies. I’m sure that reality does play a part in how they conduct business.
Yup, I could have bet money that this article will drive up the conspiracy frenzy.
Just like Scotts Lawn Company is hiding the secret grass seed formula where grass grows to 2 inches high and magically stops.
Or the friend of a friend’s relative who invented a carburetor that improves car mileage to 100mpg, but Shell Oil bought the rights to the device.
Do you think the man landing on the moon was filmed on a Hollywood set?
Or that George Bush arranged the destruction of the Twin Towers?
Come on, get real. Do you really think there is a a magic medicine that can cure cancer with one pill?
“The worst thing for a drug company is a pill you take that completely cures you of your ailment”
Absolutely. That’s why NOBODY manufactures antibiotics, anymore. That’s why NOBODY puts any research into vaccines, anymore. OH, by the way, the oil companies bought up the patent on that engine that generates 300 BHp and sips gasoline at 500 miles per gallon. And ConEd bought up the rights to that perpetual motion machine that could generate all the electricity California can ever use.
Big Business. They’re only in it to screw the little guy.
The drug is not approved because the drug comapnies can’t make any money off it.
Uh huh. It has nothing to do with the fact it tends to destroy the Purkinje fibers in the brain resulting in ataxia (uncoordinated muscle movements, tremors) or that in clinical dosages may have a mortality rate (that’s kill rate) of 1 in 300 due to toxic effects on the heart.
Dem bastards at the drug companies. They only worry about their pocket book.
#12 What the government needs is the right of eminent domain with respect to patents so that if there is a patent important enough and far reaching enough it cannot be hijacked by a company and locked away to *prevent* progress.
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The whole notion of treating symptoms rather than finding cures rather suggests good health as a “service” of sorts…you pay for fee every month and in return you get these chemical tokens (pills) that allow you to continue feeling better.
#14 eightnote – I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic or really believe drug companies use patents to hide their health cure discoveries from the public.
You should re-read #12 Counterweight’s post (500 mpg cars, perpetual motion machines) that ridiculed the folks who believe there is a one pill magical cure for our illnesses.
The worst thing anyone can do to medical corporation’s bottom lines is eat healthy, stay fit and exercise. Lucky for them most Americans are illiterate, overweight slobs.
#16 – nobrain – The only planned obsolescence here is the one programmed into your genes.
Grab a clue. They’re free!
By the way, someone suggested they are hiding medical miracles behind patents. -sigh- That just shows a basic ignorance of the patent system. If you patent something you MUST disclose how it works and what it does and this is PUBLIC information. There are people who scrutinize patents every day as a career. If there were a miracle cure for your anal warts hiding in a patent, we’d know about it. (BTW, we CAN cure those anal warts – just not miraculously. Or prettily.)
Standard corp mentality.
And then you wonder about a SICK NATION the USA IS.
Many minor ailments could be fixed and solved in a short time. Except that a sick person PAYS.
How about then selling things that make you sick.
Then sell you something that treats the symptoms for the rest of your life.
Why didn’t I think of that!
WOW!
Let’s say there is a one-pill one-time cure for cancer.
Why not simply charge, say, $25,000 for the pill??
Everyone still gets paid, and the patient gets cured without lengthy hospital stays.
it works. In my early years I lived with non-fluoridated water and I have many cavities. Then we moved to a place with flouridated water and my two sisters grew up with perfect teeth and still only 2-3 small cavities.
Communist Plot to destroy the Purkinje fibers or something cheap and safe that works? I only have my own single experience to go on.
And humor aside, yes, thank you Animby for your good info. Few things have magic bullets and them that do grow out of it. Darwin never rests.
# 27 GetSmart,
Companies owe nothing to society. All they are obligated too are their shareholders, all other be damned.
It’s nothing personal, it’s good business.
It’s all about shareholders return on investment and nothing more!!
Chris Rock has a great routine about “the money isn’t in the cure , the money is in the medicine.
What’s the last thing they cured ? Polio!”
The one I’ve always wondered about is how come they can’t cure plaque. It’s right out where you can get at it and it doesn’t seem that exotic or high tech. But imagine what it would do to the dental industry.
Yup.
They don’t make an endless supply of money from cures.
They make an endless supply of money from TREATMENTS.
You want cures?
Die!
That’ll cure everything.
Animby…. warmest thanks. I had no idea there was a generic out as the patent is still valid. Luckily I live in Ontario, Canada and found out that I qualify for a government co-payment plan based on income. However, I have noticed others on CML blogs who are struggling with the cost and I will certainly pass the generic drug info along.
#30 Colorado
Don’t tell anyone, but after getting your teeth cleaned next time, buy some “Ecodent” tooth powder and brush each time after eating: no more plaque.
That’s why none of them every want to cure diabetes. It’s infinitely more profitable to sell insulin and blood glucose test strips to you for the rest of your life then a one time $5,000 “cure”.
I’m sorry, but this isn’t paranoia just the reality of having an health care industry that’s designed “for profit”. If that’s what you want, ok fine, but don’t be an IDIOT and PRETEND they then want just what’s “best for you”…no they want whats best for their quarterly profits and shareholders, and if that happens to be treatment over cure then that’s what YOU get because YOU wanted a “for profit” health care system.
Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.
I seriously doubt the one pill cures permanently fantasy. But agree somewhat with the notion that cures for some things are being avoided. Like nicotine addition. The use of patches, to ween smokers off of cigarettes, seems stupid. There are NO alcohol, cocaine, or meth patches, to ween abusers off these substances. Why keep supplying nicotine in smaller, more gradual doses, rather than quitting it completely? It can be done. Thousands of people do it. But some are a little weaker willed. So why not keep them hooked, and give them a chance to relapse, by feeding them nicotine 24/7 thru their skin? Or provide nicotine in candy (gum)? Or some smokeless cigarette substitute? The weening you off an addiction excuse, seems to me to be a lie.
One day I decided to stop buying and consuming sodas and potato chips, for health reasons. Surprisingly I haven’t had any craving for either. If I had tried weening myself off these, I’m sure it wouldn’t work. Who can eat just one potato chip? Or take one swallow of Coke? What blows my mind now, is noticing how many people fill their shopping carts with this crap. The whole world seems addicted to liquid sugar and caffeine. Besides the National Smoke-Off day (sounds more like a smoking contest, than quitting). There ought to be a National Soda-Off day. Maybe diabetes rates would decrease substantially. And a National Chip-Off day, would lower high blood pressure a bit. Think of all the argo jobs there would be if we eat more natural foods, than the processed stuff that’s killing us.
I meant Agro-jobs, excuse the typo please. It’s late.
BTW, speaking of addictions. They now have something new called “I-Dosing”. Which is total crap, from what I can tell. Young people thinking they can get high from blasting a bunch of weird audio tracks over their headphones. Mostly it’s just the equivalent of spinning around in an office chair. The phasing of the stereo track, effects one’s perception of spacial orientation. And the loudness probably creates so much pain, than endorphins are released. The trade off is you go deaf faster. And then move onto harder substance abuse. Where’s the “brown noise” when you need it, for these idiots?
BTW, calling this so-called electronic high, “I-Dosing”, is obviously more Apple products slamming. They could just as easily call it “Zune-Spinning” or “Zuning”. But I’ll bet Microsoft would sue Fox News’ pants off. So what next on the Anti-Apple front. A roomer that stereo-graphic pictures viewed on iPads, causes permanent cross-eyed-ness?
This is why there is NO CURE FOR CANCER !!! What would CANCER, INC. do if there was a cure ???
Most cures are found in people’s refrigerators, but the food industry isn’t interested in making us healthy. They want us fat, disgusting, and hungry.