it would not only change the drug dealer's business, it would also cut out all the $$ the system is making out of locking up folks for "drug use". an entire prison/legal system is profiting from "drug addiction".

correction:
if ibo was put on the street, i think it'd become just another way to alter ones reality. it would as for any "drug" be used in as many ways as there are users.

the legal/prison/rehab system benefiting from "drug addiction" seems to be specific to country/time period, and not specific drug related.

sorry for double postings (i thought i could correct posts) and rewording of idea.
btw, thanx to futurehi for a wonderful collection of thoughts.

Taking a drug off of Schedule 1 would not all of a sudden put it on the street. By definition it already is a "street drug" since it's Schedule 1 and is illegal under all circumstances. The reason it's not around is precisely becuase this drug is non-additive both physiologically and psychologically. Better, it's actually de-addictive. Almost everyone who trys it doesn't feel any need to repeat the experience, and if they are addicted to other substances, a subtanially decreased desire to repeat using that drug as well.

This has proved to be the case whether the user is in a New york city apartment or a Bwiti ritual in Africa.

Therefore this drug shows great promise in providing a powerful tool to cure people from destructive, life long addictions to alcohol, drugs or behavior patterns.

You make a good point that our current prison system is part of a larger system designed to keep people addicted and oppressed, to provide both large sums of money to different enforcement agencies, the prison system, and a source of cheap labor. This system being perpetuated by the drug war is immoral, heinous and disgusting, and I pray each day that American's will wake up and put a stop to it. I'm not holding my breath, but I do remain hopeful.

I think Ibogaine is also highly uncommon because of its rarity and the intense power of its experience. Like STP in the 70's, it seems to be just too intense for the average person to bbe takren in anything less than a highly ritualized setting. Ayahuasca is perhaps a better analogy - you can get it "on the street" but only from other sympathetic urban shamen (i.e. you're not going to score some downtown or at a party). Daniel Pinchbeck writes of his Eboga experiences in Breaking Open The Head (which i highly recommend). I also recommend giving money to MAPS. They've been doind great work for the past 15 years or so and Rick Doblin is a noble champion of the entheogenic experience.

Ibogain lasts for nearly 30 hours, and because it almost completely blurs waking and unconcious/dreaming reality, I can only imagine taking it in some kind of sanctuary and under supervision. I just finished reading 'Breaking Open the Head" (loved it), but don't see myself travelling to Gabon to experience this. So I suppose I'll have to wait until it's off of Schedule 1 or it's offered somewhere closer where it is legal.

As for Ayahuasca I very much want to go through that experience, and almost went to Manaus, Brazil for a 10-day workshop in 2001, but my money ended up going to more immediate priorities. One of these days I need to make the trip to the Amazon.

Or find some industrious and forward-thinking chemistry students. Back in college some friends and I got hold of what we were told was ayahuasca from Reed College. It was like little dried bits of apple. I suspect it was a form of pharmahuasca, or perhaps a mixture of extracts. In any case, it was the most powerful experience of my life (and of those who i was tripping with). We've never been the same since. :)