Psychedelic Professionals Meet: DENVER

Psychedelic Professionals Meetup Groups are happening in Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins!  Let's keep Colorado on the leading edge of psychedelic medicine work by coming together in community to learn, share, and grow. Each Psychedelic Professionals Meetup Group starts with an informative topic relevant to research, practice, policy, or activism around psychedelic medicines, followed by open discussion and an opportunity to connect with like-minded others. 

For our March meetup in Denver, we are thrilled to welcome Lucia Terpak and Kevin Franciotti to share about research, stories, promise, and risks of ibogaine as a treatment for addictions. Since the passing of Colorado’s Natural Medicine Health Act, also known as Prop 122, public discourse has been largely focused on psilocybin mushrooms. This presentation will address one of the lesser known “natural medicines,” ibogaine, which is now accessible for limited personal possession, use and sharing in our state.  Ibogaine is a psychoactive alkaloid which is derived primarily from the root bark of the Tabernathe iboga, a plant medicine utilized in traditional Central West African rituals of healing and rites of passage. Ibogaine has been shown to act as a powerful “addiction disrupter” by mitigating withdrawal symptoms and reducing cravings, especially in the treatment of opioid use disorder. Although ibogaine is not a magic bullet treatment, it holds great promise as a potential tool in combating the opioid epidemic.

This talk will provide an overview of ibogaine as an addiction treatment from the perspectives of a Medical Anthropologist and Licensed Addiction Counselor. We will highlight current research, stories from the field, and personal anecdotes of healing with ibogaine. We will also explore the reasons why people seek out ibogaine as well as the limitations of Western biomedical approaches to understanding and treating opioid use disorder. Most importantly, we will discuss the unique risk profile of ibogaine and share harm reduction strategies.

About the speakers:

Lucia Terpak earned her BA in Religious Studies from Wake Forest University in 2015 and an MA in Medical Anthropology from The University of Colorado Denver in 2019. She conducted her master’s thesis research on the role of the visionary experience in healing from opioid addiction at an ibogaine detox facility in Mexico. Lucia is passionate about building community, harm reduction, and understanding the root causes of addiction and other “mental health” issues. She has years of experience working as a researcher in health foundation and academic settings. She currently works as adjunct faculty at the Community College of Aurora teaching medical anthropology to nursing students and is a Board Member at The Nowak Society.

Kevin Franciotti is an addiction counselor and clinical psychotherapist in private practice with over 15 years’ experience in community mental health, harm reduction, and direct service work. From 2011-2012 he was a participant in the MAPS Observational Study of the Long-Term Efficacy of Ibogaine-Assisted Therapy for Treatment of Opiate Use Disorder. His endorsement of Proposition 122 published in the Colorado Sun revolved around advocating for access to the same medicine that helped him recover. In February, his op-ed in Lucid News, "Colorado’s Decriminalization of Ibogaine Comes With Unique Risks" serves as a foundation for this presentation to the Nowak Society and Colorado's psychedelic community.

If you have ideas for topics or presentations for these meetup groups or would like to be more involved, please contact us! Please support the Mercury Cafe by purchasing food or drink during our event. Please note we are now meeting upstairs on the second floor of the Mercury Cafe.