Chris Jenks has spent his life searching for a consistent, useful and positive way to understand the meaning of life, the universe and everything. This search brought many exciting and compelling claims of learning and healing through the use of psychoactive drugs to his attention. Chris focused this interest by pursuing a doctoral degree in medicinal organic chemistry and by selecting the chemical production of ibogaine as the best use of his discretionary time. Chris has traveled since the 90s to France, Italy and South Africa to develop extraction procedures and manufacturing methods specifically suited for laboratories in developing countries due to their simplicity and low cost. This work has been sponsored by the treatment providers Karl Naeher and Anwar Jeewa and performed during periods of extended vacation or unpaid leave. Chris has also developed analytical methods for iboga alkaloids, studied iboga cultivation and runs a web site where literature and correspondence regarding ibogaine is hosted. The rest of his time, Chris still lives in California and works on developing infrastructure to provide sustainable transportation fuel. His vision is of a world where it is safe to ask for help and where it can be found.
Chris will talk about how Ibogaine has obvious utility to facilitate psychological and spiritual breakthroughs, and to mitigate opiate and stimulate withdrawal, but has been plagued with problems of reliable, affordable and sustainable supply, and of inducing heart arrhythmias under specific conditions. The supply problem has been partially resolved through low-tech procedures for extracting iboga root bark or producing ibogaine from the bark of the Voacanga africana tree, both of which can be cultivated. Analytical proceudres have been developed to make quality control of iboga products possible, to address many reported problems with purity. Much remains to be learned about the pharmacology of alkaloids similar to ibogaine, an area offering tremendous potential opportunity for treatment professionals.