Fear and Loathing about Ibogaine
Emergency Medicine News June 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1097/01.eem.0001024232.42050.1d (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Ibogaine |
| Key points | The author recalls first encountering ibogaine through Hunter S. Thompson's 1972 campaign reporting, notes that Thompson later admitted inventing the story that Edmund Muskie used a psychedelic, and cites Frank Mankiewicz's description of Thompson's coverage as the "least factual, most accurate account" of the race. No scientific claims about ibogaine are made. |
Abstract
... I immediately recognized The Ibogaine Effect...” —Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72 Reading Hunter S. Thompson's dispatches from the 1972 Democratic primary race in Rolling Stone was the first time I learned about a mysterious drug called ibogaine. I never believed that Edmund Muskie was taking a psychedelic substance on the hustings. Mr. Thompson later admitted that he made up the entire story and was flabbergasted when people believed it. Even so, Frank Mankiewicz, the campaign manager for eventual Democratic nominee George McGovern, later called Thompson's coverage the “least factual, most accurate account” of the 1972 presidential contest. (New York Times.