The 21 questions we score clinics against, written for a first phone call, with what a good answer sounds like. Print this page or grab the PDF for your phone.
Ibogaine clinics are unregulated, which means the screening burden falls on you. The good news: serious clinics answer every question below without flinching, because they built their protocol around exactly these points. Evasion on any question in the first three groups is a red flag; evasion on several is your answer.
1. Do you require a 12-lead EKG before dosing, and who reads it?
A good answer: Always, reviewed by a physician, with a stated QTc cutoff, typically in the 430 to 450 millisecond range. A clinic that will dose you without an EKG should end the call.
2. What bloodwork do you require?
A good answer: At minimum a metabolic panel including potassium and magnesium, plus liver function tests, done before travel or on arrival before dosing.
3. How do you handle my current medications?
A good answer: A full medication review before booking, with supervised tapers for SSRIs and other QT-prolonging or interacting drugs, on a stated timeline. Not "just stop taking them."
4. Who do you refuse to treat?
A good answer: A real list: certain cardiac conditions, uncontrolled psychiatric conditions, some medication profiles. A clinic with no exclusion criteria is not screening.
5. Who is your medical director, and can I verify their credentials?
A good answer: A name, a license, and a jurisdiction you can check. Titles without names are marketing.
6. How many ACLS-certified staff are present during dosing?
A good answer: At least two trained attendants through the acute window, per the GITA guidelines, with advanced cardiac life support certification they can document.
7. Is a physician physically present or on call during dosing?
A good answer: Physically present at the higher tier of clinics, immediately reachable at minimum, and they should say which.
8. What cardiac monitoring runs while I am dosed?
A good answer: Continuous monitoring, at least 3-lead, through dosing and after, not periodic checks by a sitter.
9. How long am I monitored after the flood dose?
A good answer: Until cardiac readings normalize, typically well past the acute experience, and someone stays with you.
10. Do you administer magnesium before treatment?
A good answer: Yes, as pre-treatment loading; it protects against the arrhythmia ibogaine can trigger.
11. How far is the nearest 24-hour hospital, in minutes?
A good answer: A number, not a neighborhood. The GITA guidelines say emergency responders within 15 minutes and ideally a hospital within 30.
12. What exactly happens if I have a cardiac event?
A good answer: A rehearsed plan: who resuscitates, what equipment is on site, who transports, which hospital receives. Hesitation here matters.
13. What resuscitation equipment do you keep on site?
A good answer: A defibrillator and emergency medications at minimum, and staff trained to use them.
14. What program length do you recommend for my substance, and why?
A good answer: Fentanyl, methadone and Suboxone need longer stays and pre-treatment stabilization, often 12 to 30 days. A one-week quote for a methadone detox is a warning sign.
15. What form of ibogaine do you use, and how do you dose it?
A good answer: Ibogaine HCl, dosed in milligrams per kilogram of body weight, often with a test dose first. Vagueness about form or dose is disqualifying.
16. What is included in the price, and what costs extra?
A good answer: A written answer: lodging, meals, labs, the medicine, transfers, aftercare. Surprise add-ons show up in complaint records.
17. What does aftercare actually consist of?
A good answer: Something structured: integration sessions, coaching, follow-up calls on a schedule. "We are always available" is not a program.
18. Is your pricing published anywhere I can read it?
A good answer: Yes, or they send a written quote immediately. About half the industry hides pricing behind a phone call; the transparent half exists.
19. Can I speak to former patients or read verified reviews?
A good answer: Platform-verified reviews (Google, Recovery.com) beat testimonials on the clinic’s own site. Also search the clinic name plus the word complaint yourself.
20. Do you guarantee results?
A good answer: No honest clinic guarantees a cure. Relapse after ibogaine is common without aftercare, and tolerance resets make early relapse dangerous. A guarantee is a red flag, not a comfort.
21. Will you take a deposit before medical screening?
A good answer: Screening should come first. A clinic that wants payment before it knows whether it can safely treat you has told you its priority.
Every profile in our directory scores clinics on the disclosures behind these questions, and the safety guide explains the medicine behind each one. If a clinic you are considering fails several of these, check whether it appears on our excluded operators page, and trust the pattern you found.
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