“Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort is crediting his recovery from addiction and withdrawal to ibogaine, a psychedelic treatment currently illegal in the US (NY Post).
Jordan Belfort — the real-life “Wolf of Wall Street” — told The Post he knows the “magic bullet” for the opioid crisis: the illegal psychedelic ibogaine.
“When I woke up from the [ibogaine ‘trip’], I no longer craved opiates. I had no more physical addiction,” the 61-year-old said.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) classifies ibogaine as a Schedule I substance and it’s currently not approved for medical use in the US, although there has been a bipartisan push to legalize that, particularly for veterans suffering from PTSD.
Belfort was treated at a clinic near Cancun, Mexico, earlier this year.
The former cocaine addict, who served 22 months in prison for pump-and-dump stock fraud, had previously claimed he quit doing more than 25 years ago, but now admits that wasn’t exactly true.
“I got sober in 1997. Then over a period of two years I had six surgeries … I was taking Vicodin and I was at the point where I’m like, you know, if this goes on much longer, I’m going to get addicted. I call my doctors [and they said], ‘Oh, you should go on Suboxone —you can stop taking any more opiates and it doesn’t get you high,’” he recalled of the controversial opiate which is prescribed for weaning addicts off opioids but can itself cause severe withdrawal symptom.
“[They] didn’t tell me how impossible it would be to get off it! So I was taking Suboxone for 10 years,” Belfort added. “I wasn’t abusing Suboxone but I couldn’t stop taking it.”
Belfort said he tried to quit Suboxone “many, many times” but was always deterred by the “terrible withdrawals.”
He calls his last failed attempt, at a rapid detox center this year, “a total disaster” before he looked at ibogaine out of desperation to kick Suboxone for good.
He admitted he was hesitant at first, because of the negative things he’d heard about psychedelics.
“I grew up in the era when they really demonized psychedelics: ‘If you take one hit of LSD you jump out a window and you’ll never be the same,’” he said. “I stayed away from psychedelics. Ironically, some of these psychedelics are incredibly potent as a healing mechanism especially when administered the right way.”
He turned to Mike “Zappy” Zapolin, a filmmaker whose website describes him as a “psychedelic concierge to the stars” and features a video testimonial from former NBA celeb (and Khloé Kardashian ex) Lamar Odom.
“Once I understood Jordan’s addictive nature, I knew that only ibogaine could give him a full reset and rid him of that monkey on his back for the rest of his life,” Zappolin told The Post.
Upon Zapolin’s recommendation, Belfort received treatment at Beond, a resort-style rehab in Mexico that focuses solely on ibogaine therapy.
Amenities include private rooms, in-room massages, healthy meals prepared by a world class chef, water-based therapies and 24/7 to therapists and specialized medicine doctors.
RELATED: Mike Zapolin is a large shareholder and advisor to publicly traded Psycheceutical Biosciences (BWVI).
RELATED: Psycheceutical Bioscience (BWVI) Develops Non-Psychoactive Ketamine Topical for PTSD and Depression.
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