A conversation with Norma Lotsof

Norma Lotsof is a trailblazing advocate and practitioner of ibogaine treatment. Norma was born in the Bronx in 1937 and came of age in the 1960s in New York City with her husband Howard Lotsof, a fellow pioneer in psychonautic exploration and NYU film school graduate. In 1962 Howard discovered the medicine’s unique ability to interrupt opiate addiction, sparking a decades-long quest by the couple to bring the healing potential of ibogaine to the attention of governments and scientific researchers with the goal of it becoming a legal and safe prescribed medicine. Their work took them around the world to numerous countries including to Gabon, where iboga has been long used traditionally by the Bwiti. Today, Norma lives in New York City where she remains an advocate for ibogaine treatment and advisor to the next generation of researchers and practitioners building on her and Howard’s work.