Ibogaine HCl & the salt forms

Once ibogaine is isolated, it exists in two main forms. The freebase is the neutral molecule as it occurs in the plant; ibogaine hydrochloride (ibogaine HCl) is that molecule combined with hydrochloric acid to form a salt. The salt is more water-soluble, more stable to weigh and handle, and easier to standardise — which is why almost every research and clinical protocol refers to ibogaine HCl rather than the freebase.

This matters for naming because the same underlying compound is quoted under different labels, and a dose of “ibogaine” can mean subtly different things depending on which form is meant. Freebase and salt differ in weight for the same amount of active molecule, so precision here is not pedantry.

Dose and duration

In clinical and legal-medical guides, single oral doses of ibogaine HCl are often described in the range of roughly 10–20 mg per kilogram of body weight, producing a prolonged, dream-like state. That experience is famously long: accounts and protocols typically describe an acute phase followed by a lengthy tail, and readers comparing timelines often look up how long an ibogaine experience lasts before anything else. Figures are given here as factual context, not as guidance — this page is about names and forms, not instructions.