In Waves and War
In Waves and War, directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2024 and arrived on Netflix in November 2025. It follows three former Navy SEALs, Marcus Capone, Matty Roberts and DJ Shipley, as they come home from Iraq and Afghanistan carrying more than they left with, and travel to a clinic in Tijuana for treatment with ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT.
Much of the film belongs to Amber Capone, who watched her husband's medication and therapy stop working and went looking for something else. The couple founded the nonprofit VETS, which has since helped well over a thousand veterans travel to Mexico for treatment. The film is moving, and it is honest that the medicine is a beginning: Marcus Capone says the hardest work comes after.
For many people, the film is the first time they hear the word ibogaine. It is worth knowing that what they saw is one protocol among several.
What each protocol is
Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT. In this clinical protocol, a guest first receives ibogaine hydrochloride, the main alkaloid of iboga purified in a laboratory, as a weighed dose. A day or two later comes 5-MeO-DMT, a different psychedelic, found in the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad or made synthetically. Its effect is short, usually under an hour, and often described as intense or overwhelming. The pairing is a modern clinical practice, not a traditional one.
A traditional iboga retreat. In the Missoko Bwiti tradition of Gabon, iboga is given as the whole root bark, with its family of alkaloids, in steps through the night. The practitioner watches each person before giving more. The night is held with fire, music and the ancestors, and the next day is for a guided life review. There is no second psychedelic: the night with iboga is the work. At Bwiti Life, this is held under full medical supervision, with a physician on site day and night. See the Bwiti tradition and iboga vs ibogaine.
Two compounds, or one root
The clinic protocol pairs two molecules. Ibogaine hydrochloride is one alkaloid, isolated from plant material and purified in a laboratory into a salt. The 5-MeO-DMT given in clinics is most often synthetic, made in a laboratory; it also exists in the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad. Neither comes with a tradition that knows how to hold it, and the pairing of the two is a clinical invention of the last decade. The result is two strong, separate experiences, often described as a long night followed by a short, overwhelming one, rather than a single journey.
A traditional iboga retreat works with the whole root bark, as it grows, with the full family of alkaloids the plant makes. It is given the way it has been given in Gabon for generations: in steps, by a practitioner, inside a ceremony that has a beginning, a middle and an end. What it offers is not a peak but a psycho-spiritual journey: a long, lucid night in which the past comes forward to be seen, followed the next day by a guided life review in which what came up is put into words and given its place. Guests describe it as deep healing rather than a breakthrough moment, and that depth is what the tradition is for.
One is a protocol built around molecules; the other is a medicine held by the people who know it. Both can be done safely with the right medical frame; they are simply not the same experience.
Side by side
| Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT clinic | Traditional iboga retreat | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Two isolated compounds, combined by a clinical protocol: two separate experiences. | One whole plant medicine, held by a tradition: a single psycho-spiritual journey with a life review. |
| The medicine | Ibogaine hydrochloride, one purified alkaloid, at a weighed dose, usually followed a day or two later by 5-MeO-DMT, a short-acting psychedelic from the Sonoran Desert toad or made in a lab. | The whole root bark of Tabernanthe iboga, with its family of alkaloids, given in steps through the night. No second psychedelic. |
| Where it comes from | A clinical protocol developed in Mexican clinics over the last decade. | The Missoko Bwiti tradition of Gabon, held for generations, and passed on to our providers at Bwiti House. |
| The night | A clinical room, music chosen by staff, a facilitator nearby. | A fire talk, the ngombi harp and the mongongo mouth bow, practitioners who pace the medicine to each person. |
| The day after | Rest, then the 5-MeO-DMT session, often described as brief and overwhelming. | A processing day, then a guided life review: what came up is put into words and given its place. |
| Medical frame | Screening, cardiac monitoring, medical staff. | Screening, ECG and bloodwork before travel, a physician on site day and night, telemetry, IV access. |
| After | Varies by clinic; often a referral or optional coaching. | Four integration calls on Zoom over three months, included. |
What the research shows
The best-known study is often linked to the film, but it was not the same protocol. In 2024, Stanford researchers published in Nature Medicine the results of thirty special operations veterans with traumatic brain injury treated with ibogaine and magnesium, without 5-MeO-DMT. One month later, disability, PTSD, depression and anxiety scores had fallen sharply. It was open-label, with no placebo group.
The combination itself has been studied mainly through a survey: in 2020, Davis and colleagues asked 51 special operations veterans who had completed an ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT program in Mexico to rate their symptoms before and after. They reported large reductions in PTSD, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. The authors are clear about the limits: the answers were self-reported and recalled afterwards, with no control group, and the design cannot separate what ibogaine did from what 5-MeO-DMT did. Most respondents also described the treatment as one of the most psychologically challenging experiences of their lives.
No study has compared a traditional iboga retreat with a clinic protocol. The honest summary is that the signal for ibogaine is promising, the evidence for adding 5-MeO-DMT is thin, and the traditional frame has not been measured in trials. See what success rates mean.
Safety
Whatever the protocol, the first risk is the heart. Ibogaine can lengthen the QT interval, and most deaths reported worldwide involved heart conditions or other substances. That is why screening, an ECG, and monitoring through the night matter more than any other choice. See safety and medical protocol.
5-MeO-DMT on its own looks well tolerated in the small clinical trials published so far, with no serious adverse events among 78 participants, but its long-term effects have not been studied. There are no controlled safety data on combining it with ibogaine, and harm-reduction organizations such as ICEERS warn against combining it with ibogaine because both act on the serotonin system. In our view, that uncertainty is a reason not to add it.
What happens after
Both the film and the tradition agree on one thing: the medicine opens a door, and the months after decide what comes through it. Ask any provider what happens when you fly home, who you can call, and for how long. At Bwiti Life, four integration calls on Zoom over three months are included, with the same team who held you. See preparation and continuing care.
How to choose
- Ask what you will be given. Purified ibogaine or the whole root, one medicine or two, and why.
- Ask who is in the room at night. A physician on site, cardiac monitoring, and how the dose is paced.
- Ask about the frame. A clinical protocol and a living tradition are different experiences; neither is wrong, but you should choose knowingly.
- Ask about after. Integration that is included, not optional, and a team you can reach.
If the film spoke to you, you are not alone, and you do not have to decide anything today. Our veterans' retreats are held by Cory Poolman, a former Navy SEAL trained in Gabon. See for veterans and first responders.
Questions people ask
Did the Stanford study use 5-MeO-DMT?
No. The 2024 Stanford study in Nature Medicine gave thirty special operations veterans ibogaine with magnesium, and measured the results one month later. The documentary interleaves the veterans' stories with interviews from that study, but the study itself did not include 5-MeO-DMT.
Do you give 5-MeO-DMT at Bwiti Life?
No. 5-MeO-DMT is not part of the Missoko Bwiti tradition, and we do not combine it with iboga. Our ceremonies use the whole root bark, held in the tradition, with a physician on site.
Is one approach better than the other?
No study has compared them. The published ibogaine research used ibogaine in clinics; the traditional frame has not been measured head to head. What differs is the experience around the medicine, and that is a choice to make with clear eyes.
I watched In Waves and War. Where do I start?
With a conversation. Book a free discovery call: we talk about what you are carrying, the medical screening, and whether a traditional retreat, or something else, is the right next step for you.
Sources
- In Waves and War (film), directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, 2024; on Netflix from November 2025. en.wikipedia.org
- Cherian KN et al. Magnesium–ibogaine therapy in veterans with traumatic brain injuries. Nature Medicine, 2024. www.nature.com
- Davis AK et al. Psychedelic treatment for trauma-related psychological and cognitive impairment among US Special Operations Forces veterans. Chronic Stress, 2020. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Kwaśny A, Wilkowska A, Cubała WJ. Short-term safety and tolerability profile of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine in human subjects: a systematic review of clinical trials. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2024. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- ICEERS. Risks associated with combining Bufo toad with ayahuasca (includes ibogaine), 2019. www.iceers.org
- Alper KR et al. Fatalities temporally associated with the ingestion of ibogaine. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2012. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov