Ibogaine Clinic - Ibeginagain/envision recovery is a SCAM! 4 of 7 Ibogaine Clinic Reviews Nov 30, 2014 8 COMMENTS Customer service Website usability Staff Workmanship Insurance Plans Acceptance Medical Service and Care Quality Customers like Medicine Customers don't like Getting taken advantage of Lex being unavailable No staff had taken a flood dos Price was too high Lex seemed like a drug dealer Ibeginagain Ibogaine clinic/ envision recovery (I believe they are making a new name to disassociate with Eric Taub) False advertisements, terrible staff, provider acts like a drug dealer when he should be at least somewhat professional for the price. Lex Kogan is the provider at this clinic, when you talk to him on the phone he seems really happy to talk and it makes you feel as though he is excited for you to come down. This is merely a sales tactic. The time he spends with you is limited to when he is at the house and available. I and everyone who came through the clinic agreed that we spent way more time with Lex on the phone than we did at the house. I did think it was curious that he seemed available whenever I called. There were red flags beforehand that I chose to ignore. The main one being that after I told other providers I was going to go down to Costa Rica and have Lex give me the Ibogaine treatment they all said that they have only heard bad things, the main one being that he does not make himself available when you are at the house or during the trip. This was a big one for me because my previous experiences with psychedelics have taught me that if you're not tripping with a group the next best thing is someone who has been where you are. Simply because you don't feel judged when you are acting like what probably seems psychotic to those who haven't experienced the substance you're on. I heard nurses laughing, talking about how messed up patients were, totally unprofessional. To me it seemed like Lex has these heady ideas of what he would like the place to be, how I would describe what he was trying at sort of would have been like a libertarian spiritual zone. The thing I heard him repeat to me and others the most was that you know your body better than anyone. He was all about personal freedom. However having nurses (actually they were nurses in training), a MD who didn't speak English and was hitting on all the male patients, I was the only female there, I definitely got less attention then the guys from the medical staff which added to the unsafe feeling I had. Perhaps without the medical staff the libertarian utopia, that Lex seemed to want, would be attainable. What he has create now is two polar opposite worlds that make clients uncomfortable. He is always on the move, some days I did not see him at all. Some on the staff spoke English, the cook and one nurse spoke English well enough to have a conversation. This proved to be very frustrating during the trip when I was trying to convey something to one of the nurses that spoke very broken English with a lot of Spanish thrown in. During the trip words in English were hard enough to understand, communication was frustrating and I gave up. Well I shouldn't say nurses actually, they were in school to be nurses, they couldn't even get an IV in me, they let me do it by myself. Another note on the staff is that the staff they list on the website was not all there. There was supposed to be a therapist there and a trip sitter who has had a full flood dose. One of the things I was pleased with was that they let me have freedom, I could do whatever I wanted, go to town, explore the area we were in. However, I realized this during my trip that there was NO waver signed. An interesting commonality that I and the people I met who got treatment while I was there is that we were all so pissed at Lex at one point during the trip, we all felt like we got took by a scammer, he promised the world, and I expected that what the website said and what he told me on the phone would be somewhat true. The main reason I am writing this review is because I did not feel safe, I feel as though Lex doesn't know what he's doing. His wife was pregnant and about to pop, but still you're running a business and if I pay $6500 cash for an experimental medical treatment that is run out of a shoddy bungalow with underpaid (or perhaps they were just cheap labor) I expect to be treated with a certain degree of service and to feel as though I am safe. He could have done away with the nursing staff and I probably would've felt better. Their presence made it feel like I was in a ghetto hospital. Also Lex does not carry a cell phone, WHAT THE ***? What if something were to happen to a patient? It is almost criminal of him to not carry a cell phone and at the same time the only one who has personally worked with the substance for 14 years. The 14 years part really sold me too, but after doing research I found minimal reviews or praises of his facilities or underground work. You'd think someone with 14 years of experience would have more information about him. I think he is the worst kind of scammer, one who actually puts others lives at risk for a fat stack of 100s. Lex promised that it would be luxurious and I would be getting massages whenever I wanted. Whenever I wanted was just the days that the masseuse was there, 2 in a 10 day time span. Also the masseuse was talking, during both sessions, to Lex's wife. She was good though, but I was never able to fully relax obviously. This was simply an afterthought, I was not looking for luxury when I was searching for clinics, but if you tell me something that is a lie it is a false advertisement to get me to buy your service. Please look into other clinics, the medicine itself was great. I remember waking up and the first thing I though was "this place is a scams but the medicine is good, I came for the medicine, be happy". I would never recommend this place to take Ibogaine, not even to my worst enemy. Lex is a salesmen, just know that, I have worked in that field for a long time. I don't think he deals with many people who pay their own way, it's probably mostly parents who are desperate and want to get their children help no matter the cost. Lex is selling the easiest thing there is to sell to desperate people, hopes and dreams. One last thing that I have to mention that bugged me out pre-trip. Lex was talking about how in Mexico a competitor put a hit out on him, he also talked about getting a gun (highly illegal in Costa Rica). Why the *** would you tell a client this information? What purpose does it serve? By the end of my stay at Ibeginagain I came to the conclusion that Lex is just a drug dealer posing as a medicine man. It's too bad that he gets good medicine, he does not respect it. Don't make the same mistake that I made and go to Ibeginagain Ibogaine treatment center, it may be called Envision Recovery now, but either way do not have Lex Kogan provide your Ibogaine treatment. Ibogaine is an amazing medicine, so amazing that even with the terrible experience with the provider and his clinic I still feel renewed. It's as though someone has hit a reset button in my brain, possibilities are all I see. "Fear is the mind-killer" is one of my mantras now. Making new healthy habits has become easier than falling back into old bad habits. Please if you seek help with addiction or other self destructive habits seek out this medicine. One important thing that Lex did not mention to me was aftercare. I was in touch with many providers before I decided to go with Lex, it was sort of a shot gun decision, but they all said aftercare is a must. So I was referred to a therapist who has taken Ibogaine himself and works with many patients that have taken the medicine. I have been talking to him via phone and it has been so helpful. So again please avoid Lex Kogan and the I begin again Ibogaine treatment center (possibly Envision recovery now). I am not doing this to tarnish or defame, I am doing this because I don't think it is a safe place and it is only a matter of time before someone gets hurt there. Also there are other providers out there, each has a different model, some are very prominent in the Ibogaine culture and have many positive reviews. Just do research and then do some more research.
#2General Comment
Thu, January 04, 2018
Lex has recently passed away... I have also been there twice and if you want I can Tell you my experience through email ..
CeeBee
New York,#3Consumer Comment
Sat, June 24, 2017
Hi, Could you please send me your email so I could ask you some questions? Thanks!
andrewcade
portland,#4Consumer Comment
Sat, July 04, 2015
A friend of mine stumbled upon this report and had me read it as i have been trying to convince her to get treatment. I was treated by Lex Kogan last year and only have good things to say. To each their own but I really had a different experience. The actual center was beautiful not a shoddy bungalow. Lex was not around all the time this is true. But he had an extensive staff and half was american who had done flood doses and been around ibogaine for quite some time. One girl had been doing treatments for three or four years and was present through my entire trip, i felt safe with her around and she was extremely knowledgable about ibogaine. there was a nurse there from jersey who was around in the daytime and never turned an ear or did not want to engage. I was taken care of, I felt safe, and most importantly i broke a fifteen year addiction that week and walked away feeling near euphoric without any withdrawals. i would recommend lex to anyone and if you need to know if i am a real patient please resond to this and i will give you my email!