Have you ever wondered what happened to the idealism of the 1960s? It died . . . alongside cannabis activist Dana Beal.
Luckily, they’re both back now.
As the founder of the Youth International Party (aka the Yippies), Beal bears responsibility for a large part of American counterculture. He demonstrated at the 1968 Democratic convention. He marched with Dr. King. He’s been arrested time and time again, most recently for ferrying a van full of weed through Idaho (as of this writing, he’s out on bail).
And, yes, he died. Briefly.
Slight, but somehow imposing, with his shock of white hair and bushy handlebar mustache, Beal cuts a figure somewhere between David Crosby and Sam Elliot. He delivers stream-of-consciousness monologues in a gravelly tenor that barrels from the clinical to the political to the personal at breakneck speed, mixing factual recall with fantastical theorizing.
Attribution: Peter M. Bergin AKA User:FlyingCoyote on English wikipedia. CC BY-SA 2.5 | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 | , via Wikimedia Commons
And he may be the best hope addicts have to get a new, controversial treatment using psychedelics.
“The problem is, I actually died,” he says. “It was a very eye-opening experience on a certain level. It took a while for it to sink in . . . What I have now is a whole second life. I died at 65. I’m 77, so I did have a life after death, but it was a different life. I’m still trying to figure it out, but it’s interesting. I’ll tell you, it’s a lot more interesting than being dead.”
To hear him tell it, Beal was clinically dead. But also maybe in a coma. Either way, medical science brought him back. Now, he’s determined to see his life’s work reach a new milestone. While he still crusades for cannabis, he’s more interested in spreading the gospel of ibogaine.
For the uninitiated, ibogaine is a psychoactive compound found in the bark and roots of a Central African shrub. Native tribes chew the plant to stave off hunger and keep alert. In the 1800s, European explorers brought it home and sold it as a stimulant. More recently, it’s gained attention both as a recreational drug and a way to treat a variety of disorders, like addiction, PTSD, and traumatic brain injuries.
Although the medical community isn’t convinced of ibogaine’s efficacy, Beal is certain it can deliver real, life-changing results. His zeal has led him to co-author a book about the drug and, more recently, travel to Ukraine with the hopes of convincing the army to treat their soldiers with it.
He likens ibogaine’s power to the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Pour some on Sean Connery’s bullet wound, and it will rejuvenate the cells and kick-start a miraculous healing process. Even more impressive, however, is what it does to the brain. It functions in a similar way to SSRIs, such as Prozac, although its effects feel closer to a dose of magic mushrooms.
I died at 65. I’m 77, so I did have a life after death, but it was a different life. I’m still trying to figure it out, but it’s interesting. I’ll tell you, it’s a lot more interesting than being dead.
“It actually is the plant sacrament. That’s not rhetoric,” Beal says. “You can see what it does to neuroblastomas. It makes ‘em like sprout, like causing a leaf to bloom. Think of trees in winter. At some point, they’re going to produce buds. And those buds, at a certain point in the spring when the length of day gets to be just right, they’re going to bloom and they’re going to bloom fast and have this trophic reaction where they reach out to the sun. And that is what [ibogaine] does to your neurons. It makes ‘em sprout.”
American law classifies ibogaine as a Schedule I substance, mostly due to its reported side effects—seizures, anxiety, arrhythmia, and hallucinations. In a few instances, it’s been linked to deaths. And some researchers claim the drug can lead to harrowing 24-hour psychedelic trips, although there doesn’t seem to be much evidence of that occurring.
Internet communities devoted to the drug tend to share Beal’s enthusiasm for ibogaine’s efficacy but steer clear of advocating for its recreational value. Across social media and message boards, users share how the drugs helped them to quit cigarettes, overcome depression, and turn their lives around. But because psychedelic effects only kick in at high doses, known as “floods,” many caution against taking ibogaine outside of a treatment setting.
Beal is unconcerned about the recreational side, anyway. He’s concerned with its medical benefits, which require much smaller doses. At worst, a dose of ibogaine can give users a feeling of experiencing a “waking dream.” More commonly, users simply feel a little more alert.
“[Ibogaine] acts like serotonin, but it’s not serotonin,” Beal says. “One end of it is shape is like serotonin, but the other end is completely different, so when it gets in there, it has another action that is to express the nerve-growth hackers.”
He also believes that right now is the right moment to embrace the drug. As Americans warm to the mental health benefits of psychotropic drugs, it creates an opening for ibogaine. Published research, including some funded by the federal government in the 1990s, shows it has the potential to help heroin users kick the habit. And treatment centers in Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, and Costa Rica all use ibogaine in addiction treatment.
For Beal, that’s simply not enough. He’s tried to get politicians of every stripe to endorse it. So far, he’s had few takers at the highest levels, so he’s going back to his roots with grass-roots activism. If he can spread the word, it might be the crowning achievement of his life. Or at least one of them.
“The Yippies were leading to ibogaine, basically,” he says. “Finally, we come up with something in the end, which is what the beatniks were looking for in the beginning: the holy grail.”
Documenting a Legend
Dana Beal: A Lifetime of Service
1947
Born (January 9).
1968
Gained recognition for his involvement in the 1968 Democratic Convention demonstrations.
1971
Referred to by The New York Times as a “major theoretician and behind-the-scenes leader of the underground youth movement.”
1978
The Yipster Times was renamed Overthrow.
1994
Marched at the head of the New York City Marijuana March.
2008
June 3: Arrested in Mattoon, Illinois, on suspicion of money laundering.
August 6: Charged with obstruction of justice related to the Illinois arrest.
2011
January: Arrested in Barneveld, Wisconsin, with 186 pounds of marijuana.
September: Sentenced to 2½ years in prison in Wisconsin.
September 27: Suffered a heart attack and underwent double bypass surgery.
December 29: Prison sentence reduced by six months due to health issues.
2017
September: Helped organize the European Ibogaine Forum in Vienna.
December: Arrested in California with 22 pounds of marijuana.
2018
Supported Sex and the City actress, Cynthia Nixon for New York Governor.
2023
Promoted ibogaine treatment for war veterans in Ukraine.
1963
August: Hitch-hiked to Washington, D.C., to attend the March on Washington and heard Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
October: Organized a demonstration of 2000 people to protest the Ku Klux Klan’s 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham.
1972
Founded the Yipster Times newspaper in Miami Beach, Florida.
1989
Helped organize the Rock Against Racism concerts.
1999
Major organizer of the worldwide Global Million Marijuana March (GMM or MMM).
2009
February: Organized the Boston Ibogaine Forum at Northeastern University.
September 30: Arrested in Ashland, Nebraska, with 150 pounds of marijuana.
2012
February: Turned himself in to the Wisconsin prison system.
April: Moved to Saunders County jail in Wahoo, Nebraska, for a bench trial related to the 2009 arrest.
December: Sentenced to 4-6 years in prison in Nebraska.
2015
Given an Honorary Board Seat on the New York State Committee To Legalize Marijuana.
2016
Organized a demonstration with a 51-foot inflatable marijuana joint at a Hillary Clinton rally.
2021
Organized “Joints for Jabs NYC” to encourage COVID-19 vaccination.
2024
January: Arrested in Gooding County, Idaho, after returning from Ukraine.
March: Released on bail but not permitted to leave the US.
