What is Ayahuasca?
Updated October 01, 2014.
Ayahuasca is a naturally occurring, hallucinogenic substance. It is found in a woody vine, known as mantana, in the tropical rain forest of Peru, Colonbia, and Brazil. It comprises various species of Banisteriopsis, which contains psychoactive alkaloids, harmine, harmaline, and tetrohydroharmaline, the same substances contained in DMT, which cause hallucinogenic effects as powerful as LSD. This substance is far less known that acid or other hallucinogens popular in the United States and Europe, although in recent years, it has become of interest to "drug tourism."
Ayahuasca is typically consumed in the form of a tea or drink, and is often taken in a ritualistic manner. Ayahuasca tea is made by brewing two vines together,
Ayahuasca has been traditionally used by the people of the Peruvian Amazon, to obtain visions in which they believed they could better understand events leading to diseases and other misfortunes, which were caused by bewitchment. These visions also formed part of shamanic rituals, which addressed the bewitchment by directing retribution to its perpetrator.
Other traditional uses of Ayahuasca included the healing of illnesses, bewitching of enemies, obtaining the favors of a woman, finding out who stole a lost object, divining the future, all of which should be decided upon in advance of taking the drug. Ayahuasca was thought to provide the power to make personal gains, including prestige and power, psychological control over others, for self aggrandizing behavior, to obtain the esteem of others, or for particular pecuniary ends.
The drug was also seen to be of potential benefit to the social group, and to enable communication with the spirit world to ensure the well-being of society.
Ayahuasca is still used in Peruvian cities, such as Iquitos and Pucallpa, in the diagnosis and treatment of witchcraft related illnesses. Group healing is lead by folk healers, who administer the drug to allow patients to experience visions of the people who are believed to have bewitched them.
Despite being outlawed in the 1980s, the importance of Ayahuasca to Brazilian culture was recognized through Brazil's national heritage program, which characterized Ayahuasca churches as part of the religious diversity of Brazil, worthy of respect. As a result, auahuasca was recently adopted of CONAD's (Conselho Nacional de Políticas sobre Drogas) 2010 Resolution, which established a set of rules, norms and ethical principles to be applied to religious and ritual uses of ayahuasca. As such, Brazil is exempt from international treaty obligations to restrict drug use.
Ayahuasca use as a means of obtaining spiritual enlightenment, and as a cure for alcoholism, depression, and even cancer, has been a recent phenomenon within the drug tourism industry.
There have been reports of drug tourism and predatory and inept pseudo-shamanism which has, in some cases, lead to sexual assaults, negligence, and has even been associated with the as-yet unexplained of one drug tourist in Peru's Amazon basin.
Ayahuasaca has been contraindicated to be taken in conjunction with a type of antidepressant known as Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) by the Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), who warn that taking the active ingredients of Ayahuasca within five weeks of taking SSRIs can potentially lead to serious medical consequences, such as coma or even death.
Sources
Dobkin de Rios, M. Hallucinogens: Cross Cultural Perspectives. Dorset, UK: Prism Press. (1990).
Fadiman, J. The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys. Vermont: Park Street Press. 2011.
Hearn, K. "The dark side of Ayahuasca" Men's Journal.
Labate B. & Feeney K. "Ayahuasca and the process of regulation in Brazil and internationally: Implications and challenges." International Journal of Drug Policy 23 (2): 154-61. 2012.
Savinelli, A. & Halpern, MD, J. "MAOI Contraindications" The Newsletter of the Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) 6:1, 58. 1995.
Ayahuasca is a naturally occurring, hallucinogenic substance. It is found in a woody vine, known as mantana, in the tropical rain forest of Peru, Colonbia, and Brazil. It comprises various species of Banisteriopsis, which contains psychoactive alkaloids, harmine, harmaline, and tetrohydroharmaline, the same substances contained in DMT, which cause hallucinogenic effects as powerful as LSD. This substance is far less known that acid or other hallucinogens popular in the United States and Europe, although in recent years, it has become of interest to "drug tourism."
Ayahuasca is typically consumed in the form of a tea or drink, and is often taken in a ritualistic manner. Ayahuasca tea is made by brewing two vines together,
Traditional Uses
Ayahuasca has been traditionally used by the people of the Peruvian Amazon, to obtain visions in which they believed they could better understand events leading to diseases and other misfortunes, which were caused by bewitchment. These visions also formed part of shamanic rituals, which addressed the bewitchment by directing retribution to its perpetrator.
Other traditional uses of Ayahuasca included the healing of illnesses, bewitching of enemies, obtaining the favors of a woman, finding out who stole a lost object, divining the future, all of which should be decided upon in advance of taking the drug. Ayahuasca was thought to provide the power to make personal gains, including prestige and power, psychological control over others, for self aggrandizing behavior, to obtain the esteem of others, or for particular pecuniary ends.
The drug was also seen to be of potential benefit to the social group, and to enable communication with the spirit world to ensure the well-being of society.
Ayahuasca is still used in Peruvian cities, such as Iquitos and Pucallpa, in the diagnosis and treatment of witchcraft related illnesses. Group healing is lead by folk healers, who administer the drug to allow patients to experience visions of the people who are believed to have bewitched them.
Despite being outlawed in the 1980s, the importance of Ayahuasca to Brazilian culture was recognized through Brazil's national heritage program, which characterized Ayahuasca churches as part of the religious diversity of Brazil, worthy of respect. As a result, auahuasca was recently adopted of CONAD's (Conselho Nacional de Políticas sobre Drogas) 2010 Resolution, which established a set of rules, norms and ethical principles to be applied to religious and ritual uses of ayahuasca. As such, Brazil is exempt from international treaty obligations to restrict drug use.
Drug Tourism and Risks
Ayahuasca use as a means of obtaining spiritual enlightenment, and as a cure for alcoholism, depression, and even cancer, has been a recent phenomenon within the drug tourism industry.
There have been reports of drug tourism and predatory and inept pseudo-shamanism which has, in some cases, lead to sexual assaults, negligence, and has even been associated with the as-yet unexplained of one drug tourist in Peru's Amazon basin.
Ayahuasaca has been contraindicated to be taken in conjunction with a type of antidepressant known as Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) by the Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), who warn that taking the active ingredients of Ayahuasca within five weeks of taking SSRIs can potentially lead to serious medical consequences, such as coma or even death.
Sources
Dobkin de Rios, M. Hallucinogens: Cross Cultural Perspectives. Dorset, UK: Prism Press. (1990).
Fadiman, J. The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys. Vermont: Park Street Press. 2011.
Hearn, K. "The dark side of Ayahuasca" Men's Journal.
Labate B. & Feeney K. "Ayahuasca and the process of regulation in Brazil and internationally: Implications and challenges." International Journal of Drug Policy 23 (2): 154-61. 2012.
Savinelli, A. & Halpern, MD, J. "MAOI Contraindications" The Newsletter of the Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) 6:1, 58. 1995.
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