The Ayahuasca is a mixed of Amazonian plants that provokes a powerful sensory journey. Its intake is increasingly common in Spain. It’s part of a shamanic ritual.
The Ayahuasca in Peru, is used by indigenous populations in Peru and South America and have been used for centuries for medical and spiritual purposes.
Those who try it are looking for a self-knowledge tool, an antidote against emotional blockages, states of anxiety or addictions. The masters perform ceremonies in the middle of nature or in the city; in farmhouses, meditation centers or apartments.
At the same time, scientists from all over the world are speculating about the therapeutic potential of its active ingredient, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful substance —and risky if certain protocols are not followed— that could be used to treat major depression, which is It resists conventional treatments and is suffered by millions of people around the world.
On June 15, the journal Psychological Medicine, edited by the University of Cambridge, published the results of a study by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil): patients with severe depression and no psychotic history improved their self-esteem and reduced the intensity of their sadness after ingesting DMT.
Spain is at the forefront in the consumption of ayahuasca in Europe. When he came out of the jungle, it was the first country he came to. Now the most sensible thing would be to accredit professionals, fundamentally psychiatrists, so that they could develop sessions with DMT in which they treat some mental illnesses”, affirms José Carlos Bouso, psychopharmacologist at the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research & Service (ICEERS), an institution based in Barcelona studying to integrate this and other plants in western medicine.
More and more people, most of them between 35 and 60 years old, consume this substance. Among them there are administrators, therapists, teachers, economists, musicians, journalists, businessmen, social workers… They do not usually tell about it in their work environment or brag about the results.
The plant or the mixture that contains DMT are not controlled by the international conventions on drugs, but the active ingredient is. Although few countries have explicitly prohibited it —in our environment, only France—, ayahuasca is in a legal limbo that creates confusion and insecurity.