If you want to know more about the legality of working with plant medicine in countries subject to the 1971 Vienna Convention, you can read the UN report here. In addition, widespread legality or decriminalization would likely deepen current concerns about the sustainability of the B. caapi vine, which has been heavily harvested due to growing demand in recent years. Community members fear that poor harvesting practices threaten the vine`s ability to regenerate. The controlled status of ayahuasca in most parts of the world offers the advantage of some protection for the vine by limiting its export. Another way to use ayahuasca legally is to join an ayahuasca church such as Santo Daime or UDV. In South America, since indigenous tribes have been using ayahuasca for hundreds of years, you may be wondering: Where is ayahuasca legal in South America? Ayahuasca is generally legal in countries with indigenous cultural ties to medicine and where vines grow in certain regions, particularly Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. Most of the ayahuasca retreat centers available to tourists are located in the Amazon basin. Decriminalization of ayahuasca Ayahuasca has also been decriminalized in Oakland, California. The Oakland City Council passed the decriminalization of ayahuasca in 2019, even though DMT is still illegal under federal law. With the growing interest in this powerful hallucinogen, it will be interesting to see if the legal status of ayahuasca changes in the future.
In some countries, Santo Daime members can legally use ayahuasca for religious purposes. These countries include Brazil, the United States and Canada (especially Montreal and Toronto). Ayahuasca involves the combination of two plants: a plant containing DMT (such as Psychotria viridis) and a plant containing monoamine oxidase inhibitors or MAO inhibitors (such as Banisteriopsis caapi). MAO inhibitors make DMT active orally. An ayahuasca supplement always involves the use of a plant that contains DMT, making it illegal. In Romania, ayahuasca is only legal for certain scientific or medical studies approved in hospitals and clinics. All other uses are illegal. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized all previously illegal substances, including ayahuasca. Although a person is not prosecuted for possession or ingestion of the drug, the importation, cultivation and sale of ayahuasca remains illegal. The legality of ayahuasca is complex. There are countries where it is completely legal, and others where it is legally equivalent to drugs like heroin.
In some countries, possession is decriminalized, while other countries declare ayahuasca legal only when used as a sacrament or for spiritual purposes. Reality: Status varies from country to country. There are legal loopholes and subtleties in all contexts. Again, the legality of ayahuasca gets a bit confusing when it comes to churches. It is possible to create your own ayahuasca infusion. But depending on the country you live in, possessing ayahuasca could be illegal. Most substances with psychoactive properties are illegal and heavily controlled in the United States as well as other Western countries, with restrictive drug policies that have no known medical purpose. While this may change, it would take additional time and research. If you`re interested in finding an ayahuasca retreat that works for you, there are many types of retreats to choose from. If you can find a place for a retreat that suits you best, you can refer to this guide to find out the legal status of ayahuasca in that particular country.
Ayahuasca may not be right for you if you don`t want to take the psychedelic in a group setting, which would happen in the case of ayahuasca retreats and ayahuasca churches. If you prefer to have a legal psychedelic experience in the presence of one or more therapists, ketamine therapy may be more appealing. You may also not have to travel abroad to attend a legal ayahuasca ceremony. Ayahuasca therefore needs to be regulated in some way for public safety reasons, and decriminalization with specific usage requirements is probably the closest thing ayahuasca will ever become legal. “In Gonzales v. UDV, the court did not carefully consider whether the sacramental use of ayahuasca is legally protected,” Chun said. But the court held and ruled that the federal government`s “compelling interest” in enforcing drug laws did not use the least restrictive means to curtail religious freedom, in this case by using hallucinogenic teas in sacramental ceremonies. Although the common law does not “legalize” the sacramental use of ayahuasca, the development of new policies and the careful drafting of new laws could lead to legislative changes.
DMT is explicitly illegal in the UK, without exception for religious purposes. In 2014, Ireland rejected a request for a religious exemption for the import of ayahuasca submitted by a member of the União do Vegetal. Some cities, such as Oakland, California, have decriminalized ayahuasca, meaning possession and use are unlikely to result in arrest or criminal charges. Importing, growing and selling are always illegal and can lead to arrest and prosecution. In Romania, the drug has a limited legal status for research. As mentioned earlier, much of Europe offers protection for ayahuasca healings in ceremonial religious contexts, such as the Native American Church and UDV, but even this protection has been questioned in recent years. If DMT is classified as an illegal substance, doesn`t that mean ayahuasca is illegal? While DMT is illegal, Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria Viridis, the plants that produce ayahuasca, are not, although they contain large amounts of DMT. This is an overview of the legality of ayahuasca by country. DMT, one of the active ingredients in ayahuasca, is classified as a Schedule I drug under the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances, meaning international trade in DMT needs to be closely monitored. The use of DMT should be limited to scientific research and medical use. Natural materials containing DMT, including ayahuasca, are not regulated by the 1971 Psychotropic Convention.
[1] The majority of countries in the world classify DMT as a planned drug; However, few countries seem to have laws that specifically address the possession or use of ayahuasca. Brazil and Ecuador also honor the tradition of ayahuasca ceremony and have churches that adhere to the shamanic belief system. This practice has been completely legal in Brazil since 1992, where laws also allow the cultivation of vines and the production of the beverage. A massive challenge to ayahuasca`s illegal status is its important spiritual significance for many world religions. Reality: false. Cultural heritage, drug legislation and law enforcement are two different things. In some countries, such as Peru, ayahuasca is a cultural heritage and it is legal. But unlike countries where ayahuasca is indigenous, ayahuasca is not recognized as cultural heritage in most countries. Not surprisingly, ayahuasca is perfectly legal in Latin American countries where the Chacruna vine grows naturally and where there is historical use among indigenous peoples in the traditional lineage of shamanism. One would think that ayahuasca would also be beaten with the “illegal” sticker; and in a roundabout way, this is what makes it much harder to find serious presenters and shamans without traveling to Central and South America.