:en:Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is the hispanicized spelling (i.e., spelled according to Spanish orthography) of a word that originates from the Quechuan languages, which are spoken in the Andean states of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. Speakers of Quechuan languages who use modern Quechuan orthography spell it ayawaska.{{Cite journal |last1=Sanz-Biset |first1=Jaume |last2=Cañigueral |first2=Salvador |date=2013-01-09 |title=Plants as medicinal stressors, the case of depurative practices in Chazuta valley (Peruvian Amazonia) |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |language=en |volume=145 |issue=1 |pages=67–76 |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2012.09.053 |issn=0378-8741 |pmid=23123268}} The word refers both to the liana Banisteriopsis caapi, and to the brew prepared from it. In the Quechua languages, aya means "spirit, soul", or "corpse, dead body", and waska means "rope" or "woody vine", "liana".Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary) The word ayahuasca has been variously translated as "liana of the soul", "liana of the dead", and "spirit liana".{{cite journal |last1=Bois-Mariage |first1=Frédérick |year=2002 |title=Ayahuasca : une synthèse interdisciplinaire |journal=Psychotropes |volume=8 |pages=79–113 |doi=10.3917/psyt.081.0079 |doi-access=free}} In the cosmovision of its users, the ayahuasca is the vine that allows the spirit to wander detached from the body, entering the spiritual world, otherwise forbidden for the alive.

Although ayahuasca is the most widely used term in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil, the brew is known by many names throughout northern South America:

• hoasca or oasca in Brazil
• {{lang|con|yagé}} (or {{lang|con|yajé}}, from the Cofán language or iagê in Portuguese). Relatively widespread use in Andean and Amazonian regions throughout the border areas of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.{{Cite journal |last=Schultes |first=Richard Evans |title=Prestonia: An Amazon Narcotic or Not? |date=1960 |journal=Botanical Museum Leaflets|volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=109–122 |doi=10.5962/p.168526 |jstor=41762210 |s2cid=91123988 |doi-access=free }} The Cofán people also use the word {{lang|con|oofa}}.
• {{lang|tup|caapi}} (or {{lang|tup|kahpi}}/{{lang|tup|gahpi}} in Tupi–Guarani language{{Which|date=February 2025}} or {{lang|awd|*kaapi}} in proto-Arawak language), used to address both the brew and the B. caapi itself. Meaning "weed" or "thin leaf", it was the word utilized by Spruce for naming the liana.{{Cite book |last1=Spruce |first1=Richard |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.17908 |title=Notes of a botanist on the Amazon & Andes : being records of travel on the Amazon and its tributaries, the Trombetas, Rio Negro, Uaupés, Casiquiari, Pacimoni, Huallaga, and Pastasa; as also to the cataracts of the Orinoco, along the eastern side of the Andes of Peru and Ecuador, and the shores of the Pacific, during the years 1849-1864 |last2=Wallace |first2=Alfred Russel |date=1908 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.17908 }}
• {{lang|cof|pinde}} (or {{lang|cof|pindê}}/{{lang|cof|pilde}}), used by the Colorado people{{Cite journal |last=Naranjo |first=Plutarco |date=1986 |title=El Ayahuasca en la arqueologia ecuatoriana |journal=America Indigena |volume=46 |pages=117–128}}
• {{lang|jiv|patem}} (or {{lang|jiv|nátema}}), from the Chicham languages{{Which|date=February 2025}}{{cite book |last=Descola |first=Philippe |title=In the Society of Nature: A Native Ecology in Amazonia |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-57467-9 |pages=99–100, 163}}{{cite book |last=Incayawar |first=Mario |url=https://archive.org/details/psychiatriststra00inca |title=Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health |author2=Lise Bouchard |author3=Ronald Wintrob |author4=Goffredo Bartocci |publisher=Wiley |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-470-51683-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/psychiatriststra00inca/page/n182 69]}}
• {{lang|yaa|shori}}, {{lang|yaa|mii}} (or {{lang|yaa|miiyagi}}) and {{lang|yaa|uni}}, from the Yaminawa language{{cite journal |last1=Grob |first1=CS |last2=McKenna |first2=DJ |last3=Callaway |first3=JC |last4=Brito |first4=GS |last5=Oberlaender |first5=G |last6=Saide |first6=OL |last7=Labigalini |first7=E |last8=Tacla |first8=C |last9=Miranda |first9=CT |last10=Strassman |first10=RJ |last11=Boone |first11=KB |date=1996 |title=Human Psychopharmacology of Hoasca: a plant hallucinogen used in ritual context in Brazil |url=https://erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca_journal1.shtml |journal=Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders |volume=184 |issue=2 |pages=86–94 |doi=10.1097/00005053-199602000-00004 |pmid=8596116 |s2cid=17975501 |access-date=22 January 2017|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=E. Wade |last2=Yost |first2=James A. |date=1983 |title=Novel Hallucinogens from Eastern Ecuador |journal=Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=291–295 |doi=10.5962/p.168664 |jstor=41762852 |s2cid=132171127 |issn=0006-8098|doi-access=free }}
• {{lang|shp|nishi cobin}}, from the Shipibo language{{cite web |title=Novedades - Página Jimdo de shamanesshipibos |url=https://shamanesshipibos.jimdo.com/novedades/ |access-date=21 December 2016 |website=shamanesshipibos.jimdo.com}}
• {{lang|cbs|nixi pae}}, {{lang|cbs|shuri}}, {{lang|cbs|ondi}}, {{lang|cbs|rambi}} and {{lang|cbs|rame}}, from the Kashinawa language{{cite journal |first=Kenneth |date=1976 |editor-first=Michael |title=El uso del Banipteropsis entre los cashinahua del Perú |location=Madrid |publisher=Guadarrama |last=Kensinger |editor-last=Harner |periodical=Alucinógenos y chamanes}}{{cite web |title=Kaxinawá, Rituals |url=https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/kaxinawa/399 |access-date=1 March 2017 |website=Povos Indígenas do Brasil}}{{Cite journal |last1=Rivier |first1=Laurent |last2=Lindgren |first2=Jan-Erik |date=1972-04-01 |title="Ayahuasca," the South American hallucinogenic drink: An ethnobotanical and chemical investigation |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02860772 |journal=Economic Botany |language=en |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=101–129 |doi=10.1007/BF02860772 |bibcode=1972EcBot..26..101R |s2cid=34669901 |issn=1874-9364|url-access=subscription }}
• {{lang|tuo|kaji}}, {{lang|tuo|kadana}} and {{lang|tuo|kadanapira}}, used by the Tucano people{{Cite book |last=Reichel-Dolmatoff |first=Gerardo |title=Shamanism and art of the Eastern Tukanoan Indians |date=1987 |publisher=E. J. Brill |others=Instituut voor godsdiensthistorische beelddocumentatie |isbn=978-90-04-08110-9 |series=Iconography of religions |location=Leiden}}
• {{lang|awd|kamarampi}} (or {{lang|awd|kamalampi}}) and {{lang|awd|hananeroca}}, from the Arawakan languages{{Which|date=February 2025}}DE MORI, Brabec (2011): Tracing Hallucinations – Contributing to a Critical Ethnohistory of Ayahuasca Usage in the Peruvian Amazon
• {{lang|boa|bakko}}, from Bora-Muinane languages{{Which|date=February 2025}}Seifart, Frank, & Echeverri, Juan Alvaro (2015). [https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/liames/article/view/8642303 Proto Bora-Muinane]. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas, 15(2), 279 - 311. {{doi|10.20396/liames.v15i2.8642303}}
• {{lang|ese|jono pase}}, used by Ese'Ejja people{{Cite journal |last1=Desmarchelier |first1=C. |last2=Mongelli |first2=E. |last3=Coussio |first3=J. |last4=Ciccia |first4=G. |date=1996-02-01 |title=Studies on the cytotoxicity, antimicrobial and DNA-binding activities of plants used by the Ese'ejas |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741%2895%2901334-2 |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=91–96 |doi=10.1016/0378-8741(95)01334-2 |pmid=8866729 |issn=0378-8741|url-access=subscription }}
• {{lang|guh|uipa}}, from Guahibo language{{Cite book |last=Reichel-Dolmatoff |first=Gerardo |title=The sacred mountain of Colombia's Kogi Indians |date=1990 |publisher=E. J. Brill |others=Instituut voor godsdiensthistorische beelddocumentatie |isbn=978-90-04-09274-7 |series=Iconography of religions |location=Leiden}}
• {{lang|cof|napa}} (or {{lang|cof|nepe}}/{{lang|cof|nepi}}), used by Tsáchila people{{Cite journal |last=Oller |first=Montserrat Ventura i |date=2012 |title=Chamanismo, liderazgo y poder indígena: el caso tsachila |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/REAA/article/view/38637 |journal=Revista Española de Antropología Americana |language=es |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=91–106 |doi=10.5209/rev_REAA.2012.v42.n1.38637 |issn=1988-2718|doi-access=free }}
• {{lang|kbh|Biaxije}}, from Kamëntšá languageHuber, Randall Q. and Robert B. Reed. 1992. [https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/18886 Vocabulario comparativo: Palabras selectas de lenguas indígenas de Colombia (Comparative vocabulary: Selected words in indigenous languages of Colombia)]. Bogota, Colombia: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
• {{lang|pt|Cipó}} ("{{lang|pt|liana}}") or {{lang|pt|Vegetal}}, in Portuguese language, used by União do Vegetal church members
• Daime or Santo Daime, meaning "give me" in Portuguese, the term was coined by Santo Daime's founder Mestre Irineu in the 1940s, from a prayer dai-me alegria, dai-me resistência ("give me happiness, give me strength"). Daime members also uses the words Luz ("light") or Santa Luz ("holy light")
• Some nomenclature are created by the cultural and symbolic signification of ayahuasca, with names like planta professora ("plant teacher"), professor dos professores ("teacher of the teachers"), sagrada medicina ("holy medicine") or la purga ("the purge").

In the last decades, two new important terminologies emerged. Both are commonly used in the Western world in neoshamanic, recreative or pharmaceutical contexts to address ayahuasca-like substances created without the traditional botanical species, due to it being expensive and/or hard to find in these countries. These concepts are surrounded by some controversies involving ethnobotany, patents, commodification and biopiracy:{{Cite journal |last=Press |first=Sara V. |date=2022-07-25 |title=Ayahuasca on Trial: Biocolonialism, Biopiracy, and the Commodification of the Sacred |url=https://hopp.uwpress.org/content/63/2/328 |journal=History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals |language=en |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=328–353 |doi=10.3368/hopp.63.2.328 |s2cid=251078878 |issn=2694-3034|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Tupper |first=Kenneth W. |date=January 2009 |title=Ayahuasca healing beyond the Amazon: the globalization of a traditional indigenous entheogenic practice |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2009.00245.x |journal=Global Networks |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=117–136 |doi=10.1111/j.1471-0374.2009.00245.x|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Schenberg |first1=Eduardo Ekman |last2=Gerber |first2=Konstantin |date=October 2022 |title=Overcoming epistemic injustices in the biomedical study of ayahuasca: Towards ethical and sustainable regulation |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13634615211062962 |journal=Transcultural Psychiatry |language=en |volume=59 |issue=5 |pages=610–624 |doi=10.1177/13634615211062962 |pmid=34986699 |s2cid=245771857 |issn=1363-4615|url-access=subscription }}

• Anahuasca (ayahuasca analogues). A term usually used to refer to the ayahuasca produced with other plant species as sources of DMT (e.g., Mimosa hostilis) or β-carbolines (e.g., Peganum harmala).{{Cite journal |last1=Kaasik |first1=Helle |last2=Souza |first2=Rita C. Z. |last3=Zandonadi |first3=Flávia S. |last4=Tófoli |first4=Luís Fernando |last5=Sussulini |first5=Alessandra |date=2020-09-08 |title=Chemical Composition of Traditional and Analog Ayahuasca |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2020.1815911 |journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=65–75 |doi=10.1080/02791072.2020.1815911 |pmid=32896230 |s2cid=221543172 |issn=0279-1072|url-access=subscription }}
• Pharmahuasca (pharmaceutical ayahuasca). This indicates the pills produced from freebase DMT, synthetic harmaline, MAOI medications (such as moclobemide) and other isolated or purified compounds or extracts.{{Cite journal |last=Ott |first=Jonathan |date=April 1999 |title=Pharmahuasca: Human Pharmacology of Oral DMT Plus Harmine |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02791072.1999.10471741 |journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=171–177 |doi=10.1080/02791072.1999.10471741 |pmid=10438001 |issn=0279-1072|url-access=subscription }}

Archaeological evidence of the use of psychoactive plants in northeastern Amazon dates back to 1500–2000 BCE. Anthropomorphic figurines, snuffing trays and pottery vessels, often adorned with mythological figures and sacred animals, offer a glimpse of the pre-Columbian culture regarding use of the sacred plants, their preparation and ritual consumption [citar naranjo 86].{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Although several botanical specimens (like tobacco, coca and Anadenanthera spp.) were identified among these objects,{{Cite book |last=McKenna |first=Dennis |title=Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca |publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co |year=2005 |isbn=1594777810 |pages=42 |chapter=Ayahuasca : An Ethnopharmacologic History}} there is no unequivocal evidence of this date referring directly to ayahuasca. Banisteriopsis caapi use is suggested from a pouch containing carved snuffing trays, bone spatulas and other paraphernalia with traces of harmine and DMT, discovered in a cave in southwestern Bolivia in 2008,{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Melanie J. |last2=Albarracin-Jordan |first2=Juan |last3=Moore |first3=Christine |last4=Capriles |first4=José M. |date=4 June 2019 |title=Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=116 |issue=23 |pages=11207–11212 |bibcode=2019PNAS..11611207M |doi=10.1073/pnas.1902174116 |pmc=6561276 |pmid=31061128 |doi-access=free}} and chemical traces of harmine in the hair of two mummies found in northern Chile.{{Cite journal |last1=Ogalde |first1=Juan P. |last2=Arriaza |first2=Bernardo T. |last3=Soto |first3=Elia C. |date=February 2009 |title=Identification of psychoactive alkaloids in ancient Andean human hair by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.036 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=467–472 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.036 |bibcode=2009JArSc..36..467O |issn=0305-4403|url-access=subscription }} Both cases are linked to Tiwanaku people, circa 900 CE. There are several reports of oral and nasal use of Anadenanthera spp. (rich in bufotenin) ritualistically and therapeutically during labor and infancy, and researchers suggest that addition of Banisteriopsis spp. to catalyze its psychoactivity emerged later, due to contact between different groups of Amazon and Altiplano.{{Cite journal |last1=Ogalde |first1=Juan Pablo |last2=Arriaza |first2=Bernardo T. |last3=Santoro |first3=Calogero M. |last4=Capriles |first4=Jose M. |last5=Puddu |first5=Giannin |last6=Ugalde |first6=Paula C. |last7=Rothhammer Engel |first7=Francisco |date=2017 |title=Consumo prehispánico de sustancias psicoactivas en el norte de Chile sugiere redes tempranas de intercambio con el Altiplano central y la Amazonía |url=https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/149398 |journal=Interciencia |language=es |issn=0378-1844}}

Despite claims by numerous anthropologists and ethnologists, such as Plutarco Naranjo,{{Cite journal |last=Naranjo |first=Plutarco |date=1986 |title=El ayahuasca en la arqueología ecuatoriana |journal=Am. Indígena |volume=46 |pages=117–127}} regarding the millennial usage of ayahuasca, compelling evidence substantiating its pre-Columbian consumption is yet to be firmly established. As articulated by Dennis McKenna:

"No one can say for certain where the practice may have originated, and about all that can be stated with certainty is that is already spread among numerous indigenous tribes throughout Amazon basin by the time ayahuasca came to the attention of Western ethnographers in the mid-nineteenth century"

"[...] In other nations, they set aside an entire night for divination. For this purpose, they select the most capable house in the vicinity because many people are expected to attend the event. The diviner hangs his bed in the middle and places an infernal potion, known as ayahuasca, by his side, which is particularly effective at altering one's senses. They prepare a brew from bitter vines or herbs, which, when boiled sufficiently, must become quite potent. Since it's so strong at altering one's judgment in small quantities, the precaution is not excessive, and it fits into two small pots. The witch doctor drinks a very small amount each time and knows well how many times he can sample the brew without losing his senses to properly conduct the ritual and lead the choir".

"For divination, they use a beverage, some of white datura flowers, which they also call Campana due to its shape, and others from a vine commonly known as Ayahuasca, both highly effective at numbing the senses and even at taking one's life if taken in excess. They also occasionally use these substances for the treatment of common illnesses, especially headaches. So, the person who wants to divine drinks the chosen substance with certain rituals, and while deprived of their senses from the mouth downwards, to prevent the strength of the plant from harming them, they remain in this state for many hours and sometimes even two or three days until the effects run their course, and the intoxication subsides. After this, they reflect on what their imagination revealed, which occasionally remains with them for delirium. This is what they consider accomplished and propagate as an oracle."

In academic discourse, the initial mention of ayahuasca dates back to Manuel Villavicencio's 1858 book, "Geografía de la República del Ecuador." This work vividly delineates the employment and rituals involving ayahuasca by the Jivaro people.{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Justin |date=2015 |title=Investigating a Century-Long Hole in History: The Untold Story of Ayahuasca From 1755–1865 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/54847411.pdf |journal=Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 802, University of Colorado, Boulder}} Concurrently, Richard Spruce embarked on an Amazonian expedition in 1852 to collect and classify previously unidentified botanical specimens. During this journey, Spruce encountered and documented Banisteriopsis caapi (at time named Banisteria caapi) and observed an ayahuasca ceremony among the Tucano community situated along the Vaupés River. Subsequently, Spruce uncovered the usage and cultivation of B. caapi among various indigenous groups dispersed across the Amazon and Orinoco basins, like the Guahibo and Sápara. These multifarious encounters, together with Spruce's personal accounts of subjective ayahuasca experiences, were collated in his work, "Notes of a Botanist On The Amazon and Andes.".{{Cite book |last=Spruce |first=Richard |title=Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon & Andes: Being Records of Travel on the Amazon and Its Tributaries, the Trombetas, Rio Negro, Uaupés, Casiquiari, Pacimoni, Huallaga and Pastasa; as Also to the Cataracts of the Orinoco, Along the Eastern Side of the Andes of Peru and Ecuador, and the Shores of the Pacific, During the Years 1849–1864 |publisher=Macmillan |year=1908}} By the end of the century, other explorers and anthropologists contributed more extensive documentation concerning ayahuasca, notably the Theodor Koch-Grünberg's documents about Tucano and Arecuna's rituals and ceremonies,{{Cite book |last=Koch-Grünberg |first=Theodor |title=indianertypen aus dem Amazonasgebiet nach eigenen Aufnahmen während seiner Reise in Brasilien |publisher=Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin. |year=1906}}{{Cite book |last=Koch-Grünberg |first=Theodor |title=Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern: Reisen in Nordwest-Brasilien 1903–1905 |publisher=Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin |year=1909}} Stradelli's first-hand reports of ayahuasca rituals and mythology along the Jurupari and Vaupés{{Cite journal |last=Stradelli |first=Ermanno |date=1890 |title=L'Uaupés e gli Uaupés, Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana |journal=Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana |volume=3 |issue=27 |pages=425–453}} and Alfred Simson's first description of admixture of several ingredients in the making of ayahuasca in Putumayo region, published in 1886.{{Cite book |last=Simson |first=Alfred |title=Travels in the Wilds of Ecuador. |publisher=London: Lowe, Livinston, Marston & Searle |year=1886}}

In 1905, Rafael Zerda Bayón named the active extract of ayahuasca as telepathine, a name latter used by the Colombian chemist Guillermo Fischer Cárdenas when he isolated the substance in 1932.{{Cite web |date=2020-04-05 |title=1905 – "Telepathine" is Suggested as a Name for the Active Ingredient in the Ayahuasca Vine |url=https://ayahuasca-timeline.kahpi.net/telepathine-ayahuasca-vine/ |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=Ayahuasca Timeline - From Mythic Origins to Global Popularity |language=en-US}} Contemporaneously, Lewin{{Cite journal |last=Lewin |first=Louis |date=1928 |title=Untersuchungen über Banisteria Caapi Spr |journal=Archiv für Experimental Pathologie und Pharmacologie |volume=129 |issue=3–4 |pages=133–149|doi=10.1007/BF01864238 |s2cid=44355378 }} and Gunn{{Cite journal |last=Gunn |first=J. A. |date=1929 |title=A note on banisterine or harmine |journal=Lancet |volume=213 |issue=5511 |pages=769–770|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(00)98824-X }} were independently studying the properties of the banisterine, extracted of the B. caapi, and its effects on animal models.{{Cite journal |last=Lewin |first=Louis |date=1928 |title=Sur une substance enivrante, la banisterine, extraite de Banisteria caapi. |journal=C. R. Acad. Sci.}} Further clinical trials were being conducted, exploring the effects of banisterine on Parkinson's disease.{{Cite journal |last=Beringer |first=K. |date=1928 |title=Über ein neues, auf das extrapyramidal-motorische System wirkendes Alkaloid (Banisterin). |journal=Nervenarzt |volume=1 |pages=265–275}}{{Cite journal |last=Beringer |first=K. |date=1929 |title=Zur banisterin-und harminfrage. |journal=Nervenarzt |volume=2 |pages=548–549}} Later it was found that both telepathine and banisterine are the same substance, identical to a chemical already isolated from Peganum harmala and given the name Harmine.{{Cite journal|last=Elger|first=F.|date=1928|title=Über das Vorkommen von Harmin in einer südamerikanischen Liane (Yagé)|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hlca.19280110113|journal=Helvetica Chimica Acta|language=en|volume=11|issue=1|pages=162–166|doi=10.1002/hlca.19280110113|url-access=subscription}}

Researchers like Peter Gow and Brabec de Mori argue that ayahuasca use indeed developed alongside the Jesuit missions after the 17th century. By examining the ícaros (ayahuasca-related healing chants), they found that the chants are always sung in Quechua (a lingua franca along the Jesuit and Franciscan missions in the region), no matter the linguistic background of the group, with similar language structures between different ícaros that are markedly different from other indigenous songs. Moreover, often the cosmology of ayahuasca often mirrors the Catholicism, with particular similarities in the belief that ayahuasca is thought to be the body of ayahuascamama that is imbibed as part of the ritual, like wine and bread are taken as being the body and blood of Jesus Christ during Christian Eucharist. Brabec de Mori called this “Christian camouflage” and suggested that rather than being a way for disguising the ayahuasca ritual, it suggests that practice evolved entirely within these contexts.{{Cite book |last1=Gow |first1=Peter |title=River people: Shamanism and history in Western Amazonia Shamanism, History, and the State |last2=Thomas |first2=Nicholas |publisher=Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press |year=1994}}

Indeed, the colonial processes in Western Amazon are intrinsically related with the development of ayahuasca use in the last three centuries, as it promoted a deep reshape in traditional ways of life in the region. Many indigenous groups moved into the Missions, seeking protection from death and slavery promoted by the Bandeiras, inter-tribal violence, starvation and disease (smallpox). This movement resulted in an intense cultural exchange and resulted in the formation of mestizos (in Spanish) or caboclos (in Portuguese), a social category formed by people with mixture of European and native ancestry, who were an important part of the economy and culture of the region.{{Cite book |last1=Dobkin de Rios |first1=Marlene |title=A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced With Controversy. Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the United States |last2=Rumrrill |first2=Roger |publisher=Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT |year=2008}} According to Peter Gow, the ayahuasca shamanism (the use of ayahuasca by a trained shaman to diagnose and cure illnesses) was developed by these mestizos in the processes of colonial transformation. The Amazon rubber cycles (1879–1912 and 1945–1945) sped up these transformations, due to slavery, genocide and brutality against indigenous populations and large migratory movements, specially from the Brazilian Northeast Region as a workforce for the rubber plantations. The mestizo practices became deeply intertwined with the culture of rubber workers, called caucheros (in Spanish) or seringueiros (in Portuguese). Ayahuasca use with therapeutic goals is the main result of this Trans-cultural diffusion, with some practitioners pointing the caucheros as the main responsible for using ayahuasca to cure all sort of ailments of the body, mind and soul, with even some regions using the term Yerba de Cauchero ("rubber-worker herb"). As a result, the ayahuasca shamans in urban areas and mestizo settlements, specially in the regions of Iquitos and Pucallpa (in Peru), became the vegetalistas, folk healers who are said to gain all their knowledge from the plants and the spirits bound to it.{{Cite book |last=Luna |first=Luís Eduardo |title=Vegetalismo : Shamanism among the Mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm, Sweden |year=1986}}

So the vegetalist movement was a heterogeneous mixture of Western Amazon (mestizo shamanic practices and cauchero culture) and Andean elements (shaped by other migratory movements, like those originated from Cuzco through Urubamba Valley and from western Ecuador), influenced by Christian aspects derived from the Jesuit missions, as reflected by the mythology, rituals and moral codes related to vegetalista ayahuasca use.

Although mestizo, vegetalista and indigenous ayahuasca use was part of a longer tradition, these several configurations of mestizo vegetalismo were not isolated phenomena. In the end of the nineteenth century, several messianic/millennialist cults sparkled across semi-urban areas across the entire Amazon region, merging different elements of indigenous and mestizo folk culture with Catholicism, Spiritism and Protestantism.{{Cite book |last=Oro |first=Ari Pedro |title=Na Amazônia um messias de índios e brancos: traços para uma antropologia do messianismo. |publisher=Petrópolis, Vozes/ Porto Alegre, EDIPUCRS |year=1989}} In this context, the use of ayahuasca will take form of urban, organized non-indigenous religions in outskirts of main cities of northwest of Brazil, (along the basins of Madeira, Juruá and Purus River){{Cite journal |last=Goulart |first=Sandra Lúcia |title=As Raízes culturais do Santo Daime |journal=Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao programa de pós-graduação de Antropologia Social da FFLCH-USP |publication-date=1996}} within the cauchero/seringueiro cultural complex, resignifying and adapting both the vegetalista and mestizo shamanism to new urban formations, unifying essential elements to building a cosmology for the new emerging cult/faith, merging with elements of folk Catholicism, African-Brazilian religions and Kardecist spiritism. These new cults arise from charismatic leaderships, often messianic and prophetic, who came from rural areas after migration movements, sometimes called ayahuasqueiros, in semi-urban communities across the borders of Brazil, Bolívia and Peru (a region that will later form the state of Acre). This new configuration of these belief systems is referred by Goulart as tradição religiosa ayahuasqueira urbana amazônica ("urban-amazonian ayahuasqueiro religious tradition"){{Cite book |last=Goulart |first=Sandra Lúcia |title=Contrastes e Continuidades em uma Tradição Amazônica: as Religiões da Ayahuasca |publisher=Tese de Doutorado em Ciências Sociais apresentada ao Departamento de Antropologia do Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas |year=2004}} or campo ayahuasqueiro brasileiro ("brazilian ayahuasqueiro field") by Labate,{{Cite book |last=Labate |first=Beatriz Cauby |title=A reinvenção do uso da ayahuasca nos centros urbanos |publisher=Dissertação de mestrado apresentada ao curso de Antropologia Social do Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas da Universidade de Campinas (UNICAMP) |year=2000}} emerging as three main structured religions, the Santo Daime and Barquinha, in Rio Branco and the União do Vegetal (UDV) in Porto Velho, three denominations that, notwithstanding shared characteristics besides ayahuasca utilization, have several particularities regarding its practices, conceptions and processes building social legitimacy and relationships with Brazilian government, media, science and other society stances.{{Cite journal |last=Goulart |first=Sandra Lúcia |title=O universo cultural das religiões ayahuasqueiras brasileiras e a questão das drogas |journal=Reunião Equatorial de Antropologia e Reunião de Antropólogos do Norte e Nordeste}} Since the latter half of twentieth century, the ayahuasca religious expanded to other parts of Brazil and several countries in the world, notably in the West.{{cite book |author1=Labate, B.C. |author2=Rose, I.S. |author3=Santos, R.G. |name-list-style=amp |title=Ayahuasca Religions: a comprehensive bibliography and critical essays |location=Santa Cruz |publisher=Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies – MAPS |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-9798622-1-2}}

Beat writer William S. Burroughs read a paper by Richard Evans Schultes on the subject and while traveling through South America in the early 1950s sought out ayahuasca in the hopes that it could relieve or cure opiate addiction (see The Yage Letters). Ayahuasca became more widely known when the McKenna brothers published their experience in the Amazon in True Hallucinations. Dennis McKenna later studied pharmacology, botany, and chemistry of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, which became the subject of his master's thesis.

Richard Evans Schultes allowed Claudio Naranjo to make a special journey by canoe up the Amazon River to study ayahuasca with the South American Indigenous peoples. He brought back samples of the beverage and published the first scientific description of the effects of its active alkaloids.{{cite book|last1=Naranjo|first1=Claudio|title=The Healing Journey|year=1974|publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=978-0-394-48826-4|pages=x|url=https://archive.org/details/healingjourneyne00nara|url-access=registration}}

In recent years, the brew has been popularized by Wade Davis (One River), English novelist Martin Goodman in I Was Carlos Castaneda,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/19/featuresreviews.guardianreview3 |title=Letters: Mar 19 | Books |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2005-03-19 |access-date=2018-05-05}} Chilean novelist Isabel Allende,{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3672060/Isabel-Allende-kith-and-tell.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3672060/Isabel-Allende-kith-and-tell.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Isabel Allende: kith and tell |first=Catherine |last=Elsworth |date=2008-03-21 |access-date=2010-04-26}}{{cbignore}} writer Kira Salak,{{cite web |url=http://www.kirasalak.com/Peru.html |title=Hell And Back |author=Salak, Kira |access-date=29 December 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.kirasalak.com/Ayahuasca.html |title=Ayahuasca Healing in Peru |author=Salak, Kira |access-date=27 December 2010}} author Jeremy Narby (The Cosmic Serpent), author Jay Griffiths (Wild: An Elemental Journey), American novelist Steven Peck, radio personality Robin Quivers,{{citation |url=http://www.wcqj.com/ |title=stern show blog, podcast and videos |publisher=wcqj.com |access-date=2012-01-14}}{{unreliable source?|date=June 2015}}, writer Paul Theroux (Figures in a Landscape: People and Places),{{cite book|first=Paul|last=Theroux|title=Figures in a Landscape: People & Places|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Eamon Dolan|location=Boston|date=2018|isbn=978-0-544-87030-7}} and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers.{{Cite web |title=Aaron Rodgers Talks Participating in 3-Night Ayahuasca Event and His Love of Washing Dishes: It's 'Meditative' |url=https://people.com/sports/aaron-rodgers-talks-about-participating-in-3-night-ayahuasca-ceremony/ |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Peoplemag |language=en}}

File:aya-preparation.jpg region of Ecuador]]

Sections of Banisteriopsis caapi vine are macerated and boiled alone or with leaves from any of a number of other plants, including Psychotria viridis (chacruna), Diplopterys cabrerana (also known as chaliponga and chacropanga),{{Cite news |url=http://www.spiritvine.net/ayahuasca/ |title=Ayahuasca Vine Facts {{!}} Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreats |work=Spirit Vine |access-date=2017-05-25 |language=en-US}} and Mimosa tenuiflora, among other ingredients which can vary greatly from one shaman to the next. The resulting brew may contain the powerful psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine and monoamine oxidase inhibiting harmala alkaloids, which are necessary to make the DMT orally active by allowing it (DMT) to be processed by the liver. The traditional making of ayahuasca follows a ritual process that requires the user to pick the lower Chacruna leaf at sunrise, then say a prayer. The vine must be "cleaned meticulously with wooden spoons"{{cite news |last1=Levy |first1=Ariel |title=The Drug of Choice for the Age of Kale |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/12/the-ayahuasca-boom-in-the-u-s |magazine=The New Yorker |date=12 September 2016}} and pounded "with wooden mallets until it's fibre."

Brews can also be made with plants that do not contain DMT, Psychotria viridis being replaced by plants such as Justicia pectoralis, Brugmansia, or sacred tobacco, also known as mapacho (Nicotiana rustica), or sometimes left out with no replacement. This brew varies radically from one batch to the next, both in potency and psychoactive effect, based mainly on the skill of the shaman or brewer, as well as other admixtures sometimes added and the intent of the ceremony. Natural variations in plant alkaloid content and profiles also affect the final concentration of alkaloids in the brew, and the physical act of cooking may also serve to modify the alkaloid profile of harmala alkaloids.{{cite journal |last=Callaway |first=J. C. |title=Various Alkaloid Profiles in Decoctions of Banisteriopsis Caapi |journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=151–5 |date=June 2005 |pmid=16149328 |issn=0279-1072 |oclc=7565359 |doi=10.1080/02791072.2005.10399796 |s2cid=1420203 |url= http://catbull.com/alamut/Bibliothek/various%20alkaloid%20profiles%20in%20aya%20decoction.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://catbull.com/alamut/Bibliothek/various%20alkaloid%20profiles%20in%20aya%20decoction.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=Callaway |first1=J. C. |last2=Brito |first2=Glacus S. |last3=Neves |first3=Edison S. |s2cid=30736017 |title=Phytochemical Analyses of Banisteriopsis Caapi and Psychotria Viridis |journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs |issn=0279-1072 |oclc=7565359 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=145–50 |date=June 2005 |doi=10.1080/02791072.2005.10399795 |pmid=16149327}}

The actual preparation of the brew takes several hours, often taking place over the course of more than one day. After adding the plant material, each separately at this stage, to a large pot of water, it is boiled until the water is reduced by half in volume. The individual brews are then added together and brewed until reduced significantly. This combined brew is what is taken by participants in ayahuasca ceremonies.

File:aya-cooking.jpg region of Peru]]

File:Ayahuasca preparation.JPG]]

The uses of ayahuasca in traditional societies in South America vary greatly.{{cite web |last=Hay |first=Mark |date=4 November 2020 |title=The Colonization of the Ayahuasca Experience |url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-colonization-of-the-ayahuasca-experience/ |access-date=21 May 2021 |website=JSTOR Daily |publisher=JSTOR}} Some cultures do use it for shamanic purposes, but in other cases, it is consumed socially among friends, in order to learn more about the natural environment, and even in order to visit friends and family who are far away.

Nonetheless, people who work with ayahuasca in non-traditional contexts often align themselves with the philosophies and cosmologies associated with ayahuasca shamanism, as practiced among Indigenous peoples like the Urarina of the Peruvian Amazon.{{cite book |last1=Dean |first1= Bartholomew |year=2009 |title=Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia |location=Gainesville |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-3378-5 |url=http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=DEANXS07 }} Dietary taboos are often associated with the use of ayahuasca,{{cite book |last1=Ott |first1= J. |title=Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangaean Entheogens |location=Kennewick, WA |publisher=Natural Books |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-9614234-4-5}} although these seem to be specific to the culture around Iquitos, Peru, a major center of ayahuasca tourism. Ayahuasca retreats or healing centers can also be found in the Sacred Valley of Peru, in areas such as Cusco and Urubamba, where similar dietary preparations can be observed. These retreats often employ members of the Shipibo-Konibo tribe, an indigenous community native to the Peruvian Amazon.{{Cite web |last=Spirit |first=Ikaro's |title=Ikaro's Spirit |url=https://ikarospirit.com/ |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=Ikaro's Spirit |language=en-US}}

In the rainforest, these taboos tend towards the purification of one's self—abstaining from spicy and heavily seasoned foods, excess fat, salt, caffeine, acidic foods (such as citrus) and sex before, after, or during a ceremony. A diet low in foods containing tyramine has been recommended, as the speculative interaction of tyramine and MAOIs could lead to a hypertensive crisis; however, evidence indicates that harmala alkaloids act only on MAO-A, in a reversible way similar to moclobemide (an antidepressant that does not require dietary restrictions). Dietary restrictions are not used by the highly urban Brazilian ayahuasca church União do Vegetal, suggesting the risk is much lower than perceived and probably non-existent.

The ritual use of ayahuasca by the Achuar people is featured in the Bruce Parry 2008 documentary series Amazon, in which Parry forces himself to participate in the rite.

Shamans, curanderos and experienced users of ayahuasca advise against consuming ayahuasca when not in the presence of one or several well-trained shamans.{{cite book |last=Campos |first=Don Jose |title=The Shaman & Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms |year=2011}}

In some areas, there are purported brujos (Spanish for "witches") who masquerade as real shamans and who entice tourists to drink ayahuasca in their presence. Shamans believe one of the purposes for this is to steal one's energy and/or power, of which they believe every person has a limited stockpile.

The shamans lead the ceremonial consumption of the ayahuasca beverage,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/fashion/ayahuasca-a-strong-cup-of-tea.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/fashion/ayahuasca-a-strong-cup-of-tea.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|title=Ayahuasca: A Strong Cup of Tea |date=13 June 2014|work=The New York Times|author=Bob Morris}}{{cbignore}} in a rite that typically takes place over the entire night. During the ceremony, the effect of the drink lasts for hours. Prior to the ceremony, participants are instructed to abstain from spicy foods, red meat and sex.{{cite web|url=https://ayahuascahealings.com/ayahuasca-retreats-usa-ayahuasca-church/ayahuasca-ceremony-trip-preparation/ |title=Ayahuasca Ceremony Preparation |publisher=ayahuascahealings.com |access-date=5 January 2019 }} The ceremony is usually accompanied with purging which include vomiting and diarrhea, which is believed to release built-up emotions and negative energy.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/news/a8965/ayahuasca-new-power-trip/ |title=The New Power Trip: Inside the World of Ayahuasca |year=2014|magazine= Marie Claire |access-date=5 January 2019 }}

It is believed that the Shipibo-Konibo are among the earliest practitioners of Ayahuasca ceremonies, with their connection to the brew and ceremonies surrounding it dating back centuries, perhaps a millennium.{{Cite journal |date=May 5, 2021 |title=The Shipibo Ceremonial Use of Ayahuasca to Promote Well-Being: An Observational Study |pmc=8131827 |last1=Gonzalez |first1=D. |last2=Cantillo |first2=J. |last3=Perez |first3=I. |last4=Carvalho |first4=M. |last5=Aronovich |first5=A. |last6=Farre |first6=M. |last7=Feilding |first7=A. |last8=Obiols |first8=J. E. |last9=Bouso |first9=J. C. |journal=Frontiers in Pharmacology |volume=12 |doi=10.3389/fphar.2021.623923 |pmid=34025402 |doi-access=free }}

Some members of the Shipibo community have taken to the media to express their views on Ayahuasca entering the mainstream, with some calling it "the commercialization of ayahuasca." Some of them have even expressed their worry regarding the increased popularity, saying "the contemporary 'ayahuasca ceremony' may be understood as a substitute for former cosmogonical rituals that are nowadays not performed anymore."{{Cite web |date=June 2014 |title=From the Native's Point of View: How Shipibo-Konibo Experience and Interpret Ayahuasca Drinking with "Gringos" |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/3308/chapter-abstract/144338325?redirectedFrom=fulltext |website=academic.oup.com|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341191.003.0010 |isbn=978-0-19-934119-1 }}

The Shipibo have their own language, called Shipibo, a Panoan language spoken by approximately 26,000 people in Peru and Brazil. This language is commonly sung by the shaman in the form of a chant, called an Icaro, during the Ayahuasca ritual as a way to establish a "balance of energy" during the ritual to help protect and guide the user during their experience.{{Cite web |title=Shamanism at Arkana healing Ayahuasca and San Pedro Spiritual Retreats |url=https://www.arkanainternational.com/shamanism |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=Arkana Spiritual Center |language=en-US}}

File:Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) en floración.jpg]]

Traditional ayahuasca brews are usually made with Banisteriopsis caapi as an MAOI, while dimethyltryptamine sources and other admixtures vary from region to region. There are several varieties of caapi, often known as different "colors", with varying effects, potencies, and uses.

DMT admixtures:

• Psychotria viridis (Chacruna)Rätsch, Christian (2005), pp. 704-708. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications. Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-89281-978-2}} – leaves
• Psychotria carthagenensis (Amyruca) – leaves
• Diplopterys cabrerana (Chaliponga, Chagropanga, Banisteriopsis rusbyana) – leaves
• Mimosa tenuiflora (M. hostilis) - root bark

Other common admixtures:

• Justicia pectoralis{{Cite web |last=Thoricatha |first=Wesley |date=2017-04-04 |title=Breaking Down the Brew: Examining the Plants Commonly Used in Ayahuasca |url=https://psychedelictimes.com/breaking-down-the-brew-examining-the-plants-commonly-used-in-ayahuasca/ |access-date=2020-05-17 |website=Psychedelic Times |language=en-US}}
• Brugmansia sp. (Toé)
• Opuntia sp.{{Cite journal |last1=Rivier |first1=Laurent |last2=Lindgren |first2=Jan-Erik |date=April 1972 |title="Ayahuasca," the South American hallucinogenic drink: An ethnobotanical and chemical investigation |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF02860772 |journal=Economic Botany |language=en |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=101–129 |doi=10.1007/BF02860772 |bibcode=1972EcBot..26..101R |s2cid=34669901 |issn=0013-0001|url-access=subscription }}
• Epiphyllum sp.
• Cyperus sp.
• Nicotiana rustica (Mapacho, variety of tobacco)
• Ilex guayusa, a relative of yerba mate
• Lygodium venustum, (Tchai del monte)
• Phrygilanthus eugenioides and Clusia sp (both called Miya)
• Lomariopsis japurensis (Shoka)

Common admixtures with their associated ceremonial values and spirits:

• Ayahuma bark: Cannon Ball tree. Provides protection and is used in healing susto (soul loss from spiritual fright or trauma).
• Capirona bark: Provides cleansing, balance and protection. It is noted for its smooth bark, white flowers, and hard wood.
• Chullachaki caspi bark (Byrsonima christianeae): Provides cleansing to the physical body. Used to transcend physical body ailments.
• Lopuna blanca bark: Provides protection.
• Punga amarilla bark: Yellow Punga. Provides protection. Used to pull or draw out negative spirits or energies.
• Remo caspi bark: Oar Tree. Used to move dense or dark energies.
• Wyra (huaira) caspi bark (Cedrelinga catanaeformis): Air Tree. Used to create purging, transcend gastro/intestinal ailments, calm the mind, and bring tranquility.
• Shiwawaku bark: Brings purple medicine to the ceremony.
• Uchu sanango: Head of the sanango plants.
• Huacapurana: Giant tree of the Amazon with very hard bark.
• Bobinsana (Calliandra angustifolia): Mermaid Spirit. Provides major heart chakra opening, healing of emotions and relationships.

In the late 20th century, the practice of ayahuasca drinking began spreading to Europe, North America and elsewhere.{{cite journal|last=Tupper|first=Kenneth|date=August 2008|title=The Globalization of Ayahuasca: Harm Reduction or Benefit Maximization?|journal=International Journal of Drug Policy|volume=19|issue=4|pages=297–303|citeseerx=10.1.1.517.9508|doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2006.11.001|pmid=18638702}} The first ayahuasca churches, affiliated with the Brazilian Santo Daime, were established in the Netherlands. A legal case was filed against two of the Church's leaders, Hans Bogers (one of the original founders of the Dutch Santo Daime community) and Geraldine Fijneman (the head of the Amsterdam Santo Daime community). Bogers and Fijneman were charged with distributing a controlled substance (DMT); however, the prosecution was unable to prove that the use of ayahuasca by members of the Santo Daime constituted a sufficient threat to public health and order such that it warranted denying their rights to religious freedom under ECHR Article 9. The 2001 verdict of the Amsterdam district court is an important precedent. Since then groups that are not affiliated to the Santo Daime have used ayahuasca, and a number of different "styles" have been developed, including non-religious approaches.{{Cite journal|last=Alì|first=Maurizio|year=2015|title=How to Disappear Completely. Community Dynamics and Deindividuation in Neo-Shamanic Urban Practices|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01201764/document|journal=Shaman - Journal of the International Society for Academic Research on Shamanism|volume=23|issue=1–2|pages=17–52|via=HAL}}

{{See also|Pharmahuasca}}

File:Syrian Rue Seeds.jpg seeds can be used to provide an MAOI.]]

{{more citations needed|section|date=July 2023}}

In modern Europe and North America, ayahuasca analogs are often prepared using non-traditional plants which contain the same alkaloids. For example, seeds of the Syrian rue plant can be used as a substitute for the ayahuasca vine, and the DMT-rich Mimosa hostilis is used in place of chacruna. Australia has several indigenous plants which are popular among modern ayahuasqueros there, such as various DMT-rich species of Acacia.

The name "ayahuasca" specifically refers to a botanical decoction that contains Banisteriopsis caapi.

Brews similar to ayahuasca may be prepared using several plants not traditionally used in South America:

DMT admixtures:

• Acacia maidenii (Maiden's wattle) – bark *not all plants are "active strains", meaning some plants will have very little DMT and others larger amounts
• Acacia phlebophylla, and other Acacias, most commonly employed in Australia – bark
• Anadenanthera peregrina, A. colubrina, A. excelsa, A. macrocarpa
• Desmanthus illinoensis (Illinois bundleflower) – root bark is mixed with a native source of beta-Carbolines (e.g., passion flower in North America) to produce a hallucinogenic drink called prairiehuasca.{{cite book |author1=Hegnauer, R. |author2=Hegnauer, M. |year=1996 |title=Caesalpinioideae und Mimosoideae Volume 1 Part 2 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-7643-5165-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUV8C6iLFkEC |page=199}}

MAOI admixtures:

• Harmal (Peganum harmala, Syrian rue) – seeds
• Passion flower
• synthetic MAOIs, especially RIMAs (due to the dangers presented by irreversible MAOIs)

{{See also|N,N-Dimethyltryptamine#Effects{{!}}DMT effects}}

In the short term, ingesting Ayahuasca can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. These three effects, known as purging, are traditionally recognized to be a part of the spiritual experience of ayahuasca. Physiologically, vomiting is a result of increased serotonin circulating in the gut, which directly stimulates the vagus nerve.{{Cite journal |last1=Fotiou |first1=Evgenia |last2=Gearin |first2=Alex K. |date=2019-10-01 |title=Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027795361930526X |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=239 |pages=112532 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112532 |pmid=31494522 |issn=0277-9536|url-access=subscription }} Other short-term side effects include increased blood pressure and tachycardia. Additionally, increased secretion of hormones like prolactin, cortisone, and growth hormone has been correlated with ayahuasca consumption.{{Cite journal |last1=Frecska |first1=Ede |last2=Bokor |first2=Petra |last3=Winkelman |first3=Michael |date=2016-03-02 |title=The Therapeutic Potentials of Ayahuasca: Possible Effects against Various Diseases of Civilization |journal=Frontiers in Pharmacology |language=English |volume=7 |page=35 |doi=10.3389/fphar.2016.00035 |doi-access=free |pmid=26973523 |pmc=4773875 |issn=1663-9812}} Rarer side effects include dyspnea, seizures and serotonin syndrome. Ayahuasca is suspected of triggering psychosis in people with a predisposition to the condition, and there is a lack of safety information for Ayahuasca's possible effects on pregnancy and breastfeeding.{{cite journal |vauthors=White E, Kennedy T, Ruffell S, Perkins D, Sarris J |title=Ayahuasca and Dimethyltryptamine Adverse Events and Toxicity Analysis: A Systematic Thematic Review |journal=Int J Toxicol |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=327–339 |date=2024 |pmid=38363085 |pmc=11088222 |doi=10.1177/10915818241230916 |type=Review}}

People who have consumed ayahuasca report having mystical experiences and spiritual revelations regarding their purpose on earth, the true nature of the universe, and deep insight into how to be the best person they possibly can.{{cite book |last=Gorman |first=Peter |title=Ayahuasca in My Blood: 25 Years of Medicine Dreaming |year=2010 |publisher=Johan Fremin |isbn=978-1-4528-8290-1}} Many people also report therapeutic effects, especially around depression and personal traumas.{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Rachel |title=Listening to Ayahuasca |publisher=New World Library |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-60868-402-1 |location=Novato, California |pages=120–200 |language=English}}

This is viewed by many as a spiritual awakening and what is often described as a near-death experience or rebirth.{{rp|67–70}} It is often reported that individuals feel they gain access to higher spiritual dimensions and make contact with various spiritual or extra-dimensional beings who can act as guides or healers.{{cite book |last=Metzner |first=Ralph |title=Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature |year=1999 |pages=46–55}}

The experiences that people have while under the influence of ayahuasca are also culturally influenced. Westerners typically describe experiences with psychological terms like "ego death" and understand the hallucinations as repressed memories or metaphors of mental states. However, at least in Iquitos, Peru (a center of ayahuasca ceremonies), those from the area describe the experiences more in terms of the actions in the body and understand the visions as reflections of their environment, sometimes including the person who they believe caused their illness, as well as interactions with spirits.

Most psychological effects can be accredited to the influx of serotonin caused by the psychoactive combination of DMT with beta-carbolines. Serotonin stimulates a group of G-protein coupled receptors known as 5-HT receptors. Specifically, stimulation of the 5-HT2A receptor type is correlated with hallucinogenic effects.{{Cite journal |last1=Nichols |first1=David E. |last2=Nichols |first2=Charles D. |date=2008-05-01 |title=Serotonin Receptors |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cr078224o |journal=Chemical Reviews |volume=108 |issue=5 |pages=1614–1641 |doi=10.1021/cr078224o |pmid=18476671 |issn=0009-2665|url-access=subscription }}

{{See also|Psychedelic therapy}}There are potential antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of ayahuasca.{{cite journal | last1=Nunes | first1=Amanda A. | last2=dos Santos | first2=Rafael G. | last3=Osório | first3=Flávia L. | last4=Sanches | first4=Rafael F. | last5=Crippa | first5=José Alexandre S. | last6=Hallak | first6=Jaime E. C. | title=Effects of Ayahuasca and its Alkaloids on Drug Dependence: A Systematic Literature Review of Quantitative Studies in Animals and Humans | journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=48 | issue=3 | date=2016-05-26 | issn=0279-1072 | doi=10.1080/02791072.2016.1188225 | pmid=27230395 | pages=195–205| hdl=11449/159021 | s2cid=5840140 | hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal | last1=Carbonaro | first1=Theresa M. | last2=Gatch | first2=Michael B. | title=Neuropharmacology of N,N-dimethyltryptamine | journal=Brain Research Bulletin | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=126 | issue=Pt 1 | year=2016 | issn=0361-9230 | doi=10.1016/j.brainresbull.2016.04.016 | pmid=27126737 | pmc=5048497 | pages=74–88}}{{cite journal | last1=Frecska | first1=Ede | last2=Bokor | first2=Petra | last3=Winkelman | first3=Michael | title=The Therapeutic Potentials of Ayahuasca: Possible Effects against Various Diseases of Civilization | journal=Frontiers in Pharmacology | publisher=Frontiers Media SA | volume=7 | pages=35 | date=2016-03-02 | issn=1663-9812 | doi=10.3389/fphar.2016.00035 | pmid=26973523 | pmc=4773875 | doi-access=free }}

Ayahuasca has also been studied for the treatment of addictions and shown to be effective, with lower Addiction Severity Index scores seen in users of ayahuasca compared to controls.{{cite journal|last1=Fábregas|first1=Josep Maria|last2=González|first2=Débora|last3=Fondevila|first3=Sabela|last4=Cutchet|first4=Marta|last5=Fernández|first5=Xavier|last6=Barbosa|first6=Paulo César Ribeiro|last7=Alcázar-Córcoles|first7=Miguel Ángel|last8=Barbanoj|first8=Manel J.|last9=Riba|first9=Jordi|last10=Bouso|first10=José Carlos|title=Assessment of addiction severity among ritual users of ayahuasca|journal=Drug and Alcohol Dependence|volume=111|issue=3|year=2010|pages=257–261|issn=0376-8716|doi=10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.03.024|pmid=20554400}}{{cite journal|last1=Liester|first1=Mitchell B.|last2=Prickett|first2=James I.|title=Hypotheses Regarding the Mechanisms of Ayahuasca in the Treatment of Addictions|journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs|volume=44|issue=3|year=2012|pages=200–208|issn=0279-1072|doi=10.1080/02791072.2012.704590|pmid=23061319|s2cid=32698157}}{{cite journal|last1=McKenna|first1=Dennis J|title=Clinical investigations of the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca: rationale and regulatory challenges|journal=Pharmacology & Therapeutics|volume=102|issue=2|year=2004|pages=111–129|issn=0163-7258|doi=10.1016/j.pharmthera.2004.03.002|pmid=15163593}} Ayahuasca users have also been seen to consume less alcohol.{{cite journal|last1=Harris|first1=Rachel|last2=Gurel|first2=Lee|title=A Study of Ayahuasca Use in North America|journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs|volume=44|issue=3|year=2012|pages=209–215|issn=0279-1072|doi=10.1080/02791072.2012.703100|pmid=23061320|s2cid=24580577}}

{{Main article|N,N-Dimethyltryptamine|Monoamine oxidase inhibitor}}

N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a naturally occurring, serotonergic hallucinogen found in plants and mammals, classified as a DEA Schedule I substance with no accepted medical use, and under investigation for clinical applications.{{Cite web |last=PubChem |title=Dimethyltryptamine |url=https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Dimethyltryptamine |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |language=en}}

Ayahuasca’s psychoactive effects stem mainly from DMT, made orally active by MAOIs in the B. caapi vine, and its activation of serotonin receptors, particularly 5-HT2A, with additional contributions from harmine and harmaline.{{Cite journal |last1=Ruffell |first1=Simon G. D. |last2=Crosland-Wood |first2=Max |last3=Palmer |first3=Rob |last4=Netzband |first4=Nige |last5=Tsang |first5=WaiFung |last6=Weiss |first6=Brandon |last7=Gandy |first7=Sam |last8=Cowley-Court |first8=Tessa |last9=Halman |first9=Andreas |last10=McHerron |first10=Diana |last11=Jong |first11=Angelina |last12=Kennedy |first12=Tom |last13=White |first13=Eleanor |last14=Perkins |first14=Daniel |last15=Terhune |first15=Devin B. |date=2023 |title=Ayahuasca: A review of historical, pharmacological, and therapeutic aspects |journal=Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences Reports |language=en |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=e146 |doi=10.1002/pcn5.146 |issn=2769-2558 |pmc=11114307 |pmid=38868739}}

{{Main article|Harmala alkaloid}}

File:Harmine structure.svg]]

File:Harmaline structure.svg]]

File:Tetrahydroharmine structure.svg]]While many studies focus on DMT and serotonin agonists, recent research and traditional use highlight the central role of the B. caapi vine and its β-carbolines in ayahuasca, noting their potential psychotropic effects through serotonin and benzodiazepine receptor interactions.

Harmala alkaloids like harmaline and harmine are believed to cause hallucinations, vomiting, confusion, and ataxia through central nervous system stimulation and 5-HT receptor binding, similar to DMT.

Harmine is a naturally occurring harmala alkaloid with monoamine oxidase-inhibiting under preliminary research for potential anti-HIV properties. It is found in various plants such as Peganum harmala and B. caapi, historically studied for Parkinson’s disease and currently in early-phase clinical trials.

Harmine is the primary β-carboline alkaloid in ayahuasca and has been studied for potential therapeutic effects including modulation of astrocytic function, anti-inflammatory properties, influence on neural progenitor proliferation, and possible roles in addiction and depression treatment through mechanisms involving glutamate regulation and BDNF signaling.

Harmaline is a beta-carboline alkaloid derived from the harman skeleton, found in various organisms including Peganum seeds, and acts as a oneirogen.{{Cite web |last=PubChem |title=Harmaline |url=https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Harmaline |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |language=en}}

Harmaline, a harmala alkaloid, has been reported to exhibit a range of pharmacological effects, including hypothermic, vasorelaxant, antimicrobial, antitumoral, antiplatelet, antileishmanial, and antiplasmodial activities, as well as anxiolytic, antidepressant, and hallucinogenic properties at certain doses.

Tetrahydroharmine

Tetrahydroharmine is a harmala alkaloid found in organisms such as Daphnia pulex and Euglena gracilis.{{Cite web |last=PubChem |title=Tetrahydroharmine |url=https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Tetrahydroharmine |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |language=en}}

Tetrahydroharmine, a component of ayahuasca with weak SSRI properties, has been associated with increased serotonin uptake sites and variable psychoactive effects, with preferences for higher tetrahydroharmine content reported in some ayahuasca-using churches, potentially due to differences in plant composition and preparation methods.

Individual polymorphisms of the cytochrome P450-2D6 enzyme, and more over the isolated indocine metabolite from the inhabitation of CPY134a, with a varied rate of gustation due to physiological factors affect the ability of individuals to metabolize harmine.{{cite journal |last=Callaway |first=J. C. |title=Fast and Slow Metabolizers of Hoasca |journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs |issn=0279-1072 |oclc=7565359 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=157–61 |date=June 2005 |pmid=16149329 |doi=10.1080/02791072.2005.10399797 |s2cid=41427434 }}

A 2016 systematic literature review found that ayahuasca and its alkaloids show promising anxiolytic and antidepressant effects in both animal and human studies, suggesting the potential for new treatments with fewer side effects.{{Cite journal |last1=dos Santos |first1=Rafael G. |last2=Osório |first2=Flávia L. |last3=Crippa |first3=José Alexandre S. |last4=Hallak |first4=Jaime E. C. |date=March 2016 |title=Antidepressive and anxiolytic effects of ayahuasca: a systematic literature review of animal and human studies |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2015-1701 |journal=Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=65–72 |doi=10.1590/1516-4446-2015-1701 |issn=1516-4446 |pmc=7115465 |pmid=27111702}} A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found that ayahuasca shows strong antidepressant effects (Hedges’ g = -1.34).{{Cite journal |last=Yao |first=Yuan |last2=Guo |first2=Dan |last3=Lu |first3=Tang-Sheng |last4=Liu |first4=Fang-Lin |last5=Huang |first5=Shi-Hao |last6=Diao |first6=Meng-Qi |last7=Li |first7=Su-Xia |last8=Zhang |first8=Xiu-Jun |last9=Kosten |first9=Thomas R. |last10=Shi |first10=Jie |last11=Bao |first11=Yan-Ping |last12=Lu |first12=Lin |last13=Han |first13=Ying |date=2024 |title=Efficacy and safety of psychedelics for the treatment of mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38574699 |journal=Psychiatry Research |volume=335 |pages=115886 |doi=10.1016/j.psychres.2024.115886 |issn=1872-7123 |pmid=38574699}}

A separate 2024 systematic thematic review found that traditional ayahuasca use is generally safe, though higher doses of ayahuasca or higher doses of isolated harmala alkaloids like harmaline may pose risks.

{{See also|Psychedelic drug#Interactions|Trip killer#Serotonergic psychedelic antidotes}}

{{main|Legal status of ayahuasca by country}}

Internationally, DMT is a Schedule I drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The Commentary on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances notes, however, that the plants containing it are not subject to international control:{{citation|url=http://www.maps.org/pipermail/maps_forum/2001-March/003376.html |title=DMT – UN report |publisher=MAPS |date=2001-03-31 |access-date=2012-01-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121083150/http://www.maps.org/pipermail/maps_forum/2001-March/003376.html |archive-date=January 21, 2012 }}

{{blockquote|

The cultivation of plants from which psychotropic substances are obtained is not controlled by the Vienna Convention... Neither the crown (fruit, mescal button) of the Peyote cactus nor the roots of the plant Mimosa hostilis nor Psilocybe mushrooms themselves are included in Schedule 1, but only their respective principals, mescaline, DMT, and psilocin.

}}

A fax from the Secretary of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to the Netherlands Ministry of Public Health sent in 2001 goes on to state that "Consequently, preparations (e.g. decoctions) made of these plants, including ayahuasca, are not under international control and, therefore, not subject to any of the articles of the 1971 Convention."{{citation |url=http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca_law10.shtml |title=Ayahuasca Vault : Law : UNDCP's Ayahuasca Fax |publisher=Erowid.org |date=2001-01-17 |access-date=2012-01-14}}

Despite the INCB's 2001 affirmation that ayahuasca is not subject to drug control by international convention, in its 2010 Annual Report the Board recommended that governments consider controlling (i.e. criminalizing) ayahuasca at the national level. This recommendation by the INCB has been criticized as an attempt by the Board to overstep its legitimate mandate and as establishing a reason for governments to violate the human rights (i.e., religious freedom) of ceremonial ayahuasca drinkers.{{cite journal|last1=Tupper|first1=Kenneth W.|last2=Labate|first2=Beatriz C.|title=Plants, Psychoactive Substances and the International Narcotics Control Board: The Control of Nature and the Nature of Control|journal=Human Rights & Drugs|volume=2|issue=1|pages=17–28|year=2012|access-date=2012-12-12

|url=http://www.hr-dp.org/files/2013/12/12/HRDP_Journal_Tupper_Labate.pdf}}

Under American federal law, DMT is a Schedule I drug that is illegal to possess or consume; however, certain religious groups have been legally permitted to consume ayahuasca.[https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/orangebook/orangebook.pdf orangebook.pdf] www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov A court case allowing the União do Vegetal to import and use the tea for religious purposes in the United States, Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 1, 2005; the decision, released February 21, 2006, allows the UDV to use the tea in its ceremonies pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In a similar case in Ashland, Oregon-based Santo Daime church sued for their right to import and consume ayahuasca tea. In March 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Panner ruled in favor of the Santo Daime, acknowledging its protection from prosecution under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.{{citation |url=http://csp.org/society/docs/SantoDaimeAshland20090318.pdf |title=Ruling by District Court Judge Panner in Santo Daime case in Oregon |access-date=2012-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003151720/http://csp.org/society/docs/SantoDaimeAshland20090318.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-03 |url-status=dead }}

In 2017 the Santo Daime Church Céu do Montréal in Canada received religious exemption to use ayahuasca as a sacrament in their rituals.{{Cite web|url=https://chacruna.net/how-ayahuasca-church-received-religious-exemption-canada/|title=How Our Santo Daime Church Received Religious Exemption to Use Ayahuasca in Canada|last=Rochester|first=Jessica|date=2017-07-17|website=Chacruna|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-01}}

Religious use in Brazil was legalized after two official inquiries into the tea in the mid-1980s, which concluded that ayahuasca is not a recreational drug and has valid spiritual uses.More on the legal status of ayahuasca can be found in the Erowid vault on the [http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca_law.shtml legality of ayahuasca].

In France, Santo Daime won a court case allowing them to use the tea in early 2005; however, they were not allowed an exception for religious purposes, but rather for the simple reason that they did not perform chemical extractions to end up with pure DMT and harmala and the plants used were not scheduled.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060510000632/http://www.santodaime.it/Library/LAW/Francia/courdapeldeparis05_france.pdf Cour d'appel de Paris, 10ème chambre, section B, dossier n° 04/01888. Arrêt du 13 janvier 2005] Court of Appeal of Paris, 10th Chamber, Section B, File No. 04/01888. Judgement of 13 January 2005 Four months after the court victory, the common ingredients of ayahuasca as well as harmala were declared stupéfiants, or narcotic schedule I substances, making the tea and its ingredients illegal to use or possess.JO, 2005-05-03. [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=20050503&numTexte=18&pageDebut=07636&pageFin=07636 Arrêté du 20 avril 2005 modifiant l'arrêté du 22 février 1990 fixant la liste des substances classées comme stupéfiants (PDF)] [Decree of 20 April 2005 amending the decree of 22 February 1990 establishing the list of substances scheduled as narcotics].

In June 2019, Oakland, California, decriminalized natural entheogens. The City Council passed the resolution in a unanimous vote, ending the investigation and imposition of criminal penalties for use and possession of entheogens derived from plants or fungi. The resolution states: "Practices with Entheogenic Plants have long existed and have been considered to be sacred to human cultures and human interrelationships with nature for thousands of years, and continue to be enhanced and improved to this day by religious and spiritual leaders, practicing professionals, mentors, and healers throughout the world, many of whom have been forced underground."{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-oakland-magic-mushroom-legal-20190605-story.html|title=Oakland becomes 2nd U.S. city to decriminalize magic mushrooms|last=Shalby|first=Colleen|website=Los Angeles Times|date=5 June 2019|access-date=2019-06-06}}

In January 2020, Santa Cruz, California, and in September 2020, Ann Arbor, Michigan, decriminalized natural entheogens.{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/santa-cruz-decriminalizes-psychedelic-mushrooms/story?id=68611065|title=Santa Cruz decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms|last=McCarthy|first=Kelly|date=2020-01-29|website=ABC News|language=en|access-date=2020-01-31}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/30/us/santa-cruz-mushrooms-psychedelics-trnd/index.html|title=Santa Cruz decriminalizes magic mushrooms and other natural psychedelics, making it the third US city to take such a step|last=Kaur|first=Harmeet|date=2020-01-30|website=CNN|access-date=2020-02-02}}{{Cite web|last=Stanton|first=Ryan|date=2020-09-22|title=Ann Arbor OKs move to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, plants|url=https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2020/09/ann-arbor-oks-move-to-decriminalize-psychedelic-mushrooms-plants.html|access-date=2020-09-22|website=mlive|language=en}}

Ayahuasca has stirred debate regarding intellectual property protection of traditional knowledge.{{cite journal|last=Tupper|first=Kenneth|s2cid=144295220|date=January 2009|title=Ayahuasca Healing Beyond the Amazon: The Globalization of a Traditional Indigenous Entheogenic Practice|journal=Global Networks|volume=9|issue=1|pages=117–136|doi=10.1111/j.1471-0374.2009.00245.x}} In 1986 the US Patent and Trademarks Office (PTO) allowed the granting of a patent on the ayahuasca vine B. caapi. It allowed this patent based on the assumption that ayahuasca's properties had not been previously described in writing. Several public interest groups, including the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and the Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and Their Environment (Amazon Coalition) objected. In 1999 they brought a legal challenge to this patent which had granted a private US citizen "ownership" of the knowledge of a plant that is well-known and sacred to many Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, and used by them in religious and healing ceremonies.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ciel.org/Bio/Biodiversity_Accomplishments.html |title=CIEL Biodiversity Program Accomplishments |publisher=Ciel.org |access-date=2012-01-14 |archive-date=2015-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420214258/http://www.ciel.org/Bio/Biodiversity_Accomplishments.html |url-status=dead }}

Later that year the PTO issued a decision rejecting the patent, on the basis that the petitioners' arguments that the plant was not "distinctive or novel" were valid; however, the decision did not acknowledge the argument that the plant's religious or cultural values prohibited a patent. In 2001, after an appeal by the patent holder, the US Patent Office reinstated the patent, albeit to only a specific plant and its asexually reproduced offspring. The law at the time did not allow a third party such as COICA to participate in that part of the reexamination process. The patent, held by US entrepreneur Loren Miller, expired in 2003.{{cite web |title=The Ayahuasca Patent Case |url=http://www.ciel.org/reports/legal-elements-of-the-ayahuasca-patent-case-november-1999-wiser-bw99-10-2/ |department=Our Programs: Biodiversity |publisher=The Centre for International Environmental Law |access-date=January 22, 2018}}

• Changa
• Icaro
• Kambo (drug)
• Ibogaine
• Yachay
• Dimethyltryptamine/harmine

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Prone to spam|date=January 2014}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• Burroughs, William S. and Allen Ginsberg. The Yage Letters. San Francisco: City Lights, 1963. {{ISBN|978-0-87286-004-9}}
• Langdon, E. Jean Matteson & Gerhard Baer, eds. Portals of Power: Shamanism in South America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-8263-1345-4}}
• Shannon, Benny. The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-19-925293-0}}
• Taussig, Michael. Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-226-79012-1}}
• {{cite journal|last=Tupper|first=Kenneth|title=The Globalization of Ayahuasca: Harm Reduction or Benefit Maximization?|journal=International Journal of Drug Policy|volume=19|issue=4|pages=297–303|date=August 2008|doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2006.11.001|pmid=18638702|url=http://www.kentupper.com/resources/Globalization+of+Ayahuasca+-+IJDP+2008.pdf|access-date=2008-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217031309/http://www.kentupper.com/resources/Globalization+of+Ayahuasca+-+IJDP+2008.pdf|archive-date=2008-12-17|url-status=dead|citeseerx=10.1.1.517.9508}}
• {{cite journal|last=Tupper|first=Kenneth|s2cid=144295220|title=Ayahuasca Healing Beyond the Amazon: The Globalization of a Traditional Indigenous Entheogenic Practice|journal=Global Networks|volume=9|issue=1|pages=117–136|date=2009|doi=10.1111/j.1471-0374.2009.00245.x}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Tupper|first1=Kenneth W.|last2=Labate|first2=Beatriz C.|title=Plants, Psychoactive Substances and the International Narcotics Control Board: The Control of Nature and the Nature of Control|journal=Human Rights & Drugs|volume=2|issue=1|pages=17–28|year=2012|url=http://www.hr-dp.org/files/2013/12/12/HRDP_Journal_Tupper_Labate.pdf}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Tupper|first1=Kenneth W.|last2=Labate|first2=Beatriz C.|title=Ayahuasca, Psychedelic Studies and Health Sciences: The Politics of Knowledge and Inquiry into an Amazonian Plant Brew|journal=Current Drug Abuse Reviews|volume=7|issue=2|pages=71–80|year=2014|url=http://www.kennethtupper.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Ayahuasca-Psychedelic-Studied-Health-Sciences-CDAR-2014.pdf|doi=10.2174/1874473708666150107155042|pmid=25563448|access-date=2015-10-18|archive-date=2015-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922073351/http://www.kennethtupper.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Ayahuasca-Psychedelic-Studied-Health-Sciences-CDAR-2014.pdf|url-status=dead}}

{{refend}}

• {{Commons-inline}}
• {{Wiktionary-inline}}
• [https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Ayahuasca Ayahuasca - PsychonautWiki]
• [https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca.shtml Ayahuasca - Erowid]
• [https://tripsitter.com/ayahuasca/ What is Ayahuasca? - Tripsitter]
• [https://doubleblindmag.com/ayahuasca-experience/ The Ayahuasca Experience: A Pilgrimage to the Spirit - Double Blind Magazine]

{{Traditional Medicine}}

{{Psychedelics}}

{{Serotonin receptor modulators}}

{{Monoamine metabolism modulators}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayahuasca}}

Category:5-HT2A agonists

Category:Biopiracy

Category:Entheogens

Category:Herbal and fungal hallucinogens

Category:Indigenous culture of the Amazon

Category:Mixed drinks

Category:Monoamine oxidase inhibitors

Category:Polysubstance drinks

Category:Serotonin receptor agonists