1. Ayahuasca Uncertain Legal Status
Sofia Machado Ferreira
Luís Filipe Belmonte dos Santos

2. Globalization of Ayahuasca
Produced, Distributed and Consumed at a Global scale with different Uses and Motivations:
Traditional (ethnomedicine and shamanism of indigenous Amazonian tribes)
Neo-shamanic contexts (personal growth and development, spiritual connection)
Religious: Syncretic Churches like Barquinha/ Santo Daime/ União do Vegetal
Globalization of Ayahuasca

3. Botanical Sources of Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca (‘the vine of the soul’) is the most common name for a preparation made from a combination of plants found in South America: other names include Hoasca, Yagé, Daime and La Purga. Its psychoactivity depends on a synergy between two classes of active constituents (Grob et al., 1996; Mckenna, 2004; McKenna & Riba, 2015).
The leaf contains the hallucinogen, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) which is not not orally active, due to inactivation by peripheral Monoamine Oxidase (MAO) in the digestive system.
DMT can be rendered orally active by co-administration with an MAO inhibitor as the harmine and other ß-carboline alkaloids, which Banisteriopsis contains.
1- Banisteriopsis caapi
2 - Psychotria viridis

4. UN CONVENTION ON PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES 1971

5. INCB INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent, quasi-judicial expert body established by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 that monitors and supports Government’s compliance with International drug control treaties

6. LEGAL STATUS OF AYAHUASCA ACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN UE COUNTRIES (Horák, Novák & Wozáryová, 2017)
DL 15/93 de 22/01
Tabela II-A

7. Implications for Policy, Decision Makers and Law Enforcers
Lack of Knowledge=Possibility of:
States ignoring the statement that the traditional psychoactive plants are legal according to international law, because DMT is a banned substance;
Belief that the plants are illegal and contain pure DMT;
c) Criminalization of legitimate cultural practices because they take place outside of their socio-cultural context (Sanchez & Bouzo, 2015);
d) Ignoring scientific studies and the absence of known risks for public safety, individual health and wellfare, provided that some precautions are taken;
e) Ignoring the right to religious freedom conquered by religious organizations through legal acquitals when their practices turn into criminal justice issues ( countries where religious uses are permited and regulated: Brazil, Canada, Netherlands, USA)
Implications for Policy, Decision Makers and Law Enforcers
The ‘whole’ (Brew) is legitimate but the ‘part’ (DMT) is not

8. Acute physiological and subjective effects are relatively benign, and adults with over a decade’s worth of regular use in the UDV retain normal neurocognitive functioning (Callaway et al., 1999; Grob et al., 1996);
Relative absence of psychopathology in adult members of SD (Halpern, Sherwood, Passie, Blackwell, & Ruttenber, 2008);
Adolescents in the UDV for 2 years show normal psychiatric and neuropsychological profiles, absence of excessive drug use, and normal development of moral decision-making (da Silveira et al., 2005; Dobkin de Rios et al., 2005; Doering-Silveira, Grob, et al., 2005; Doering-Silveira, Lopez, et al., 2005);
No signs of deleterious medical and social consequences were found in long-term SD and Barquinha members (Fábregas et al., 2010).
Improvements in measures of mental health and physical pain 6 months after beginning to attend SD and UDV ceremonies, respectively (Barbosa, Cazorla, Giglio, & Strassman, 2009).
Data corroborated and contextualized by a plethora of ethnographic studies that attest to the healthy and functional nature of these communities (Brissac, 2010; MacRae, 1992; Mercante, 2010).
Biomedical Data from Studies made among Brazilian religions members (Editorial IJDP, 23, 2012,

9. BIBLIOGRAFIA
Grob, C. S., McKenna, D. J., Callaway, J. C., Brito, G. S., Neves, E. S., Oberlaender, G.,et al. (1996). Human psychopharmacology of Hoasca: A plant hallucinogen used in ritual context in Brazil. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 184(2),86–94
Horák, M.; Novák, P. & Wozáryová, W. (2017). Legal Aspects of the Ayahuasca Consumption in the EU. Mendel Univerzita in Brno. In
INCB (2016) Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2016, Paragraphs incb.org/documents/Publications/AnnualReports/AR2016/ AR_2016_E.pdf.
Kenneth W. Tupper, K. W. (2008) ‘The globalization of ayahuasca: Harm reduction or benefit maximization?’, International Journal of Drug Policy, vol. 19, number 4, pp. 297–
Labate, B. C. (2012). Paradoxes of ayahuasca expansion: The UDV-DEA agreement and the limits of freedom of religion. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 19(1), 19–26.
Labate, B. C., & Feeney, K. (2012). Ayahuasca and the process of regulation in Brazil and internationally: Implications and challenges. International Journal of Drug Policy, 23(2), 154–161.
McKenna, D & Riba, J (2015). New World Tryptamine Hallucinogens and the Neuroscience of Ayahuasca. In:
Sanchéz, C & Bouso, J.C. (2015). Ayahuasca: From the Amazon to the Global Village. Drug Policy Briefing, 34, ICEERS.
United Nations (1977) Commentary to article 32, paragraph 4 on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, done at Vienna on 21 February