Moreover, research indicates that it can provide considerable benefits for the physical and mental health of people, when used in a ceremonial, controlled and safe context.
A few weeks after the trial, we received news of the acquittal and we were able to read in detail the arguments of the court that led to this conclusion.
We noted with satisfaction how many of the arguments used by the judge were taken from the expert reports that we provided. This builds on the interpretation that has been extensively documented in the book by professors of Criminal Law at the University of Malaga, Dr. The verdict is fundamentally significant for two reasons. First, because it is a recognition that the regulation of certain prohibited substances could bring more benefits than problems.
We are ready and prepared to apply a more efficient approach. Please get on with it. The judge drafted a judgment that can be considered a theoretical manual on drug trafficking and interpretation of the international drug control conventions. These rules are not clearly drafted, which means that situations of preventive imprisonment for ayahuasca continue to take place. We will be seeking compensation for damages for our defendant, who spent almost three months in prison because the administration took a long time to carry out the confirmatory analysis.
The second reason why this ruling is very relevant within the Spanish context is because it settles once and for all the legal complexity in which plants with psychoactive effects are entangled. While they are not controlled as plant products, they contain a compound that is. This is the case, among other ethnobotanicals, such as khat, which contains cathinone, mescaline cacti such as San Pedro or peyote, or psilocybe mushrooms , which contain psilocybin.
Sustained research and strategic litigation efforts have borne fruit in Spain, where we have managed to turn around several disproportionate accusations and requests for sanctions, and obtained sentences such as this one, which further clarifies the legal status of ayahuasca in Spain. While we hope that this is the last legal case in Spain regarding ayahuasca, there are still several legal processes underway for other defendants and ayahuasca seizures continue to take place.
While it is true that the trend towards filing ayahuasca-related cases is becoming more frequent, the confusion among airport, customs and judicial authorities still persists. However, the resolution of this case is a further step in the right direction and suggests that this may be, if not the last, then the second last trial related to ayahuasca in Spain.
In my experience people should only seek the medicine and the well-trained shamans who hold the ceremonies with the intention of engaging in a serious spiritual upheaval. My experience was hugely enlightening, but ultimately very challenging. Indeed, not all shamans are well trained, McKenna warns. The city of Iquitos in the Peruvian rainforest, for example, may be the epicentre of retreat centres but it's also the "wild west" of ayahuasca, he says.
Here, tourists can buy cups of ayahuasca on the street - with no way of knowing who concocted it. Though overdoses are rare, some less scrupulous locals are mixing up "lousy brews" which contain "toe", a member of the nightshade plant family. This can leave people in a more vulnerable and confused state and is done often for nefarious reasons - to rob or sexually abuse people, warns McKenna. Ayahuasca is only legal in Peru as part of a spiritual ceremony, it is not supposed to be taken unsupervised.
Though there is little government oversight, the Colombians are organising a guild of shamans to ensure good practice. A responsible shaman should check to see what medication people are on before they take ayahuasca, says Wickerham, and they will know about potential bad reactions it may have with other medicines - most specifically antidepressants. Ultimately my experience was positive, but there is a risk - and people must take care choosing who they drink ayahuasca with.
BBC Religion and Ethics. Dennis McKenna - University of Minnesota. Image source, Getty Images. Image source, Science Photo Library. Ayahuasca is a jungle vine found throughout the upper Amazon region of South America.
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