The DEA report on ayahuasca risks : "science" in service of prohibition?

B. Labate; A. O. Ermakova; J. Sloshower; Nicole Galvao-Coelho; F. Palhano-Fontes; H. F. Antunes; G. L. De Assis; C. Cavnar; D. De Araujo; S. Ribeiro

doi:10.1556/2054.2023.00279

The DEA report on ayahuasca risks : "science" in service of prohibition?

B. Labate, A. O. Ermakova, J. Sloshower, Nicole Galvao-Coelho, F. Palhano-Fontes, H. F. Antunes, G. L. De Assis, C. Cavnar, D. De Araujo, S. Ribeiro

Western Sydney University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

On February 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a document to the legal team representing the Church of the Eagle and the Condor ("CEC"). This disclosure came two years after the church, in conjunction with Chacruna Institute, submitted two FOIA requests to the DEA and the Department of Justice requesting all records pertaining to ayahuasca. This report, titled "Ayahuasca: Risks to Public Health and Safety,"was issued in July 2020. In the present article, we challenge a number of claims made in the DEA report and highlight significant factual omissions, theoretical biases, and misinterpretations of existing data. We will demonstrate that the DEA report severely downplays the safety profile and therapeutic potential of ayahuasca and overemphasizes the risks. It also fails to include current research on ayahuasca demonstrating its potential benefits.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	81-89
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Psychedelic Studies
Volume	7
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2023.00279
Publication status	Published - 28 Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s).

Open Access - Access Right Statement

© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited, a link to the CC License is provided, and changes - if any - are indicated.

Access to Document

10.1556/2054.2023.00279

Cite this

@article{0e72afbf71a345aeaa3794ec8c3b3c6a,

title = "The DEA report on ayahuasca risks : {"}science{"} in service of prohibition?",

abstract = "On February 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a document to the legal team representing the Church of the Eagle and the Condor ({"}CEC{"}). This disclosure came two years after the church, in conjunction with Chacruna Institute, submitted two FOIA requests to the DEA and the Department of Justice requesting all records pertaining to ayahuasca. This report, titled {"}Ayahuasca: Risks to Public Health and Safety,{"}was issued in July 2020. In the present article, we challenge a number of claims made in the DEA report and highlight significant factual omissions, theoretical biases, and misinterpretations of existing data. We will demonstrate that the DEA report severely downplays the safety profile and therapeutic potential of ayahuasca and overemphasizes the risks. It also fails to include current research on ayahuasca demonstrating its potential benefits.",

author = "B. Labate and Ermakova, {A. O.} and J. Sloshower and Nicole Galvao-Coelho and F. Palhano-Fontes and Antunes, {H. F.} and {De Assis}, {G. L.} and C. Cavnar and {De Araujo}, D. and S. Ribeiro",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s).",

year = "2023",

month = sep,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1556/2054.2023.00279",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

pages = "81--89",

journal = "Journal of Psychedelic Studies",

issn = "2559-9283",