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B. Labate

Bubbling with Controversy: Legal Challenges for Ceremonial Ayahuasca Circles in the United States

September 10, 2024 / Ayahuasca, Papers, Publications, Scienitific Discipline / By / , ,

Abstract

The use of ayahuasca has been spreading rapidly worldwide; however, no current statistics are available to provide a comprehensive understanding of the scope or pace of this expansion. In the United States, the expansion has included the appearance of the Brazilian ayahuasca religions Santo Daime and União do Vegetal (UDV), underground ceremonial circles, workshops with itinerant Amazonian shamans, and spiritual retreat centers. This trend has included the recent emergence of groups and organizations that publicly advertise “legal” ayahuasca ceremonies and retreats. This chapter maps the existence of a series of organizations and actors who have controversially claimed legal protection through incorporation as “branches” of the Native American Church (NAC). The legality, religious character, and sincerity of these churches are reviewed in light of governing law, such as the First Amendment of the US Constitution, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), and pertinent court cases involving the UDV and the Santo Daime, as well as ethnographic accounts of the historical Native American Church. Finally, it examines a petition for a religious exemption from the CSA from Ayahuasca Healings and speculates on the possibilities of the future of ayahuasca legality in the United States.

Feeney, K., Labate, B. C., & Hudson, J. H. (2018). Bubbling with Controversy: Legal Challenges for Ceremonial Ayahuasca Circles in the United States. Plant Medicines, Healing and Psychedelic Science: Cultural Perspectives, 87-111. 10.1007/978-3-319-76720-8_6
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Ayahuasca, Psychedelic Studies and Health Sciences: The Politics of Knowledge and Inquiry into an Amazonian Plant Brew

January 28, 2015 / Ayahuasca, Neuroscience, Papers, Philosophy & Religious Studies, Psychiatry & Medicine, Psychology, Publications / By / ,

Abstract

This article offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of research in medicine, health and human sciences. It situates 21st century scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but later evolved into a form of dogmatism that convenienced the political suppression of academic inquiry into psychedelics. Applying ideas from the field of science and technology studies, we consider how ayahuasca’s myriad ontological representations in the 21st century — for example, plant teacher, traditional medicine, religious sacrament, material commodity, cognitive tool, illicit drug — influence our understanding of it as an object of inquiry. We then explore epistemological issues related to ayahuasca studies, including how the indigenous and mestizo concept of “plant teacher” or the more instrumental notion of psychedelics as “cognitive tools” may impact understanding of knowledge. This leads to questions about whether scientists engaged in ayahuasca research should be expected to have personal experiences with the brew, and how these may be perceived to help or hinder the objectivity of their pursuits. We conclude with some brief reflections on the politics of psychedelic research and impediments to academic knowledge production in the field of psychedelic studies.

Tupper, K. W., & Labate, B. C. (2015). Ayahuasca, Psychedelic Studies and Health Sciences: The Politics of Knowledge and Inquiry into an Amazonian Plant Brew. Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 7(2), 71-80. https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1874473708666150107155042
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Medical Drug or Shamanic Power Plant: The Uses of Kambô in Brazil

December 11, 2014 / Anthropology & Sociology, Biology & Ethnobotany, Depressive Disorders, Papers, Psychiatry & Medicine, Publications / By / ,

Abstract

The secretion from the frog Phyllomedusa bicolor, known in Portuguese as kambô, has traditionally been used as a stimulant and an invigorating agent for hunting by indigenous groups such as the Katukina, Yawanawa, and the Kaxinawa in the southeast Amazon. Since the mid 90s, its use has expanded to large cities in Brazil and, since the late 2000s, abroad to Europe and the US. The urban diffusion of the use of kambô has taken place via healing clinics offering alternative therapies, by way of members of the Brazilian ayahuasca religions, and through travel, mainly by Amazonian rubber tappers, the Katukina, and the Kawinawa Indians. In this article, we present an ethnography of the expansion and reinvention of the use of kambô. We describe the individuals who apply the substance, who are a diverse group, including indigenous healers, ex-rubber tappers, holistic therapists, and doctors. We argue that the frog secretion has a double appeal among this new urban clientele: as a “remedy of science,” in which its biochemical properties are stressed; and as a “remedy of spirit,” in which its “indigenous origin” is more valued, as if kambô was a kind of shamanic power plant analogous to peyote and ayahuasca.

Labate, B. C., & Lima, E. C. D. (2014). Medical Drug or Shamanic Power Plant: The Uses of Kambô in Brazil. Ponto Urbe. Revista do núcleo de antropologia urbana da USP, (15).
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Labate & Coutinho – "My Grandfather Served Ayahuasca to Mestre Irineu": Reflections on the Entrance of Indigenous Peoples into the Urban Circuit of Ayahuasca Consumption in Brazil

January 1, 2014 / Anthropology & Sociology, Ayahuasca, Biology & Ethnobotany, Papers, Publications / By / ,

Ayahuasca-Liane, D., & Peyote-Kaktus, D. (2014). Zeitschrift für Medizinethnologie• Journal of Medical Anthropology. Curare, 37(2014), 3.
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Consumption of Ayahuasca by Children and Pregnant Women: Medical Controversies and Religious Perspectives

April 8, 2011 / Anthropology & Sociology, Ayahuasca, Papers, Psychology, Publications / By /

Abstract

In 2010, the Brazilian Government agency responsible for drug-related issues formulated official Resolutions that categorized the consumption of ayahuasca by pregnant women and children in the Santo Daime and Uniatildeo do Vegetal ayahuasca-based religions as an “exercise of parental rights.” Although ayahuasca groups do enjoy a relative degree of social legitimacy and formal legal recognition in Brazil, the participation of pregnant women and children nevertheless continues to provoke heated discussion. This article raises the main issues involved in the public debate over this subject. In the first part, a diverse group of biomedical and health specialists was consulted, and their opinions were briefly analyzed. In the second, a full interview with a follower of one branch of Santo Daime, mother of four children who took ayahuasca during all her pregnancies, and whose children all drink ayahuasca, is presented. Her interview reveals important cultural parameters of ayahuasca consumption. The article explores common themes and contradictions found between the biomedical, anthropological, and ayahuasca-users’ discourses. It raises central issues regarding the limits of freedom of religion and the state’s right to interfere in family matters. The following analysis also has implications regarding the role of science in influencing policy decisions on drug use.

Labate, B. C. (2011). Consumption of Ayahuasca by Children and Pregnant Women: Medical Controversies and Religious Perspectives. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 43(1), 27-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2011.566498
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Ayahuasca–From Dangerous Drug to National Heritage: An Interview with Antonio A. Arantes

December 9, 2009 / Anthropology & Sociology, Ayahuasca, Papers, Publications / By / ,

Abstract

This interview with Antonio A. Arantes, Brazilian anthropology professor and recognized specialist on the topics of intellectual property and traditional knowledge, addresses the 2008 request by Brazilian ayahuasca groups to be recognized as part of the immaterial cultural heritage of Brazil. In the first portion of the interview, Arantes reflects on the challenges of the new conceptions of the Brazilian national immaterial policy program. He discusses several examples of cultural goods recognized by the Brazilian state, such as the candomblé and the samba, and analyzes the controversial issues involving authenticity and tradition in these and other similar cases. In the second portion, Arantes reflects on the specific case of ayahuasca, the relationship of this cultural heritage request to legal issues, the challenges to define exactly what aspects should be recognized, and speculates on the chances that these religious groups will come to be recognized as a national symbol of Brazil.

Labate, B. C., & Goldstein, I. (2009). Ayahuasca–From Dangerous Drug to National Heritage: An Interview with Antonio A. Arantes. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28, 53-64.
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