Substance Use Disorders (SUD)Ayahuasca

Assessment of addiction severity among ritual users of ayahuasca

This paper reports the results of two survey-based studies (n=242), comparing the addiction severity among rural ayahuasca users with those in urban areas. Overall, the authors report that ritual ayahuasca use doesn't appear to be associated with deleterious psychosocial effects typically associated with other drugs of abuse.

Authors

  • Jordi Riba
  • Maria Barbanoj
  • Paulo Barbosa

Published

Drug and Alcohol Dependence
individual Study

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive beverage used for magico-religious purposes in the Amazon. Recently, Brazilian syncretic churches have helped spread the ritual use of ayahuasca abroad. This trend has raised concerns that regular use of this N,N-dimethyltryptamine-containing tea may lead to the medical and psychosocial problems typically associated with drugs of abuse. Here we assess potential drug abuse-related problems in regular ayahuasca users. Addiction severity was assessed using the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), and history of alcohol and illicit drug use was recorded. In Study 1, jungle-based ayahuasca users (n = 56) were compared vs. rural controls (n = 56). In Study 2, urban-based ayahuasca users (n = 71) were compared vs. urban controls (n = 59). Follow-up studies were conducted 1 year later. In both studies, ayahuasca users showed significantly lower scores than controls on the ASI Alcohol Use, and Psychiatric Status subscales. The jungle-based ayahuasca users showed a significantly higher frequency of previous illicit drug use but this had ceased at the time of examination, except for cannabis. At follow-up, abstinence from illicit drug use was maintained in both groups except for cannabis in Study 1. However, differences on ASI scores were still significant in the jungle-based group but not in the urban group. Despite continuing ayahuasca use, a time-dependent worsening was only observed in one subscale (Family/Social relationships) in Study 2. Overall, the ritual use of ayahuasca, as assessed with the ASI in currently active users, does not appear to be associated with the deleterious psychosocial effects typically caused by other drugs of abuse.

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Research Summary of 'Assessment of addiction severity among ritual users of ayahuasca'

Introduction

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant tea traditionally used in Amazonian indigenous medicine and magico-religious rituals. It is typically prepared from Banisteriopsis caapi, which provides reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), and Psychotria viridis, which contains the hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). In recent decades Brazilian syncretic churches that employ ayahuasca in organised rituals have expanded internationally, prompting legal scrutiny because DMT is a controlled substance. Neurobiological distinctions between ayahuasca and classical drugs of abuse — notably predominant serotonergic actions of DMT versus the dopaminergic activation commonly implicated in addiction — plus ethnographic observations, raise questions about the beverage's abuse potential and its long-term psychosocial effects. Fábregas and colleagues designed two longitudinal, community-based comparative studies to assess addiction-related medical and psychosocial problems in regular ritual ayahuasca users. Using the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and a structured history of alcohol and illicit drug use, the investigators compared jungle-based and urban-based ayahuasca users with matched non-user control groups, with assessments at baseline and again about one year later. The primary objective was to determine whether continued ritual use of ayahuasca is associated with the types of deleterious outcomes typically seen with substances of abuse.

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Study Details

References (7)

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