Medicine, religion and ayahuasca in Catalonia. Considering ayahuasca networks from a medical anthropology perspective

Introduction

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant brew originating in the Amazon, traditionally used by indigenous and mestizo groups and composed most commonly of Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis. Since the late twentieth century the beverage has transnationalised: it appears in a wide spectrum of settings from indigenous healing to organised Brazilian churches and New Age or secular therapeutic networks. The authors frame ayahuasca use as a cultural practice that now circulates across multiple medical systems, raising questions about the relationships among medicine, religion, therapeutic practice and state regulation. Apud and Romaní set out to analyse ayahuasca-related networks in Spain, with a special focus on Catalonia, from a critical medical anthropology perspective. The study aims to describe the emergence and characteristics of different ayahuasca groups, document therapeutic itineraries of participants, and interrogate tensions between medicalisation, medical pluralism and prohibitionist drug policies. The paper combines ethnographic material with legal and policy analysis to consider how religious freedom, public health and notions of medicine intersect in practice.