美国国家公共电台 NPR--The psychedelic ayahuasca is easier to find even though its legality is questionable

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The psychedelic ayahuasca is easier to find even though its legality is questionable¹

Transcript²

A church in New Hampshire offers the use of ayahuasca. It's one of a small but growing number of retreats where people can use hallucinogens.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The psychedelic ayahuasca is becoming easier to find, even though its legality is still questionable. New Hampshire Public Radio's Todd Bookman reports.

TODD BOOKMAN, BYLINE⁴: The life Derek Januszewski led before ayahuasca and the life he leads after bear little resemblance, his former self struggled with obsessive⁵ compulsive disorder⁶, childhood trauma⁷ and cocaine⁸ addiction⁹. Then...

DEREK JANUSZEWSKI: In May of 2017, I sat with ayahuasca for the first time, and for the first time in ten years, I had 45 days of absolutely zero cravings, no pull to use. The world opened up for me.

BOOKMAN: In Januszewski's new world, he's the pastor¹⁰ of an ayahuasca church in New Hampshire. It's called Pachamama Sanctuary¹¹. Several times a month, people pay around $700 for a weekend of ayahuasca in the woods. Drink a few ounces of the tea, which is made from a combination of plants, and you may have mystical visions. Others say it feels like watching their own death. This isn't for the faint of heart.

JANUSZEWSKI: It's like a spiritual psych ward¹², in a way. But it's beautiful. You have people over here crying. You have people over here purging¹³. You have people rolling around in the grass, trying to get towards the Earth. It's where we can, like, lose our mind and find our soul.

BOOKMAN: Pachamama Sanctuary declined to let me attend a ceremony, but Em Quiles of Massachusetts was happy to talk about her time there.

EM QUILES: A trip to the Amazon or whatever was totally out of the question 'cause I'm poor.

BOOKMAN: Quiles said she found a good experience closer to home.

QUILES: Pachamama did a really good job at honoring the medicine and respecting its sacredness and treating it with the sacredness that it deserves and that it commands.

BOOKMAN: Pachamama and spaces like it are openly discussed online and even have ratings. Pachamama has a 4.92.

MARTHA HARTNEY: You can even hear people talking about it over polite dinner conversation now.

BOOKMAN: This is Martha Hartney, a Colorado attorney and member of the Psychedelic Bar Association. A 2006 Supreme¹⁴ Court ruling sided with a church serving ayahuasca, saying the government couldn't interfere¹⁵ with its religious practices. But Hartney says the court didn't legalize ayahuasca, which is still a controlled substance. It remains¹⁶ a grey area, even for churches. And she warns of phony shamans filling the demand.

HARTNEY: There's money to be made. There's power to be had.

BOOKMAN: There are also potential health impacts. Yes, people have been doing it for hundreds of years. But claims of ayahuasca as medicine, a treatment for depression or PTSD - these are still in the early days of formal clinical study. Fred Barrett is at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins.

FRED BARRETT: The degree to which this is happening in uncontrolled settings without any oversight¹⁷ or accountability could be a risk.

BOOKMAN: Pachamama says it screens its guests for potential health issues and only uses experienced facilitators. And the pastor, Derek Januszewski, isn't exactly coaxing¹⁸ people.

JANUSZEWSKI: There's nothing for you until you are called. Just be patient. Don't go and drink it 'cause it's a cool fad³. You're going to have a hard time.

BOOKMAN: Lately, the town of Canterbury, N.H., has been giving Pachamama a hard time, and not all of the neighbors are on board. Januszewski is looking for a new property, a place where he can continue to bring what he calls a sacrament - ayahuasca - to more people.

For NPR News, I'm Todd Bookman.