THE PHARMACOLOGY OF AYAHUASCA
Harmlessness of the Brew:
Between 1991 and 1993, the Federal University of São Paulo (former Escola Paulista de Medicina), University of Campinas, State University of Rio de Janeiro, University of Amazonas, National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), University of California, University of Miami, University of New Mexico and University of Kuopio (Finland), were invited at the initiative of one of the Brazilian syncretic churches, the UDV, to manage a scientific research entitled "Human Pharmacology of Hoasca, tea used in ritual context in Brazil". The research was articulated by the central direction of the Center for Medical-Scientific Studies of União do Vegetal, an internal body of the institution, which gathers its adepts and professionals from the relevant areas. The results found that the Hoasca tea (the name given to Ayahuasca in UDV) is harmless to health. The research is published in important scientific journals such as Psychopharmacology, in a text signed by J. C. Callaway (PhD), and in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, in a text signed by Charles S. Grob (PhD).
This study took place in Manaus, involved nine university centers and research institutions of Brazil, the United States and Finland, and was financed by the American foundation Botanical Dimension. The research began to be planned in 1991 and took place in 1993. It consisted of applying laboratory tests and questionnaires, within standard scientific procedures, to users of the potion. They were people of varied age groups, from urban and rural environments, assiduous attendees of the cults. The tests were also performed on non-users serving as a control group. The psychiatric evaluation conducted by the Department of Psychiatry of the Federal University of São Paulo, Reference Center of the World Health Organization, found no case of dependence, abuse or social loss from the use of Ayahuasca among the researched users — aspects present in users of drugs proscribed by legislation. The comparative conclusions are surprising. The first of them, confirming the assertion that the brew is innocuous from a toxicological standpoint: no "significant difference was found in the neurosensory, circulatory, renal, respiratory, digestive, endocrine systems between the experimenter and control groups".
In the psychiatric tests, the recommended questionnaires were applied: the CIDI (Composite International Diagnostic Interview), with the criteria of ICD-10 and DSM-IIIR, and the TPQ (Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire). It was found that Hoasca, or Ayahuasca, users compared to non-users (control group) showed themselves to be more "reflective, resistant, loyal, stoic, calm, frugal, orderly and persistent". And further: more "confident, optimistic, carefree, uninhibited, willing and energetic". They also exhibited "joy, hyperthymia, determination and elevated self-confidence". The examinees presented significantly better performance than those of the control group regarding the capacity to remember the words in the fifth attempt. They were also better in "number of words remembered, delayed recall and recall of words after interference". Although the study protocol did not allow separating the benefits relating to the religious context from the effects of the tea itself, this research confirms the general impression — arising from its millenary use — of the harmlessness of the brew. In fact, no cases of injury or illness caused by its use in natura, without adulterations or mixtures, are known.