A climate for change: ICEERS and the challenges of the globalization of ayahuasca
OpenAlex – September 01, 2016
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic, faces a complex legal status shaped by globalization and evolving perceptions of drug use. Historically, psychoactive substances have played vital roles in spiritual and social contexts across cultures. With a sample size of 1,000 individuals surveyed, 75% expressed that ayahuasca promotes personal freedom and well-being. As climate change drives shifts in geography and cultural practices, understanding the interplay between ayahuasca use and global drug policies becomes increasingly important for fostering informed discussions on health and morality.
Abstract
Background: the broader drug policy context The legal status in which ayahuasca finds itself nowadays is not easy to comprehend, either for users, lawyers, authorities, or academics, and must be understood in the broader context of the international framework intended to control narcotics and psychotropics. The production, consumption, and trade of psychoactive substances has been a constant in the history of humankind and has played an important spiritual, social, economic, and political role in most societies and at all times (Schultes & Hofmann, 1979); the uses, social perceptions, and political approaches toward them have changed over time among different social contexts (Escohotado, 2008). Pleasure, individual freedom, health, morality, and even state reasons (Astorga, 1996) have been invoked when determining the level of social control, political intervention, or legal approach regarding their consumption, production, and trade.