A critical policy analysis of Health Canada's decision on a request from a Montreal-based Santo Daime church for a legal exemption to use ayahuasca in rituals. Using government documents obtained through an Access to Information request, the author examines how modern stereotypes about drugs and drug abuse in public and political discourses can hinder informed policy making. The analysis traces ayahuasca's trajectory as a policy concern, critiques how the government defined ayahuasca as a problem, and argues that entheogenic practices represent traditional indigenous ways of knowing that should be valued rather than criminalized. The author proposes that policy reforms allowing circumspect use of entheogens may help address ecological predicaments.
Two Amazonian hallucinogens—ayahuasca (from Banisteriopsis caapi and admixture plants) and Virola-based snuffs or pastes—both owe their activity to indole alkaloids: tryptamines (N,N-dimethyltryptamine and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) and β-carbolines. Tryptamines are potent hallucinogens but inactive orally unless protected from degradation by monoamine oxidase (MAO). β-Carbolines are strong reversible MAO inhibitors, likely enabling oral activity of ayahuasca. Virola pastes contain tryptamines but little β-carboline; their limited MAO inhibition is primarily due to tryptamines, suggesting an alternative mechanism for oral activity. Ayahuasca remains integral to mestizo folk medicine, while Virola use is confined to a few Amazonian tribes and declining. Chemical analyses revealed variable alkaloid concentrations across samples, with DMT consistently present in Psychotria viridis but absent in Psychotria carthagenensis.
Psilocybe cubensis produced psilocybin only when first grown on Sabouraud agar before transfer to liquid media. Maximal psilocybin production occurred on the fifth day. An acid phosphatase from mycelia grown in one medium showed very high activity, producing a blue color from oxidized psilocin within five minutes. Adding L-tryptophan significantly stimulated early psilocybin production in one medium; tryptophan was degraded to kynurenine and anthranilic acid in the other medium and to tryptamine in the tryptophan-supplemented medium. Radioactive tryptophan labeled psilocin and psilocybin. Potassium deficiency decreased psilocybin production. Psilocin showed slight antibiotic activity against Candida albicans; psilocybin had none. Among eight Lentinus and Lentinellus species, only Lentinus lepideus and Lentinus phonderbsus showed phenol-O-methyltransferase activity, using methyl p-coumarate, methyl caffeate, and methyl ferulate as substrates.