Entre saberes tradicionais, ciência e proibicionismo: contribuições da antropologia para a legitimação do uso da ayahuasca

Anthropological research has been central to legitimizing and regulating ayahuasca use in Brazil, where it helped secure recognition of the drink's religious use as part of Amazonian cultural heritage and informed public policies that protect it as a legitimate practice. The article examines how social scientists have explored the cultural and social dimensions of ayahuasca since the mid-20th century and how their work now challenges prohibitionist narratives, including a US Drug Enforcement Agency report that framed ayahuasca as a risk to public safety and health.

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Abstract

This article analyzes the role of anthropology in legitimizing and regulating the use of ayahuasca, highlighting the relationship between traditional knowledge, science and public policy. Since the mid-20th century, the social sciences have been exploring the cultural and social dimensions of the use of psychoactive substances, including ayahuasca. In Brazil, anthropological production was decisive in recognizing the religious use of the drink as part of the Amazon's cultural heritage, as well as providing subsidies for public policies that ensured its practice as a legitimate manifestation. The text also addresses the contemporary work of researchers in criticizing prohibitionist discourses, such as the report published by the US Drug Enforcement Agency on ayahuasca as a risk to public safety and health in the country.