Clinical investigations of the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca: rationale and regulatory challenges.
Pharmacol Ther May 1, 2004 Dennis J Mckenna 299 citations
Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic beverage used in Amazonian ethnomedicine and shamanism, has a unique pharmacology relying on the oral activity of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is normally degraded by monoamine oxidase (MAO) but becomes active when MAO is inhibited by beta-carboline alkaloids. The beverage has long been integrated into mestizo folk medicine and is used as a sacrament by syncretic churches in Brazil, some of which have expanded to the United States. A biomedical study of the Uñiao do Vegetal church suggested therapeutic applications for alcoholism and substance abuse, while clinical studies in Spain showed safety in healthy adults but did not clarify therapeutic uses. The article outlines regulatory and methodological challenges to clinical investigation in the United States, including unclear legal status and variable composition.