
Could ayahuasca have health benefits? - jeffwass
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41333172
======
dnc
While I was on a retreat this year in a Peruvian village, I was told by
several natives (Shipibo people) that, by their tradition (some estimations
are that Shipibo tribes have been using Ayahuasca for millenias), Ayahuasca is
orally taken in healing ceremonies by their shamans only. Traditionally, in
the normal course of a healing ceremony, it is not a patient who takes 'the
medicine' or 'the plant teacher' (Ayahuasca), but the shaman in order to learn
from the plant what his patient illness is and how to go about healing it.
Also traditionaly, Ayahuasca is taken during shamanic training (which takes
years, if not a whole life) as a part of a special and very strict diet that
can last between several weeks to a year or more, depending on a plant that
one is dieting. During the diet shaman apprentice is supposed to take
Ayahuasca, but only at the beginning and at the end of the diet, if it is a
short one, or every once in couple of months if the diet is longer. The diet
is a way to become familiar with the plant and learn what it has to teach you
and Ayahuasca, the teacher plant, is used as a sort of a learning facilitator.
From my understanding, a practice of organizing Ayahuasca ceremonies and
giving the brew to foreigners in exchange for money has been relatively
recently established with rising popularization of Ayahuasca and demand for it
from abroad.

~~~
Radim

         the shaman in order to learn from the plant what his patient illness is and how to go about healing it.
    

And how was that working out for them, from what you could see? Did patients
there prefer the "traditional" or the "western" medicine?

~~~
dang
Please don't take HN threads on generic tangents. That argument leads nowhere
new and therefore nowhere interesting.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

Edit: whoops I misread that one and broke the site rules in the process. Sorry
and carry on!

~~~
borski
dang, apologies, but the parent didn't seem to be taking this on a generic
tangent. The OP has a very interesting anecdotal story to tell, related
directly to a group of people that take ayahuasca for healing, and I, too, am
curious about how it worked for them, specifically.

~~~
dang
Uh oh, on a proper reading I see that you're right. Thanks for pointing it
out.

I overhastily ascribed the comment to the "western medicine, you mean real
medicine?" meme that doesn't belong here. Perils of pattern-matching.
Retracted!

------
nowherecat
Having had frequent ceremonies over the course of several months I stopped
drinking the tea, because I find it is not helping being pulled from one
extreme into another. Our western way of life makes it very difficult to
integrate the profound experiences that one can get through this medicine and
it requires major commitments to change..and it requires good helpers and
facilitators. We, as westerners, are often times not equipped to integrate
this lost wisdom into our lives. I know it is said it is not addictive but I
know enough people that at least appear dependent on it and swear by it being
the solution.

I personally believe that meditation and journeying inward without drugs
brings about insights of a similar magnitude in a pace that we can cope with
and integrate what we learn without jojo’ing between bliss and depression.

Ayahuasca has its place. It definitely helped us experience that there is much
more to life than the material. But in my opinion I t’s a sledge Hammer that
helps crack hard nuts or sets a direction. The work has to be done by oneself
and the risk with ayahuasca is that one just keeps drinking the tea, thinking
that that is enough.

Apart from that it is quite dangerous nowadays to do ceremonies with traveling
“shamans”, because a lot of them don’t even brew the tea themselves and
oftentimes facilitate in a way that it is bound to go wrong at some point.

~~~
kobeya
Or psychoactive drugs don’t teach you anything new but rather modify brain
functionality such that you feel different. Gaining new belief or believing
you have new beliefs are typically indistinguishable from the inside.

~~~
nowherecat
Well, could’t You say the same thing about experiences of any nature? For
example: our thoughts always affect our body/mind .. if I take a drug or in
the case of ayahuasca an entheogen, it creates a non ordinary state of
consciousness, which -if strong enough- can permanently change the way I feel
and act. The same you could achieve by meditating on a regular basis or going
on a long trip, having a traumatic experience etc .. our brains are being
modified constantly by our experiences, not just by drugs. And yeah, a belief
is a belief - if it’s a conscious belief you could say ‘I believe in having
this belief’ and if it’s unconscious it’s just a belief I am not consciously
aware of. But both have the same Effect on my body and mind

~~~
kobeya
It permanently changes you by causing conditions by which your brain rewires
itself. For psychiatric patients that is often a good thing because where they
are at is not a good place. But why would you throw a spanner in the works if
you're already a well adjusted individual?

If you want to be content and enjoy life, why not get a lobotomy. It's a more
consistent result. Oh you don't want to do that to your brain? Well acid may
have different mechanisms but can trigger similarly drastic effects, it's just
now you've introduced a roll of the die, and I'm not a fan of gambling without
a winning strategy.

~~~
KennyCason
Given your very clear and strong stance that this is something you won't ever
try, of which I don't have any issue with, I won't spend a lot of time
debating this statement. But, your analogy with getting a lobotomy to enjoy
life being even remotely equivalent to doing psychedelics is simply wrong. The
effects are not similar. You are also drastically overestimating the gambling
nature of psychedelics. You're probably way more likely to wreck your life
while drinking alcohol than you are with psychedelics.

------
Fnoord
Ayahuasca is a South American brew consisting of two plants one consisting of
a MAOI and another of DMT (the exact plant genus differs). DMT without a MAOI
gets broken down by the blood brain barrier, so its not efficient without the
MAOI.

The MAOI however puts dietary restrictions before the drug is being
administered, and also makes the drug last vastly longer. Without the MAOI,
the DMT wouldn't last long (IIRC even less long than Salvia). That _might_ be
an interesting use case.

Apart from that, there's all the time research on tryptamines [1] (MDMA, LSD,
psilocybin, etc) used to treat mental diseases and personality disorders. The
advantage synthetic drugs have is they're easier to standardise. I'm not sure
why you'd want to research MAOI + DMT instead of the ones already mentioned?
What advantages could it have over those?

[1] [http://psychedelic-information-theory.com/Psychedelic-
Pharma...](http://psychedelic-information-theory.com/Psychedelic-Pharmacology)

~~~
pstuart
My only DMT experience lasted about 15 minutes, and that was plenty.

~~~
Fnoord
I assume Ayahuasca refers to MAOI + DMT instead of merely DMT, but I could be
wrong. Although which plants would be used as source? Maybe we should try to
avoid the term Ayahuasca altogether; it is vague.

~~~
LaikaF
Ayahuasca referrers to the uses of plants. Normally done by Shamans.
pharmahuasca is DMT + MAOI inhibitor

The experience is very different. Ayahuasca has a lot of bad side effects such
as vomiting, sea legs, and diarrhea

~~~
Fnoord
Cheers, had not heard of pharmahuasca before.

> Ayahuasca has a lot of bad side effects such as vomiting, sea legs, and
> diarrhea

Those are side effects which _can_ occur; not side effects which _will_ occur.
Ie. possible side effects.

Its anecdotal and merely one experience as well, but I had no problem with
diarrhea or vomiting. Sea legs, yes, which I knew beforehand. Hence I made
sure I was able to lie down (which I did).

------
astura
My brother went on an Ayahuasca retreat but ended up deeply disappointed that
it didn't change his life and his problems got much worse as a result.

Of course, that can happen with any treatments as well. However, professional
support could maybe mitigate that a bit. Plus actual data may give a better
idea of likely outcomes.

He then came home and took LSD that caused an episode of psychosis that lasted
a couple weeks and landed him on the hospital plus in trouble with the law.

I don't disagree that these drugs can be beneficial for many people and should
be studied but there is dangers as well and the dangers are often downplayed
as "just anti drug FUD."

~~~
anythingnonidin
Did any of the following apply?

> No current or past history of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, no
> Bipolar I or II disorder, and no first or second-degree (“A second-degree
> relative is defined as a blood relative which includes the individual’s
> grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces or half-
> siblings.”) relatives with these disorders.3

[https://tripsafe.org/how-to-take-lsd/#1-avoid-with-
certain-h...](https://tripsafe.org/how-to-take-lsd/#1-avoid-with-certain-
health-conditions)

Also this means that it is advisable for you to steer clear of psychedelics.

For what it’s worth:

> “Since the early 1990s, approximately 2000 doses of psilocybin (ranging from
> low to high doses) have been safely administered to humans in the United
> States and Europe, in carefully controlled scientific settings, with no
> reports of any medical or psychiatric serious AEs, including no reported
> cases of prolonged psychosis or HPPD (Studerus et al., 2011).”1

[https://tripsafe.org/shrooms/#2-the-safety-profile-of-
shroom...](https://tripsafe.org/shrooms/#2-the-safety-profile-of-shrooms-
might-surprise-you)

~~~
tgb
I really dislike this argument. About 1% of US adults have had schizophrenia
in the past year. And 2.6% of the adult population has bipolar. Yet at some
point in their life they didn't know they were going to have schizophrenia or
bipolar! You're arguing that this only affects people with the condition
already but if you _can 't know_ if you are predisposed for that, then you
have to accept that there's risk. I support studying the risk and benefits,
but your argument suggests that the risk only applies to other people. It
doesn't and it's destructive to suggest otherwise.

Let me put this another way. Their recommendations include first and second
degree relatives. Wikipedia says that the risk of having schizophrenia when
you have a first degree relative with it is 6.5% [1] This is the single
biggest risk factor for it but it's still pretty small. If it's too dangerous
to take based off a 6.5% risk then it's also probably too dangerous to take
off the 1%-ish risk that the entire general population faces. At the very
least, it's important to _acknowledge that there exists these risks_ instead
of replying to every anecdote that hurts your cause with this misleading
information while allowing the anecdotes that help.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia#Genetic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia#Genetic)

~~~
MAGZine
So you're 500% more likely to have schizophrenia when first-degree relatives
are more involved.

Another book cited by the wiki page claimed that 13% of people with one
parent, and 50% of people with both parents, are likely to have schizophrenia.

These aren't hard and fast rules. People can experiment, but they should know
that if they do psychedelics when first-degree relatives have the condition,
then they're more likely to have it themselves.

Just like many other health conditions.

------
virtualwhys
> Could psychedelic drug ayahuasca have health benefits?

Certainly, anecdotally I kicked a very strong 20 year coffee and sugar habit
after doing a 3-day retreat in Latin America this past winter. Just happened
naturally, oh, I don't need this daily coffee and sugar fix anymore.

On the flip side, as the article mentions, the psychedlic tourism industry as
a whole doesn't have formal safe guards in place for when the shit hits the
fan with one (or more) of the attendees. My friend, who sat all eleven days,
said that two women just completely lost it on day 3, screaming hysterically,
out of their minds battling unknown demons.

The retreat "helpers", do the best they can to settle you down, but when
you're deep in the experience it's very hard to distinguish between
real/unreal. For example, in some kind of existential moment I shouted out in
my mind's eye, "you are the most high!". In reality I shocked the 30 other
attendants out of their seats, and a helper rushed up to see if I was Ok.

It's an extremely powerful substance. At the end of the retreat, when everyone
headed off to sleep, I was still tripping so hard that sleep was impossible.
When I finally lay down the sheer flow of non-stop Dali/Escher-like
hallucinations running through my mind were sufficient to make me question
whether I was ever going to return to reality -- Pandora's box indeed.

tl;dr; proceed with caution, can have beneficial side-effects.

~~~
hal9000xp
> I don't need this daily coffee and sugar fix anymore.

In the same way, some people just stop being "addicted" to life in general
after strong trip. Some of them decide to commit suicide.

Just yesterday, I've been in party and one guy told story of his friend who
committed suicide _after_ such trip.

The big problem with psychedelics is that you _can 't predict_ in which way a
trip could change you.

~~~
hutzlibu
"Just yesterday, I've been in party and one guy told story of his friend who
committed suicide after such trip."

unpleasant theory: maybe in some cases it is even better, that a person just
kills himself after a drug-triggered insight - instead of years of drowning
everybody around them into their black hole - and still suicide in the end.
(or worse, go amok)

But sure, I am not saying at all, that this was the case in your story. What I
know is, that Psychedelics are no miracles. The "insights" you get, might be
also totally wrong and misleading.

I see Drugs as "tools" for the mind. You can use them right, or wrong.

~~~
hhhxyxyy
The main insight is more likely that people like you exist, with your immature
attitude/ridiculous theory on suicide. I find your kind to be subtly
destructive and all too common.

Take care and aloha.

~~~
hutzlibu
Those are very good arguments you provide ...

It is probably pointless, but to try more arguments, I think the same about
you " I find your kind to be subtly destructive and all too common"

The illusionary theory, that every human must be saved at all costs. Only that
in reality "by all costs" means very often, that not only one goes down, but
also many people around them.

I have seen it too often. And in the end, those persons might indeed still
breathe, but more like zombies and not really alive .

Letting go can be less cruel in the bigger picture.

~~~
hhhxyxyy
Do you actually have experience with counterculture? Primal instincts based
around the idea of dominance prevail as often do in any social hierarchy, and
the musings about some type of altruistism surrounding suicide by the
commenter to whom I replied reflect this reality.

In short, the counterculture movement is plenty infiltrated with immature and
often sociopathic mentalities that heartlessly harass sensitive folks who are
at their most vulnerable under the influence of psychedelics. This is rarely
discussed but is so prevalent, particularly since the age of exposure aligns
with immature phases, adolesence in particular.

In laymen’s terms, it’s a sport to “fuck with” someone who has a “reaction”.
Perhaps it’s the suicide victim realizing that, instead of this idea that they
are a defective burden saving society from their own black hole via premature
self termination, that they are escaping unwanted membership of a vastly
primitive species. I assure you, the mentality of the suicidal is quite the
opposite of “conventional wisdom” about being a burden, at least in some
cases.

~~~
hutzlibu
Dude.

You told me I am imature, because I proposed the theory, that in some(!)
cases, it might be better for a suicidal person to just kill himself, instead
of everyone around them as well. (I know cases, where persons literally think
about the latter, those I referenced)

So what has that to do with psychopaths who take advantage of sensitive
persons and possible drive them to death?!?

Not at all related for the sake of the original argument.

But by now I know your type of person well, self-declared enlighted ... high
above the " primitive species" below. But unhappy, because the primitive
people have the power and therefore drive the enlightened down out of
jealously. Yeah, yeah, I know.

Well in that case, what do you think about a very low specimen who is so down,
that he hinks about either killing himself, or other's? Save him under all
costs and risk him later still killing "enlightened" people? Or accept him
choosing to go on his own, now? Why do you care anyway, he's just from a "low
species"...

~~~
hhhxyxyy
You come across as suggesting to someone they should self-terminate because
it's better that way.

~~~
hutzlibu
In "some" cases I do believe, it is the better way.

Not at all in all cases, nor in your case.

------
nicodjimenez
Psychedelics provide a incredible jolt to the system (at least that's what
they tell me) but if they do provide health benefits I believe they are short
term, similar to traveling to another country or doing something unusual with
your life. On the other hand, people that take psychedelics too often tend to
have long term negative consequences such as anxiety or become dysfunctional
in other ways. It's very hard to have nuanced opinions these days, but I think
society in general needs to come to terms with psychedelics, the dangers they
present, the novel experiences they enable, and some mental health benefits
they may enable.

~~~
ianai
Considering the US still throws people away for going near drugs I’d say the
pendulum doesn’t need to swing further the same direction.

~~~
freeloop2
Most countries do this. I don't know why people always pick on the US in this
regard.

~~~
ianai
Highest per capital inceration rate.

~~~
freeloop2
But not the most stringent drug laws.

------
jack_pp
I don't have any evidence of this but I stronly suspect that doing regular
meditation will reduce the chance of bad trips or atleast let you deal with
them much better. I'm saying this in case someone decides to experiment with
DMT or other halucinogens, you should seriously consider trying meditation as
a prerequisite.

~~~
R_haterade
Anything specific practices you recommend? I'm not interested in ayahuasca,
but meditation has been on my list for a while now.

~~~
te_chris
Install an app and start - Headspace is popular and easy to get going with.

There are lots of different practices, sure, but it's a lot like jogging: you
don't need to learn a lot of technique, just need to get up and do it.

~~~
fish_fan
I can’t tell if you’re joking with the app or not.

If you’re good enough to meditate around the app, you don’t need any help from
the app to start!

------
afro88
A negative anecdote: a friend of a friend of a friend went on a retreat and
did actually lose his mind. He needs help and probably will for the rest of
his life.

Just putting it out there for some balance. I’ve heard my fair share of
positive anecdotes too.

~~~
laser
So some guy on the internet says that a friend of a friend of a friend of his
lost his mind on Ayahuasca? Based on schizophrenia rates, I suspect pretty
much everyone even has a friend of a friend that might catalyze their latent
schizophrenia through psychedelics. But, the idea that psychedelics cause
mental illness in those that otherwise would have been fine is not supported
by scientific evidence[1][2], only anecdotes.

[1] [https://www.nature.com/news/no-link-found-between-
psychedeli...](https://www.nature.com/news/no-link-found-between-psychedelics-
and-psychosis-1.16968)

[2] [http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/03/28/lsd-and-
schizophreni...](http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/03/28/lsd-and-
schizophrenia-does-acid-cause-mental-illness/)

[3]

~~~
darpa_escapee
The functional difference between 'causes schizophrenia' and 'triggers latent
schizophrenia' to someone who is diagnosed with schizophrenia after ingesting
ayahuasca is practically non-existent.

Sure, you can generalize that those with family members who have schizophrenia
are at an increased risk of having it rear its head. However, not everyone
with schizophrenia gets diagnosed nor do many people have detailed psychiatric
evaluations of their relatives to make decisions off of.

~~~
adrusi
Presumably the person with latent schizophrenia would see it emerge at later
date even if they didn't take psychedelics. If the drug is only making
symptoms emerge earlier, the cost of the trip is only however many years of
sanity you had left (say, 5) rather than a lifetime of sanity (~65 years).

~~~
darpa_escapee
My understanding is that 'latent schizophrenia' is a term referring to the
predisposition towards developing schizophrenia if certain environmental,
social or other stressors trigger it.

It may never truly manifest itself as schizophrenia because of the lack of
non-genetic factors involved in the illness.

The nature of schizophrenia isn't that genetics will absolutely determine
whether or not someone will develop the disease. One can be diagnosed with
prodromal schizophrenia and, with proper intervention, will never be diagnosed
as schizophrenic or experience those symptoms again.

To say that the drugs will make symptoms emerge earlier instead of later in
life isn't entirely accurate. Those symptoms may _never_ emerge at all, given
the right circumstances.

It seems that the 'right circumstances' for those with a predisposition
towards developing schizophrenia include never ingesting certain types of
drugs.

------
indescions_2017
One theory is that psychedelics increase the Shannon entropy of the brain’s
functional connectivity:

Shannon entropy of brain functional complex networks under the influence of
the psychedelic Ayahuasca

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5547073/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5547073/)

------
mooneater
I permanently quit a 15 year cigarette habit after a weekend with Aya. And I
have never wanted to go near a cigarette since (7 years ago).

------
leggomylibro
It might be easier to find out, if rigorous research into psychedelics weren't
so arbitrarily difficult compared to other medicines.

~~~
schedule1
Nothing will happen until psychedelics are rescheduled. It's a travesty that
even the "natural" tryptamines (psilocybin/psilocin and DMT) can't be
researched more easily.

~~~
anythingnonidin
Not true - psilocybin is being actively researched by Heffter/Usona. They are
much more limited by funding than they are by scheduling (at least, in the
US).

The main benefit of rescheduling will likely be through easier access to
government funding and funding from large foundations.

If you’re very wealthy, you can fund psychedelic research that interests you
today - again, the scheduling is not close to being the main limiting factor.

Source: I’ve talked with multiple researchers who are studying psychedelics.

------
beepboopbeep
We won't know unless we research it!

~~~
Rafert
Exactly. Medicinal marihuana or more recently MDMA for PTSD treatment
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15120656](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15120656))
all took a while too.

------
swayvil
I have used psychedelics. I consider it to be one of the most beautiful,
educational and healthful things that I have ever done.

These days I meditate.

------
icarito
As a practitioner of traditional amazonian spiritual tradition, I and my
family drink Ayahuasca on a regular basis and find it to be invaluable, our
first line of defense for disease both physical and spiritual.

~~~
colordrops
Did you pick up this tradition through family or did seek out this practice
and learn it?

~~~
icarito
It was in my own pursuit.

------
tudorw
It's modulating the expression of some important genes;

"It is also a selective inhibitor of the human cytochrome P450 isozyme 2D6
(CYP 2D6)"

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16149329](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16149329)

"the inhibitions on human liver CYP3A4 and CYP2D6 enzymes by those β-carboline
alkaloids were studied kinetically. Harmine, harmol and harmane exhibited
noncompetitive inhibition on the activity of CYP3A4 with K(i) values of 16.76,
5.13 and 1.66 μM, respectively. These β-carboline alkaloids were also found to
be both substrates and inhibitors for CYP2D6. Harmaline, harmine and harmol
showed typical competitive inhibition on the activity of CYP2D6

Inhibition of Human Cytochrome P450 Enzymes 3A4 and 2D6 by β-Carboline
Alkaloids, Harmine Derivatives (PDF Download Available). Available from:
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50834428_Inhibition...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50834428_Inhibition_of_Human_Cytochrome_P450_Enzymes_3A4_and_2D6_by_b-
Carboline_Alkaloids_Harmine_Derivatives) [accessed Oct 1, 2017]."

[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50834428_Inhibition...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50834428_Inhibition_of_Human_Cytochrome_P450_Enzymes_3A4_and_2D6_by_b-
Carboline_Alkaloids_Harmine_Derivatives)

~~~
nnfy
Do you have evidence that ayuhuasca is mutagenic? Inhibition of enzymes is
temporary and generally harmless if you are careful not to consume certain
drugs while inhibited.

~~~
tudorw
Not I, though Dr. Shulgin says; "The second question relates to yet another
beta-carboline alkaloid, Harman. This is a structural analogue of Harmine that
has been stripped of its methoxyl group. It is widely found in plants and
foods, and has been shown in experimental animals to be a vasodilator and a
hypotensive agent. It also interacts directly with DNA and is thus a possible
mutagenic agent."

Courtesy of the wayback machine you can read the article,

[https://web.archive.org/web/20020325022732/http://www.alchem...](https://web.archive.org/web/20020325022732/http://www.alchemind.org/shulgin/adsarchive/ayahuasca_maoi.htm)

------
fapjacks
You can buy the ingredients for ayahuasca (B. Caapi vines and P. Viridis
leaves) online for cheap.

------
thescribe
Given the article this basically comes down to "We don't know".

------
ssijak
Yes :

[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161207124115.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161207124115.htm)

[http://beckleyfoundation.org/ayahuasca-stimulates-the-
birth-...](http://beckleyfoundation.org/ayahuasca-stimulates-the-birth-of-new-
brain-cells/)

[http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0042421)

[http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v12n2/12225mab.html](http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v12n2/12225mab.html)

[http://beckleyfoundation.org/resource/exploring-the-
therapeu...](http://beckleyfoundation.org/resource/exploring-the-therapeutic-
potential-of-ayahuasca-acute-intake-increases-mindfulness-related-capacities/)

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773875/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773875/)

[http://www.maps.org/research/ayahuasca/ayahuasca-
canada](http://www.maps.org/research/ayahuasca/ayahuasca-canada)

[http://beckleyfoundation.org/resource/long-term-use-of-
psych...](http://beckleyfoundation.org/resource/long-term-use-of-psychedelic-
drugs-is-associated-with-differences-in-brain-structure-and-personality-in-
humans/)

[http://www.greenmedinfo.com/article/ayahuasca-may-act-
agains...](http://www.greenmedinfo.com/article/ayahuasca-may-act-against-
chronic-low-grade-inflammation-and-oxidative-stress)

[http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v08n3/08312rib.html](http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v08n3/08312rib.html)

[http://www.trnres.com/ebook/uploads/rafael/T_12998350813%20R...](http://www.trnres.com/ebook/uploads/rafael/T_12998350813%20Rafael.pdf)

[http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v06n3/06324aya.html](http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v06n3/06324aya.html)

[http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v06n3/06327tak.html](http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v06n3/06327tak.html)

[http://www.trnres.com/ebook/uploads/rafael/T_12998352185%20R...](http://www.trnres.com/ebook/uploads/rafael/T_12998352185%20Rafael.pdf)

[http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v11n1/11125hof.html](http://www.maps.org/news-
letters/v11n1/11125hof.html)

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=evidence%20of%20hea...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=evidence%20of%20health%20and%20safety%20in%20american%20members%20of%20a%20religion%20who%20use%20a%20hallucinogenic%20sacrament#)

[http://www.maps.org/research-
archive/html_bak/kristensen.htm...](http://www.maps.org/research-
archive/html_bak/kristensen.html)

[https://qz.com/963683/the-ayahuasca-ceremony-is-going-
under-...](https://qz.com/963683/the-ayahuasca-ceremony-is-going-under-the-
scientific-method-microscope/)

[http://www.iceers.org/docs/science/ayahuasca/ICEERS2012_Ayah...](http://www.iceers.org/docs/science/ayahuasca/ICEERS2012_Ayahuasca_literature_compilation.pdf)

more here : [https://www.globalayahuascaproject.org/ayahuasca-
research/ay...](https://www.globalayahuascaproject.org/ayahuasca-
research/ayahuasca-research-papers/)

many new research presented here also :
[https://www.youtube.com/user/mapsmdma/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/mapsmdma/videos)

etc, etc..

And aslo from anegdotal evidence answer is - YES.

------
stefek99
WOW. I really enjoy whenever psychedelics hit the mainstream.

I'm sitting on the fence regarding psychedelic coming out:
blog.mostlydoing.com/2016/04/7-reasons-why-you-dont-psychedelic.html

Those who know know, default legal system is still unadvantageous towards drug
users.

~~~
flycaliguy
I was hoping to gain some insight from the link, but it's just immature and
condescending...

I have really grown to resent that tone and it's become very popular in a lot
of opinion writing on the web. Seeing it from a psychedelic advocate is not
doing his cause any favours.

EDIT: Noticed that you wrote that, so to clarify what I'm saying: Your tone
implies that it's absurd for somebody to have an opinion contrary to your own.
It's not a healthy contribution to anything.

