Ayahuasca News

¿De qué manera podemos entender el papel de la coca como planta maestra? ¿Cómo superar la herencia de nuestra cultura materialista y utili- taria, y la tendencia de convertir todas las demás especies en nuestras sir- vientas, esclavas y fuentes de materia prima? ¿Cómo rescatar el concepto indígena y prehispánico de una planta que nos puede enseñar algo, tanto sobre nosotros mismos cuanto sobre ella y las otras especies vegetales y animales? ¿Cómo asumir la dependencia mutua que nos une: nosotros por- que apreciamos sus múltiples dones farmacológicos y nutricionales, y ella porque aprecia nuestros cuidados agronómicos y hoy depende de nosotros para sobrevivir? 

L¿ayahuasca és un beuratge psicoactiu usat tradicionalment per molts pobles de la conca amazònica. Se li atribueixen propietats mèdiques, màgiques i religioses, formant part de la cosmovisió dels pobles que la utilitzen. A partir dels anys trenta, a Brasil, es troben també religions que utilitzen l¿ayahuasca de forma sagramental. A Catalunya es registra l¿ús ritual d¿ayahuasca des de fa gairebé vint anys. En el treball, a partir de la recerca, el treball de camp, l¿observació participant, les entrevistes i més de cent qüestionaris: es descriuen les diferents tipologies i variants rituals de les cerimònies que es realitzen amb ayahuasca a Catalunya, tot establint una classificació. Es comparen les cerimònies amb la seqüència dels rituals de pas de Van Gennep, tenint present també el concepte de communitas de V. Turner, per acabar establint que es tracta de rituals de pas contemporanis. Alhora es fa una anàlisi de com son les persones que dirigeixen aquestes cerimònies (formació, experiència, motivacions) i els participants en aquestes (edat, sexe, motivacions que porten a provar-ho, per què repeteixen, etc.)

The proposal arises from a technique used to prepare and ingest coca by the Witoto- and Tukano-speaking peoples who live in an area of the Amazon region where the borders between Peru, Brazil and Colombia meet. The variety of Erythroxylum coca used by these indigenous groups (and by some caboclo meztizos in the Brazilian Amazon) is called ypadú (we'll drop the final stress here)—also known as mambe in Colombia. According to Henman, ypadu (a.k.a. ipadu, or epadu) probably is an adaptation of Erythrolixum coca introduced to the lowlands of the Amazon basin from the high-jungle areas to the east, e.g. the Huallaga area of Peru. Henman goes on to note that because ypadu has a long, though marginal, history in Brazil, its use could be recognized as traditional by the government in Brasilia under Article 14 of the 1988 Vienna Convention of the United Nations (1). Let us add that – provided it ever wanted to – this would give the Brazilian government even greater legitimacy to join Bolivia (and possibly other governments) in its request to have the coca leaf removed from Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention (2). 

It is commonly assumed that indigenous medical systems are strong in developing countries because biomedicine is physically inaccessible or financially not affordable....Our findings indicate that the health-seeking behavior of Andean households is independent of the degree of availability of biomedical facilities in terms of quality of services provided, physical accessibility, and financial affordability, except for specific practices such as childbirth....The take-home lesson for health policy-makers from this study is that the main obstacle to improved use of biomedicine in resource-poor rural areas might not be infrastructural or economic alone. Rather, it may lie in lack of sufficient recognition by biomedical practitioners of the value and importance of indigenous medical systems. We propose that the implementation of health care in indigenous communities be designed as a process of joint development of complementary knowledge and practices from indigenous and biomedical health traditions.

Abstract
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic botanical mixture originating in the Amazon area where it is used ritually, but is now being taken globally. The 2 main constituents of ayahuasca are N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogen, and harmine, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) which attenuates the breakdown of DMT, which would otherwise be broken down very quickly after oral consumption. Recent developments in ayahuasca use include the sale of these compounds on the internet and the substitution of related botanical (anahuasca) or synthetic (pharmahuasca) compounds to achieve the same desired hallucinogenic effects. One intriguing result of ayahuasca use appears to be improved mental health and a reduction in recidivism to alternate (alcohol, cocaine) drug use. In this review we discuss the pharmacology of ayahuasca, with a focus on harmine, and suggest pharmacological mechanisms for the putative reduction in recidivism to alcohol and cocaine misuse. These pharmacological mechanisms include MAOI, effects at 5-HT2A and imidazoline receptors and inhibition of dual-specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) and the dopamine transporter. We also speculate on the therapeutic potential of harmine in other CNS conditions.

Highlights
► We reviewed the use of the Amazonian hallucinogen ayahuasca and its analogues. ► The review focuses on harmine, a beta-carboline and major component of ayahuasca. ► Recent research on the pharmacology of harmine is explored in detail. ► Findings are discussed in the context of ayahuasca's use in drug dependence. ► Pharmacokinetic and adverse drug interactions of harmine are also discussed.

Women are involved in every stage of mushroom utilization from collection to processing and marketing. Local mycological knowledge includes the use mushrooms as food, medicine, and recreational objects as well as an aid to seasonal household economies. In many regions of the world, women are often the main mushroom collectors and possess a vast knowledge about mushroom taxonomy, biology, and ecology. Local experts play a vital role in the transmission of local mycological knowledge. Women participate in the diffusion of this knowledge as well as in its enrichment through innovation. Female mushroom collectors appreciate their mycological knowledge and pursue strategies and organization to reproduce it in their communities. Women mushroom gatherers are conscious of their knowledge, value its contribution in their subsistence systems, and proudly incorporate it in their cultural identity.