• The criminal prosecution of ayahuasca users is wrong, illegitimate and futile and must end • The trend to treat ayahuasca as a controlled substance is wrong and requires review. It cannot be considered as such simply because it contains a substance that is subject to control • Equating a complex cultural practice, such as the ritual use of ayahuasca, to a single element of the whole (the DMT contained in the drink) is extremely reductionist and misinformed • The promotion of scientific knowledge about ayahuasca in particular, and about psychoactive plants of traditional use in general, far from contradicting the spirit of the UN drug conventions, could even help safeguard the well-being and health of humankind