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Forms of Religious Use of the Entheogenic Sacrament Ayahuasca, Taking Into Account the Particular Aspect of Criminalization.


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Abstract

The subject of this work is the change of the entheogenic ayahuasca potion from a traditional "plant teacher" in local Shamanistic traditions of the Amazon rainforest to a sacramental mystical self- and God- experience agent with global relevance. This appropriation was carried out in the past decades, often referred to as "neo-shamanism" by a movement that may stem culturally-rooted change in consciousness and healing techniques then revitalizes and picks up with something new, in a post-industrial cultural milieu and esoteric dimensional meaning that adapts concepts of individual and collective transformation. The principles of such entheogenic plant sacraments, such as ayahuasca (dimethyltryptamine), Peyote (mescaline), psilocybin mushrooms (psilocybin) or cannabis/ganja (THC) are all here; manufacture, trade, distribution and possession are subject to massive penalties. Narcotics Law fail to address questions of religious freedom, there is no distinction between intended ritual-religious use and hedonistic-addictive abuses. Naturally, this circumstance of performing entheogenic religious rites, whether they are private or collective, sustain the fundamental right of religious freedom, despite a form of inquisition repression. In particular, the problem of the criminalization of the use of this religious sacrament is illuminated.