The scoop of this research is to map public controversy about the use of ayahuasca in Brazil. First, I focus on academic literature and the way Ayahuasca's history is addressed over three decades of debate. Then I operate a broad documentary universe – including academic, midiac, public policies, institutional documents of Ayahuasca entities and the production of integral parts of those institutions to prepare a mapping of public controversy on Ayahuasca in Brazil and its disfolding. Finally, from an ethnographic work carried out at the Raimundo Spiritual Aid Centre, I am problematic to the forms of presentation, justification of practices and construction of legitimacy in the public area of an institution using ayahuasca. Key words: public controversy; ayahuasca; drugs; religion; culture.