This work proposes an analysis of the religious use of ayahuasca as a public problem. Based on a dialogue with a set of theoretical and methodological issues concerning the debates on secularism and the approach presented by French pragmatism, the research turns to the analysis of the regulation processes of ayahuasca for religious use and the recognition of ayahuasca groups as religions in two distinct settings: Brazil and the cases of the states of Oregon and New Mexico in the United States. More specifically, the focus is to investigate the ways in which a series of actors contend and articulate around the definition of categories and arguments, as well as the establishment of norms concerning the practices associated to the use of the drink in Brazil and in the United States. The goal is to ascertain the emergence of the religious use of ayahuasca as a public problem in the countries in question. Keywords: Ayahuasca. Psychoactive. Religious use. Regulation. Public problem.