Recently, in quite a straight-forward clinical demonstration, Brazilian scientists administered an ancient Amazonian-psychedelic tea, or ayahuasca, to six individuals within a safe, psychiatric setting in order to study the lingering psychological affects of ayahuasca’s “trip.”

For those unfamiliar, this Amazonian tea has been made by the indigenous natives for thousands of years and comes from the caapi plant which contains concentrated levels of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Far from being the only plant to contain the substance, DMT can virtually be found in all forms of organic life in varying degrees; from more concentrated amounts in things like Mimosa tree bark, mammalian brains, and even lawn grass. Yes, although it is in quite low amounts, there are quantifiable amounts of DMT in all lawn grass. When asked by Westerners where they gained their knowledge of the ayahuasca brew, the native Amazonians reply that it was given to them by the spirits of the jungle. It is known to be one of the most powerful psychedelic chemicals on the planet, and has a reputation for interrupting chemical dependencies of substances like heroine, stimulating neuronal development, and having formidable bodily-detoxification properties when ingested; it is known to cause sweating, diarrhea and vomiting for this reason during the onset.







In regards to this Brazilian study, the researchers followed the six participants for 21 days after the ingestion of the brew in order to document their persistent-depressive symptoms at the end of each of the three weeks. The study noted significant reduction in depressive-emotional states in the patients just forty minutes after ingestion of the psychedelic, making note that most prescribed anti-depressants are said to take up to 2 weeks to notice any effect. Additionally, the study also concluded that ayahuasca has no potential to produce hypomania in people with manic-depressive mood swings. The anti-depressant nature of the tea was demonstrated, through standardized psychiatric-depression questionnaires, to last up to the 21 days after the ingestion, showing that these effects are indeed lasting.

For more information on clinical studies done with DMT, Dr. Gabor Mate’ and Dr. Rick Straussman are recommended research. As always, with studies such as these, it makes the “Schedule-1” classification of the substance in the US one huge joke.

Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25806551, http://www.psypost.org/2016/03/psychedelic-brew-called-ayahuasca-shows-promise-treating-recurrent-depression-41668