Micro dosage, neo shamanism and ayahuasca

A few weeks ago, we published an article in Edabea regarding some studies on the use of psilocybin to ease anxiety and depression. So, recently, a lot has been said regarding virtues of this fusion of two plants called  “ayahuasca”.

DMT (N,N- Dimethyltryptamine) is the active substance that identifies this mixture of two plants and, in this case, it goes beyond, its use has become fashionable, as also for tourism, thought specially for tourists to try it, thanks to “neo shamans” that have adapted to the consumerist tendencies of the dominant Westerners.

There are more and more westerners who want to travel to Amazonas to heal body and soul. To do so they will travel thousands of kilometres in search of ayahuasca or “yagé”, the hallucinogenic mixture with which natives say they can reach an expanded mental state, and their spirit is healed.

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(Apollo, Flickr)

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Even though it has been a phenomenon that has grown progressively, part of the “guilt” belongs to famous figures as Sting or Paul Simon, among many other, that have travelled to Amazonas to try yagé and soon revealed it publicly.

In the same way as other hallucinogens, however not in the same way that we spoke of psilocybin a few weeks ago, ayahuasca seems to help with depression in some punctual cases. While the psilocybin helped people, who were facing the final stage of their lives due to a terminal disease, ayahuasca seems to act as a channel of all that torments us. Even though the effects can be devastating, many of those who, after the vomit, the cries, the pain and of a profound sensation of dying and being born again, affirm feeling much better about themselves and with their depressive moods.

As a punctual user, truthfully, I can’t talk about those statements. Ayahuasca, as the psilocybin, mescaline or LSD, among other hallucinogenic substances, can help us clarify some day-to-day questions, as to the way we see and interpret the world. I think, however, that there is still much to investigate to know if it can be a solution for depression or, even, as some say, to treat alcoholism and other larger addictions.

It has initiated a true path towards scientific investigation and to results both objective and confirmed, about micro dosing with psychedelics. More and more people affirm having found an effective way of highlighting creativity, perspective and mental balance by taking regularly mini-doses of hallucinogens.

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It seems that the micro dosage does not produce an absolute chock as one caused by a trip of mushrooms psilocybin or of ayahuasca, however, according to several articles published in New York Times, VICE and Forbes, it is an almost imperceptible form of changing the neuronal functioning of our day-to-day.

Many of the people who were interviewed affirm that taking these small doses every three or four days allows them to be more focused, besides being more effective and creative.

There’s more! Reddit has a section exclusively dedicated to this issue, with over 9000 subscribers. “La micro dosage, according to the users, helps heal chronic headaches, anxiety and depression. This last one is one of the most popular reasons for taking micro dosages, to find mental balance”, written in the magazine Marie Claire, in an extensive article entitled: “The reason why executive women are taking micro doses of LSD at work”.

There is no doubt that we are in a moment of crisis for prohibitionists and audits of some substances (especially of natural hallucinogens and cannabis). Many people are getting to know the virtuousness of these wonderful plants; virtues that many of us have known for decades.

It is overwhelming to see how the world responds to absurd prohibitions, that hold on to prejudice and fear, much more than to scientific demonstrations and real data.

For the next years, we will live an inevitable revolution, and humanity will realise that it has everything needed to be happy, and all of it, may turn to be essential.

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Article of Germán Carrera

Translated by Ana Mendes