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Ayahuasca declared a national cultural heritage

EL COMERCIO (LIMA) Sunday July 13th 2008 DECLARATION TO PROTECT THE TRADITIONAL RITUAL USE AND SACRED CHARACTER of AYAHUASCA

This plant is considered an essential part of the identity of the Amazonian peoples of Peru.

The knowledge and traditional uses of Ayahuasca practiced by the Amazonian indigenous communities, was declared a cultural heritage of the nation by the Institute of National Culture (INC). This announcement was made yesterday in the publication of Directorial Resolution 836 by that body, in the official government's journal “El Peruano”.

According to the declaration, the ritual use of Ayahuasca is one of the fundamental pillars of the identity of the Amazonian people. It’s ancestral use in traditional rituals, with therapeutic benefits directly related to the qualities of the plants, has guaranteed its cultural continuity.

The provision states that the measure seeks to protect the traditional use and the sanctity of the ritual of Ayahuasca, and to differentiate between this and Western commercial and consumer interests.

The Ayahuasca is a plant species that has an extraordinary cultural history with it’s psychotropic qualities as it is an essential ingredient of a brew in conjunction with the plant known as Chacruna. In the indigenous Amazonian world this plant brew is regarded as wise teacher.

Excerpt from the offical statement of National Institute of Culture of Peru

Ayahuasca plant -- Banisteriopsis caapi -- is a vegetable species which garners an extraordinary cultural history, by virtue of its psychotropic properties, used in a beverage associated with a plant known as Chacruna - Psychotria Viridis;

Such plant is known by the indigenous Amazon world as a wisdom plant or plant teacher, showings initiates the very fundaments of the world and its components. Consumption of it constitutes the gateway to the spiritual world and its secrets, which is why traditional Amazon medicine has been structured around the Ayahuasca ritual at some point in their lives, indispensable to those who assume the function of privileged carriers of these cultures, be they those charged with communication with the spiritual world, or those who express it artistically.

The effects produced by Ayahuasca, extensively studied because of their complexity, are different from those produced by hallucinogens. A part of this difference consists in the ritual that accompanies its consumption, leading to diverse effects, but always within the confines of a culturally determined boundary, with religious, therapeutic and culturally affirmative purposes.

The available information sustains the fact that the practice of ritual Ayahuasca sessions constitutes one of the basic pillars of the identity of the Amazon peoples, and that the ancestral use in traditional rituals, warranting cultural continuity, is closely connected with the therapeutic attributes of the plant.

That what is sought is the protection of traditional use and sacred character of the Ayahuasca ritual, differentiating it from Western uses out of context, consumerist, and with commercial objectives.