At Chacruna: Ayahuasca is Helping the Global North to Discover the Sacredness of Tobacco

Leonardo Rodríguez has a Ph.D

I am a Colombian national, based in Geneva, where I work with a project to give visibility to sacred plants, including tobacco, at the United Nations and other international organizations. Given the illegality or the legal vacuum of ayahuasca in Europe, Western consumers of sacred plants are realizing the sacred nature of tobacco, which can be used legally in the old continent. Westerners who travel to the Amazon or elsewhere in South America in search of ayahuasca have, for sure, encountered other kinds of plants that are part of the ayahuasca ensemble in rural or urban areas. Indeed, one criterion in judging the level of knowledge and experience of somebody offering ayahuasca in South America, is the pharmacopeia that goes together with ayahuasca, e.g., the perfumes used to help drinkers to undergo through the psychedelic experience... continue reading.