Facts and Info on Ayahuasca (DMT)

What Is Ayahuasca?

Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage made from a tropical vine that forms an important component of indigenous Amazonian ceremonies.

The major psychoactive ingredient in ayahuasca is N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Certain groups in South America typically use the leaves and shoots of several local plants to make a tea, whereas users in the United States generally take the drug in pill form, though they may snort, inject, or smoke it.

DMT appears to have gained popularity with older individuals in contrast to other hallucinogens, such as ketamine, which is popular with younger users. This is reflected in some of the street names for DMT that include businessman’s special or businessman’s trip.

DMT is classified as a Schedule I substance in the United States, making the hallucinogenic component of ayahuasca illegal to possess and distribute.

Effects of Ayahuasca

The effects of DMT are reported as follows:

• Euphoria, elevated mood, the perception that time is moving much more slowly, increased energy levels, improved focus, and hallucinations
• Increased body temperature, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting
• Intensified perceptual experiences that include colors being more salient, sounds being more complex, touch being more intricate, etc.
• Feelings of anxiety and panic
• Psychosis in some individuals

Individuals that take DMT or other hallucinogens may have dissociative experiences where they feel that they are detached from their bodies or that things are not real, perceive that time is either sped up or slowed down, or that they can better sense another person’s feelings.

Some individuals experience extreme alterations of reality, such as synesthesia, which is a mixed sensory experience where the individual perceives that they can see sounds or hear color.

Individuals often use ayahuasca for its perceptual-enhancing effects. However, there are some potentially dangerous effects of using hallucinogens that include potential cardiovascular issues due to the cardiovascular stimulant effects these drugs produce and negative emotional experiences as a result of the hallucinations and other perceptual alterations that the drugs induce.

Because the perception of reality is altered, individuals under the influence of these drugs are more likely to make poor decisions and engage in self-destructive behavior.

In rare cases, some hallucinogens are associated with the development of hallucinogen-induced persistent perception disorder. This disorder occurs when the individual experiences the effects of taking the drug (e.g. sudden changes in perceptual experiences, hallucinations, etc.) without having taken the drug (sometimes these experiences are referred to as drug “flashbacks”).

Is Ayahuasca (DMT) Addictive?

More research is needed to determine whether DMT is addictive.

The use of ayahuasca does not appear to be associated with the development of significant tolerance. Tolerance occurs when an individual requires a significant increase in the amount of the drug to get the same effects that were once achieved at lower amounts.

The drug is also not associated with significant levels of physiological dependence, meaning people do not typically undergo withdrawal symptoms when they quit using DMT after chronic use.

Nonetheless, an individual does not need to develop physical dependence to a substance in order to develop a substance use disorder. The American Psychiatric Association specifies formal diagnostic criteria that are used in the diagnosis of a hallucinogen use disorder that would be appropriate for individuals who use ayahuasca and satisfy these criteria.