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Mostly_Harmless
wyrd bið ful aræd



Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 5,043
Loc: Perfidious Albion
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Brazil’s Psychedelic Rehab Center Treats Drug Addicts With Ayahuasca 2
#23793597 - 11/02/16 02:11 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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http://motherboard.vice.com/read/ayahuasca-addiction-center-brazil
Quote:
October 28, 2016
This is the final dispatch from the 2016 World Ayahuasca Conference in Rio Branco, Brazil. The first one can be found here, and the second one here.
Every couple of weeks, Everson do Santos relives the worst day of his life. In 2003, under a crack-induced haze, he shot a man dead in a botched robbery attempt. He served six years in prison but relapsed upon his release and spent two years homeless, wandering the streets in search of his next fix.
Now, three years sober, do Santos coaches 70 recovering crack and cocaine addicts at a rehabilitation center in the heart of Brazil’s rainforest using the an unorthodox method he says saved his life. The Caminho da Luz Center gives patients daily doses of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew made from rare vines found in the Amazon.
The center is an offshoot of the União do Vegetal, a religion that meshes Christianity with ayahuasca worship. Every Saturday night, the patients gather together for a four-hour ceremony in a bright blue temple, where they drink ayahuasca to the tune of slow christian chants and the noises of the jungle. When the drink kicks in 20 minutes later, several residents hallucinate, often drifting back in time to observe their own lives and actions from a distance. Some lift their hands in prayer, others tap their feet, a couple start crying.

Global demand has soared for ayahuasca, which has been used in Amazonian tribal rituals for thousands of years. The tea has become the hottest new drug, as celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Penn Badgley rave about its transcendent properties. Seemingly overnight centers offering ayahuasca have popped up everywhere from Brooklyn to Estonia. Studies show that it helps eliminate drug cravings and is not addictive, but the brew can also bring back traumatic memories in the form of hallucinations.
“When I drink the tea, I go back to that moment. I see him again,” said do Santos, 33, of the man he killed. “It helps me process it, and come to terms with what I did.”
The center is a colorful mix of wooden shacks just outside of Rio Branco, a city of 300,000 people on the Northwestern edge of Brazil. Hammocks and reclining chairs dot the grounds, encouraging patients to sit back and take stock of their progress.
It claims a 50 percent relapse rate, in line with traditional drug treatment programs. But patients like that ayahuasca helps them make sense of their addictions on their own, through the hallucinations rather than pills or therapy.
“It is totally different here because there is no over-medication. The tea acts as your therapist,” said Carlos Eduardo Machado, who relapsed twice after seeking treatment for his cocaine addiction at traditional clinics before discovering Caminho da Luz. “The last time I was treated, I was on so many antidepressants I just slept all day,” he said.
Little is known about why Ayahuasca inhibits cravings, in part because the tea is illegal in many parts of the world. But preliminary findings confirm a link. A 2013 study by the University of British Columbia found that ayahuasca therapy decreases cocaine, alcohol and tobacco cravings, and increases mindfulness, quality of life, hopefulness and empowerment.
It’s hard to know whether the tea is directly responsible for the success rate at Caminho da Luz, because it offers a mix of traditional and alternative approaches to drug treatment. Patients follow a strict code of conduct that includes scheduled chores, meals and baths. Those with a greater risk of relapse are transferred to a rural camp, to recover away from the temptations of the city.

“We know that religions have a positive impact on drug addiction, independent of ayahuasca. So we need more clarity. We have indirect evidence that is very promising, but needs to be researched,” said Luís Fernando Tófoli, a psychiatrist researching Ayahuasca at Brazil’s University of Campinas.
Critics also say that while the hallucinations may help some patients process their past, they can be a set back under the wrong conditions. “Re-living an experience is a critical part of healing it, but you want to make sure there is a good setting, a sense of safety…. If not it can just be re-traumatizing,” said Richard Furr, a psychologist who treats patients recovering from bad Ayahuasca trips.
But for the families of patients responding well to the treatment, ayahuasca is a game changer.
“I thought I was substituting one vice with another, but things got so bad at home, I gave it a try,” said Verlandia Furtade Santos, 38, whose two teenage sons, who were hooked on crack and stealing to fuel their addiction. Weeks later, she barely recognizes her children. “To be honest, I’ve never seen my boys this well. It’s all I want for them.”
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
Loc: PNW
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Re: Brazil’s Psychedelic Rehab Center Treats Drug Addicts With Ayahuasca [Re: Mostly_Harmless]
#23793641 - 11/02/16 03:28 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
The Caminho da Luz Center gives patients daily doses of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew made from rare vines found in the Amazon.
This part seems worded misleadingly though... I didn't see anything else about "daily doses", just the weekly 4 hour saturday ritual.
Overall that is a fairly good article though. Really touching stories though. This could be the future of rehabilitation.
Of course we probably won't see it here for another decade at the very least... Why would me make something legal that improves peoples diets and willpower.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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sunshine
Sin18DwireWuTang


Registered: 04/03/04
Posts: 43,592
Loc: higher plane of sex
Last seen: 5 years, 18 hours
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Re: Brazil’s Psychedelic Rehab Center Treats Drug Addicts With Ayahuasca [Re: musiclover420]
#23795737 - 11/02/16 08:10 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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I tried DMT recently and it made me want to quit all drugs. I have enough experience with drugs to know what they are about. I lost a cousin to the needle. He just didn't want to quit drugs yet.
-------------------- One Love True Indeed. Have Good Trips. Mike/sunshine's mom.
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Ogla



Registered: 02/16/04
Posts: 11,314
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Re: Brazil’s Psychedelic Rehab Center Treats Drug Addicts With Ayahuasca [Re: sunshine]
#23812889 - 11/08/16 01:58 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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i think i need to visit this place for my cocaine problem
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Re: Brazil’s Psychedelic Rehab Center Treats Drug Addicts With Ayahuasca [Re: Ogla] 1
#23812946 - 11/08/16 02:12 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
losfreddy said: i think i need to visit this place for my cocaine problem
I read a beautiful Aya report on erowid from an occasional coke binger who ordered the plants and made a brew himself.
All I remember is him describing falling on his knees and crying knowing he would never touch coke again.
https://erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=64406
There it is Brings tears to my eyes just reading it. Anyways don't think just do I would say. If you don't have the time/ funds to travel to the jungle then buy some of the plants and try to ease yourself into it. In smaller amounts it is not nearly as intense as many reports lead people to believe. In fact you can start with just the MAOI's and still get some positive healing.
Be safe though, the guy in that report took aya after drinking several beers and doing a line of coke which could have been fatal with enough MAOI's...
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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