Ayahuasca: Dope or Medicine?

Josep María Fábregas, MD

Abstract: This presentation will show the results of an investigation of long-term users of ayahuasca to assess the addictive capacity of the substance in comparison to its capacity to be used for the treatment of drug abusers. In this study, a large group of ayahuasca users were administered the ASI (Addiction Severity Index) to assess the extent that ayahuasca use provokes problems in their lives. In the second part, discussion will focus on the methods and outcomes of research at the Institute of Applied Amazonian Ethnopsychology (IDEAA), an establishment created by a Spanish group in the Amazon with the goal of studying and applying the use of ayahuasca to the treatment of drug addiction and in aiding processes of personal growth.

Josep María Fábregas graduated from the Central University of Barcelona with a degree in Medicine, specializing in Psychiatry. He completed his studies at New York Staten Island Psychiatric Hospital. He was a resident physician at the Marmottan Hospital under Claude Olivenstain. He is the Director of CITA (Addiction Research and Treatment Center) since 1981, and in 2000, he founded IDEAA (Amazonian Ethnopsychology Applied Institute). He has lectured extensively about drug addiction and altered states of consciousness.

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