Regulating Ayahuasca in the United Kingdom
February 27, 2023 DOI: 10.4324/9780429001161-5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Ayahuasca |
| Keywords | Appeal Decriminalization License Indigenous State computer science Law and economics |
| Key points | Argues that decriminalization, supplemented by practitioner-generated best practice guidelines informed by indigenous practices, is the recommended regulatory model for plant medicines. |
Abstract
This chapter looks at the various proactive approaches that may be taken in the quest to regulate plant medicines. It opens with a legal analysis of the refusal by the Secretary of State in the UK—and subsequent applications to appeal this decision—to allow an ayahuasca-using church, the União do Vegetal (UDV), to be granted a license to import, possess, and supply its sacrament. This is followed by a broader discussion of the ways in which plant medicines might be regulated were prohibition to end, moving from a consideration of strict legal regulation through to the recommended model of decriminalization, with this latter approach ideally supplemented by practitioner generated best practice guidelines, voluntarily ascribed to, drawing lessons from indigenous cultural practices.