In what has been described as a “historic trial”, ICEERS has suggested that the verdict of an ayahuasca trial in Mexico opens the door for the country to become a pioneer in the regulation of indigenous traditional medicines.
Indigenous healer from the Peruvian Amazon, 64-year-old Don Jose Campos, was arrested and imprisoned on March 9, 2022 for traveling with ayahuasca.
Campos, who was handed an acquittal in Mexico City on Thursday, 7 March, 2023, was facing a potential 10 to 25 years in prison.
The International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research, and Service (ICEERS) has said that this is the first trial in a series of similar cases in which the people involved have been put in prison for months due to the country’s official pre-trial detention in the case of alleged “crimes against health.”
The organisation has welcomed the resolution, saying that it sets a legal precedent of respect for the rights of indigenous peoples in Mexico and the world.
Natalia Rebollo, ICEERS lawyer and coordinator of the ICEERS Legal Defense Program (ADF), stated that: “…this first case involved a weighing and prioritisation of the human rights of indigenous peoples against a rigid drug control system that, as has been proven, is based neither on human rights nor on the ample scientific evidence available, and that deserves to be revised.”
In its statement, the organisation notes that Dr José Carlos Bouso, pharmacologist and scientific director of ICEERS, participated as an expert witness in the area of science and pharmacology.
Dr Bouso demonstrated that, based on the available scientific evidence, ayahuasca does not pose a risk to public health, stating: “In this trial we have presented the evidence that exists on the health effects of ayahuasca, coming from both our own research and that of our colleagues, explaining more explicitly the two investigations we have recently published on the effects of ayahuasca on public health in large populations of users.”
ICEERS also confirmed that Ayahuasca Defense Fund (ADF) lawyer Natalia Rebollo testified about the confusions that exist between ayahuasca and DMT, insisting on the human rights of Indigenous people who use ayahuasca ancestrally: “If ayahuasca were regulated in Mexican legislation, the botanical name of the two plants that compose it would be included, as it occurs with other plants that are regulated in the General Health Law, such as peyote (Lophophora williamsii) or mushrooms containing psilocybin.”
“This verdict opens the door for Mexico to become a pioneer country in the regulation of indigenous traditional medicines, as evidenced in the recent Intercultural Forum on Entheogenic Medicine, co-organised by ICEERS and the Senate of the Republic,” ICEERS commented in its statement.
“Although there are still seven more cases of people who remain in preventive detention, awaiting trial, for crossing Mexico’s borders with ayahuasca, this first procedure is decisive in establishing a precedent in the legal defense of ayahuasca in the country.
“ICEERS will continue to provide its expertise to support these cases and ensure that similar sentences can be handed down in various countries.”
