08/10/2022
Psychedelics have been used in religious ceremonies, before war and for recreation in the Americas for centuries. For example, ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic drink made from certain brewed vines or shrubs, has been consumed by indigenous peoples in South America during religious and healing rituals for perhaps as long as 1,000 years. The Olmecs – one of the earliest Mesoamerican civilisations – and Maya people from Mexico are also thought to have used the neurotoxin from cane toads to hallucinate in their rituals. They believed they could speak to ancestors after taking a very small dose of dried toxin (too much would be fatal).
