An ancient brew from the Amazon that can help cure addiction?

Traditionally brewed ayahuasca.

Supposed addiction treatments are rampant these days, but here’s one that’s so surprising it might just work: ayahuasca, the hallucinogenic Amazonian brew.  An article published yesterday in Indian Country Today Media Network discussed Dr. Gabor Maté’s prescription of ayahuasca to wean addicts from a variety of addictions.

Ayahuasca—alternately called “vine of the soul” or “vine of death”—is a brew of leaves and roots that operates pharmacologically by supplying the brain with both MAOI and DMT.  MAOI(s) are enzyme inhibitors that reduce pain; DMT is a hallucinogen that can induce varying states of altered consciousness, from mild psychedelic experiences to entirely new realities.  It’s certainly not a common addiction treatment drug, but Maté is no common addiction treatment professional.  In fact, according to him, most addiction treatment options available today are missing the point.

Maté takes issue with mainstream addiction treatments because they “completely ignore causes and deal only with effect.”  According to Maté, addiction itself is a symptom, and its causes are personal and societal.  Before attempting ayahuasca based treatments, Maté worked with addicts in downtown Vancouver, BC.  What he discovered was troubling: “Everybody I work with has been traumatized as children. Everyone. All the women, for example, have been sexually abused.… It’s not just my personal interpretation. The research literature is totally clear: Drug addicts, almost without exception, suffered severe adversity in childhood, and that’s exactly how addiction arises.”

Maté thought: if addiction results from attempts to heal psychological wounds that were inflicted during childhood, traditional treatment methods won’t work.  Methadone, Subutex, all of these replacement may treat addiction symptoms, but they don’t treat the root causes of addiction: the trauma for which—consciously or unconsciously—addicts ‘self-medicate.’  This perspective informed his approach as he developed a plan for an addiction treatment centered around ayahuasca.  He wanted to induce in addicts a mental state that allowed them to fully reconsider their lives and purge their past traumas and failed ways of living.  So, working with a BC First Nation tribe and several CARBC researchers, he set up two four day retreats to speak with addicts about addiction and guide them through an ayahuasca experience.

According to Phillipe Lucas (CARBC), Maté started the retreats with a surprising question: “He starts out by asking, first and foremost, what was positive about peoples’ addictions, which was fascinating to observe. It really cut to the chase. People’s responses were that it gave them a sense of belonging, that it filled an emotional hole in their heart. So he [explained] it’s pretty normal for people to not want to be in pain, for people to want to feel they belong. And so the idea that people would seek a substance if nothing else were available to them to reach those outcomes is not an unusual step. In fact he said it was very normal under the circumstances and the trauma these people have suffered that they seek an outlet like this and that they shouldn’t be shaming themselves.

Dr. Gabor Maté.

“And then he asked folks what’s negative about their addiction, and the responses were the very thing that was positive in the first place in that eventually it made them feel bigger holes in their heart, and made them feel more disconnected from their loved ones, it made them feel more pain rather than less pain.”

The entire first day of the retreat consists of this kind of self-evaluation and group therapy.  The second day, according to Lucas, “the entire group is together and the room is darkened. The head ayahuasquero is there with two or three apprentices, and on top of that, there were two or three other helpers from the band health office to assist. So it has a very high safety level. People drink the [ayahuasca] brew. There’s about an hour of silence and it’s dark while the brew takes effect. Then the ayahuasqueros start chanting songs, known as icaros, that both call in the healing spirits and also help with the purging.

“Part of the ayahuasca process—for most people—is purging, vomiting. It’s not a drug experience, per se. You wouldn’t take this for a rave.… It’s mostly very internal. Most people lie very still, other than the purging.”

In purging, the idea is for the addicts to spiritually dispel their addictions along with their past traumas. Ideally, the post-ayahuasca addict is not an addict at all; he or she is an individual who has had a spiritual experience, come to a new understanding of his or her relationship with drugs, and who is ready to move on to a new life.

From following some of the people who underwent Maté’s treatment, the treatment appears to have had positive effects for the addicts.  According Lucas, “the early signs are that this has been a very successful intervention.” The BC First Nation tribe’s health director saw similar results, stating; “I would say definitely there was some good. The key now [for participants] is integrating their experience into their lives.”

Despite the positive outlook for ayahuasca as an addiction treatment, the Canadian national health agency (Health Canada) has banned Maté from running further ayahuasca retreats.  Similarly, DMT is illegal in the United States, and while most of the plants from which ayahuasca is brewed are legal, the inclusion of any DMT providing plants makes the brew illegal.  People hoping to try out this ayahuasca treatment legally have at the very least a long wait before governmental agencies study and confirm its healing potential.

Can you kick an old addiction by taking a new drug? Some argue that you can.

According to a recent meta-analysis of alcohol studies from the 1960s and 1970s, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) may help alcoholics kick their habit. In these studies, those given a single dose of LSD were approximately twice as likely to decrease their alcohol consumption in the future.

But why is this information coming out now, if the study took place over 40 years ago? Unfortunately, LSD’s history of political and social controversy proved a significant obstruction, undermining the public’s acceptance of LSD as a treatment and making it nearly impossible for researchers to obtain government grants.

Researchers hesitate to speculate about their findings’ repercussions for the future of alcoholism, though they do note that LSD is a treatment that “has been largely overlooked.” It is notable, however, that while alcoholics were more likely to report decreased alcohol consumption in short- and medium-term instances (three and six months, respectively), the benefits did not carry on into the long-term (12 months). While this analysis offers some encouraging findings, alcoholics might want to hold off on dropping acid until more information is available.

American musician Warren Zevon is attributed with the saying, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Well, according to a new study, too much sleep—if medicinally aided—might just kill you.  

The February 27 issue of BMJ Open released a study that associated increased risks of cancer, heart disease, and other fatal ailments with taking sleeping pills. Researchers found that people who took 1-18 sleeping pills per year increased their chances of death by over 3.5 times compared to people who took no sleeping pills at all.  Additionally, people who took more than 132 pills per year were five times more at risk than the pill-free public.

This may be a tough pill to swallow for those who rely on medicinal aids for a restful night’s sleep—a dependency composed of 56 million users in 2008, according to the Los Angeles Times. But this study’s findings should not be taken lightly. The study’s author, Dr. Daniel F. Kripke, notes that “it looks like sleeping pills could be as risky as smoking cigarettes.” And while the study only shows a correlation and does not prove causation, it may be worth keeping an eye out for alternate sleep strategies. Sheep counting, anyone?

Sleeping medications tracked in the study include Restori, Ambien, Intermezzo, Lunesta, Sonata, and others. The Mayo Clinic has more on sleeping pills.

As many know, battling addictions can be tough. They ruin lives and prevent people from becoming all that they can be. It isn’t impossible to overcome addictions, though, and the following five celebrities are examples of how there is a life to found after drugs and alcohol.

Martin Sheen
The star of Apocalypse Now and Wallstreet, Sheen struggled with alcoholism early on in his life. The actor credits a strong faith and friends and family for helping him breaking his addiction. He is an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous, and has gone on to star in several successful films.

Drew Barrymore
Barrymore shockingly started drinking at the age of 9, began smoking marijuana at the age of 10, and did cocaine by 12. After a couple of stints in and out of rehab, including a failed suicide attempt, her move in with singer David Crosby, himself a recovering addict, and his wife seemed to start the child star on the right track. Today, Barrymore is a clean and very successful adult actress, and has starred in almost 50 films.

Robert Downey, Jr.
Robert Downey, Jr. grew up in a home where drugs were easily accessible, largely due to his father’s own drug habits. As a result, a young Downey began using illegal drugs by the age of 6, and these problems stayed with him most of his life. Though considered a promising young actor, multiple drug related arrests between 1996 to 2001 caused him to nearly disappear from the film industry, and significantly hurt his personal life as well. After finally checking into rehab in 2001 and becoming clean in 2003, however, Downey’s life and career have exploded in a big way. He has landed many big movie acting jobs since his recovery, including the lead in the blockbuster series Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. Among factors he claims helped him with breaking his addiction is the practice of Kung Fu.

Craig Ferguson
Host of CBS’s The Late Late Show, Ferguson struggled with drugs and alcohol early in his life in his native Scotland. Primarily an alcoholic, Ferguson has said he used other drugs like cocaine because they allowed him to drink more. Now 20 years sober, Ferguson is very open about and often pokes fun at his past problems, but on occasion has talked seriously about it on his show. The link below offers Ferguson’s touching story in his own words. (Note: It’s a little long, but well worth it)

Video: Craig speaks from the heart

Josh Hamilton
The slugging Texas Rangers outfielder first became involved with drugs and alcohol during an injury in the minor leagues in 2001. With a lot of time on his hands, Hamilton started spending his days at a tattoo parlor, quickly making friends with drug and alcohol users. It wasn’t long before Hamilton started using drugs and alcohol himself, and he was soon hooked. His addictions led to a baseball career full of struggles, with failed drug tests leading to suspensions and lost faith from his organization at the time, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After several failed stints in rehab, Hamilton finally became clean in October 2005. His recovery led to a quick rise through the minor leagues, and he made his Major League debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 2007. The next year he was traded to Texas and established himself as a superstar, getting voted to the All-Star game and also receiving votes for the league’s Most Valuable Player. Hamilton won the MVP award in 2010, and has helped the Rangers win American League pennants in 2010 and 2011. He credits his faith and family for helping him get back on the right track.

It hasn’t all been easy, however. Hamilton had a relapse with alcohol in March 2009 and another earlier this month. In both cases, he informed his family and Major League Baseball of his behavior the next day, and took and passed tests for illegal drugs. Hamilton’s story serves as a reminder that addiction never truly goes away. Instead it is condition that must be managed diligently, and Hamilton is the first one to acknowledge that.