Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reason
Reason
C.J. Ciaramella

When Is Drinking Ayahuasca a Religious Experience?

Inside the vast apparatus of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), there's a bureaucrat who is tasked with investigating the tenets of psychedelic churches. That improbable job figures in the legal troubles encountered by Arizona's Vine of Light Church.

That group used to sponsor monthly meetings at which paying guests drank ayahuasca, a powerful psychoactive brew that originated in South America. Those gatherings ended in May 2019, when a federal drug task force raided the Phoenix home of Clay Villanueva, the church's pastor.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.