By Keith Bourke
A company is adverting ‘ayahuasca retreats’ in Mayo.
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic drink made from tropical plants found in the Amazon. It is illegal in many countries, including Ireland, because it contains the powerful hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, a class A drug.
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic drink made from tropical plants found in the Amazon.
Shambala Retreats is a advertising a number of dates for ‘ayahuasca ceremonies’ at a location near Claremorris, running throughout the summer. Tickets for events are varied but one retreat is priced at an eye-watering €1,260.
The price is for a six-day retreat for women only (including three ayahuasca ceremonies)”in ‘the beautiful county of Mayo”.
On the website, the location is shown as a field that appears to be off the Castlebar-Claremorris road.
The website makes claims that the drug has the power of healing.
“Our retreats combine traditional eastern practices with the power of ayahuasca in order to clean the deeper parts of ancestral and life wounds.
“Inviting magic and delight and beauty back into our lives. Opening our hearts to new experiences and love.”
The events were first reported by the . Shambala Retreats is a company owned by Australian Pitt Ewart and his partner Gintara.
He told the he will arrive in Ireland in six weeks’ time. He said he won’t be importing “large quantities of drugs like consignments of cocaine”, but was bringing in small quantities of a drug that could help people.
“It’s not a psychedelic drug like LSD or mushrooms. It’s not like that at all. You take the drug and it adjusts the microbic content of your stomach.
“What happens in your gut is very closely linked with what happens in your brain and it readjusts it for the better. Most of my clients are professional people, lawyers, international models, people like that,” he said.
