Ayahuasca – Ethnobotanical medicine for potential treatment of ALS

Ayahuasca ALS Treatment

By Daniel Gustafsson

This article is the culmination of six years work, having studied ethnobotanical medicine and the field of neurodisease, making connections between the two in the search for something viable in terms of an alternative treatment option for ALS – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and similar neurodegenerative conditions.

In south and central america, the native people within many tribes living in the Amazon rainforest have a long historical tradition of making and consuming a natural medicine/tea called ayahuasca. It is harvested and prepared mainly from a wild growing vine, it’s latin name being Banisteriopsis Caapi. Often, but not always, leaves from trees named Chacruna or Chaliponga (Psychotria Viridis and Diplopterys Cabrerana) are added to the tea, or in some regionsJurema tree bark (of the Leguminosae family and Mimosa species).

Caapi vine growing in the Amazon  jungle.

The rainforests of the earth are known to be an enormous resource…

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