General situation
In Switzerland, a certain ambiguity exists concerning ayahuasca’s legal status, as well as with how authorities deal with the issue. There are several reasons for this. Switzerland is a federal state, in which each of its 26 “Cantons” (or States) has certain latitude in establishing the priorities of its own state law enforcement agencies, while remaining bound within the federal legal framework. Within this structure, various bodies (customs authorities, courts, supervisory authorities) are not of one voice on the subject of ayahuasca.
Switzerland is not opposed to the religious use of ayahuasca as a sacrament. The União do Vegetal (UDV) currently has a cantonal authorization for the right to import and use ayahuasca, “hoasca,” in the State of Geneva where the church is (discreetly) active.
The Office Fédéral de la Santé Publique (OFSP) (Federal Ministry of Public Health) is currently reviewing several requests from Swiss health practitioners who are seeking the right to use ayahuasca as part of their treatments. This branch of the Federal State does not seem altogether opposed to the concept, however hurdles remain, including (but not limited to) the examination of the source of the plants, as well as concerns relating to the standardization of composition and potency of the brew.
International law
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971) subjects several psychoactive compounds contained in plant species to international control. DMT (N,N-dimetyltryptamine, a tryptamine alkaloid contained in Psychotria viridis and other plants generally used in the preparation of ayahuasca) is a Schedule I controlled substance in the Convention. However, according to the International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) Report for 2010 (par. 284) ‘no plants are currently controlled under that Convention […]. Preparations (e.g. decoctions for oral use) made from plants containing those active ingredients are also not under international control’.
There is no general consensus among judges and law enforcement officials on whether ayahuasca is illegal because it contains DMT, or not. It is up to national governments to make the final decision in their own jurisdictions on whether to impose controls on these plants and preparations, including ayahuasca.
National drug legislation
The two parts of national legislation that govern drug issues in Switzerland are the Swiss Federal Act on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances of 1951 and the regularly updated Ordinance of the DFI’s (Federal Ministry of the Interior) Tables of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, Precursors and Chemical Adjuvants.
These federal laws are applicable in all Cantons. These texts clearly list DMT as a prohibited substance, but make no mention of harmine, harmaline, or tetrahydroharmine. Ayahuasca itself is not listed as prohibited.
In a statement made in 2012 by Swissmedic, the central Swiss supervisory authority for illegal drugs, stated unambiguously in writing that “plants (…), or their extracts, (…), which contain the DMT substance in natural concentrations are currently not subject to the regulations of the Swiss Narcotic Act.”
In 2014, Swissmedic again confirmed this position, adding however that the legality of ayahuasca could depend on “the product” itself, its “presentation,” its “claimed therapeutic value” as well as “the context” in which it is served. These further elements were not defined or explained, however the text also stated that the various cantonal (state) authorities should examine situations that might arise on a case-by-case basis.
Cases
In this context, in which different positions are being taken by the various authorities on the subject of ayahuasca, Swiss customs sometimes seizes shipments of plant material containing DMT, and has also been known to seize the ayahuasca vine itself (which contains no DMT), as in this case from 2016. The legality of this approach is questionable. Fines can be imposed by the customs authorities, but we are unaware of cases in which firm prison sentences may have been imposed.
We are also not aware of any arrests or direct police intervention having been made in the context of actual ceremonies, possibly also partly due to Switzerland’s tradition of tolerance and discretion.
Relevant documents
In Switzerland, ayahuasca has been served in ceremonies that are kept discreet, and in which people tend to know each other. A number of competent Swiss-based ayahuasqueros operate in the country and curanderos occasionally visit from South America. Until recently, no specific details concerning ceremonies taking place and/or the use of ayahuasca were made public, and certainly were not advertised.
This changed however in 2016, with the arrival in the country of a foreign group who started to promote their ceremonies actively publicly (on Facebook and by other means). At present, it is not known how (or if) the Swiss authorities will react to this turn of events.
Maloca Internationale is an initiative that brings Colombian Taitas to International Geneva and promotes dialogue with the United Nations. In July 2016, Taita Luis Alfonso Pazos Alegría, endorsed by the indigenous authorities of Condagua in the Putumayo, traveled to the United Nations headquarters in Switzerland to participate in the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), with the objective to discuss the application of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 (UNDRID). In this context, and implementing article 24.1 of UNDRID, the Taita held a ceremony with yajé. Florentino Ágreda Chindoy, yajecero of the Kamsá indigenous people, was also invited to talk about yajé during the 118th session of the Committee on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), in November 2016.
CIERA (Cercle Intégratif d’Etude et de Recherche sur l’usage thérapeutique de l’Ayahuasca) is a Swiss association based in Lausanne that aims to use ayahuasca for therapeutic purposes. Since 2007, they have been holding ceremonies in the Netherlands − both Santo Daime rituals, and rituals from the Ashaninka and Puyanawa indigenous peoples. Currently, the association is working to establish a legal framework to operate in Switzerland. They sent letters to the Federal Office of Public Health and to the Cantonal Medical Officer in Lausanne in March 2017 requesting to operate legally. The project has the support of the University Institute for Occupational Health, Lausanne (IST), the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich (PUK) and the Schweizeriche Ärztegesellschaft für Psycholytische Therapie (SÄPT), among others. Similar initiatives exist elsewhere, and it is possible that Switzerland will see clinical trials with ayahuasca in the not too distant future.
Updated: May 2017
- Fax INCB 2001 Netherlands
- INCB letter ICEERS
- Hoasca 1971 Convention Legal Brief
- INCB Annual Report 2010
- INCB Annual Report 2012
- UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- TNI/ICEERS Ayahuasca Policy Report
- ICEERS Technical Report on Ayahuasca
- Plantaforma Ayahuasca Report Spain (Spanish)
- Declaration of Principles of the Religious Groups who consume the Tea Hoasca
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