Abstract

Beat the Devil
Cockburn, Alexander | August 25, 1997 issue

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Ayahuasca, a powerful hallucinogen, is made by pounding the Banisteriopsis vine with various auxiliary substances. The magical intoxicant, used throughout the upper Amazon, is said to promote collective hallucinations, to afford communication across great distances and to permit encounters with animals and ancestors. William Burroughs, in his book "The Yage Letters," describes a curious expedition with his Harvard classmate, the distinguished ethnobiologist of psychotropic drugs, Richard Evans Schultes. Burroughs was eager to try ayahuasca and set out with Schultes, two Colombian botanists and two guides to the Putumayo.

See Also:

AYAHUASCA; HALLUCINOGENIC drugs; BANISTERIOPSIS; PSYCHOTROPIC drugs; BURROUGHS, William S., 1914-; SCHULTES, Richard Evans; VOYAGES & travels
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