“Don’t worry, everything is going to be ok,” an entity told Rob, host of the psychedelic culture YouTube channel Adeptus Psychonautica, shortly after he drank pharmahuasca for the first time. He was laying flat on his back in bed — and yet, he simultaneously occupied what he can only describe as a “divine realm” that had “existed for all time.” Suddenly, he felt the fear of death, which had gripped him since he was diagnosed with epilepsy as a teenager, melt away.
A few hours earlier, he ground up four grams of Syrian rue, boiled it into a tea, and held his nose as he gulped down the noxious beverage. The sludge entered his gastro-intestinal system and the active ingredients, β-Carbolines called harmine, harmaline, and tetraharmine that act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), got to work. About an hour later, Rob’s gastrointestinal system was unable to fulfill its usual duty of breaking down chemicals like the 100mg of crystalline DMT he then swallowed in a gel capsule. This is called “the ayahuasca effect.” Soon, his body opened up to a prolonged psychedelic experience that would change his life forever.
What Is Pharmahuasca?
Like ayahuasca, pharmahuasca can include a wide variety of component combinations. On the street and online, Rob says the term can apply to any orally active combination of DMT and MAOI. This combination achieves “the ayahuasca effect” first theorized by Bo Holmstedt and Jan-Eric Lindgren in 1967. The effects of ayahuasca can include visionary hallucinations that can last 3–7 hours. While ayahuasca typically includes side effects of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, pharmahuasca users report a cleaner and less abrasive high.
The most common recipes use N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), often derived from the bark Mimosa hostilis, but some people use 5-MeO-DMT, or occasionally psilocin, to achieve the hallucinogenic effect. Tea derived from Syrian rue (Peganum harmala) seeds, which Rob used, is one of the most common MAOIs, followed by antidepressants like moclobemide. Both are short-acting, reversible, and safer than non-reversible MAOIs such as Marplan.
Should We Call It ‘Pharmahuasca’?
The moniker “pharmahuasca” can be traced back to Ayahuasca Analogues, Pangean Entheogens (1994) by Jonathan Ott, best known for co-coining the term “entheogen,” He later referenced a 1978 bioassay of pharmahuasca by Psychedelics Encyclopedia author Jeremy Bigwood, which may be the first recorded instance of its use. His definition of pharmahuasca refers strictly to analog ayahuasca prepared with pure compounds. Ott envisioned “anahuasca” as the catch-all for botanical and other admixtures, but Rob says he rarely sees the term used. “I just don’t think it ever caught on, possibly because the ‘ana’ part is slightly nebulous and less catchy,” he says.
While the term “pharmahuasca” is widely used in both online and scientific communities, an experienced researcher in the field pointed out on background that it is a strange term. “There is no ‘huasca’ (vine) in pharmahuasca, it’s chemicals,” they said. The terms “analog ayahuasca” or “oral DMT” are more accurate and inclusive.
Should You Take Pharmahuasca?
In Ayahuasca Analogues, Ott and Bigwood write, “It is unfortunate that such a unique and desirable drug as DMT is not freely available and widely used. We feel that anyone who likes entheogenic drugs would do well to try DMT, if given the chance.”
Since then, there has been more research into its effects combined with different drug regimens and pre-existing mental health conditions. Brazilian researchers reviewed the literature around ayahuasca, DMT, and psychosis and concluded, “Individuals with a personal or family history of any psychotic illness or nonpsychotic mania should avoid hallucinogen intake.”
Taking DMT is a risk, and there are plenty of examples in pop culture of ayahuasca experiences gone awry. The recent public breakdown of bodybuilding YouTuber-turned-psychedelic shock jock Connor Murphy has served as a cautionary tale for psychonauts like Rob, who covered it extensively on his channel.
Prescription drugs can also impact the experience. Anyone who chooses to take oral DMT should research their family history of mental health and adverse effects of the medication they’re taking with hallucinogens and MAOIs.
How to Make Pharmahuasca
Step 1: Acquire Ingredients
There are countless recipes for pharmahuasca, but the two main ingredients you need are a source of DMT and an MAOI.
The MAOI is the easy part. Syrian rue seeds are available online and at plenty of headshops and incense stores, even in the US. There are a few extraction methods, but the simplest one involves making a tea with lemon juice, so grab some of that too.
Getting DMT is harder, but luckily that’s covered in The Reality Sandwich Guide to Obtaining the Spirit Molecule.
Step 2: Prepare the DMT
Rob from Adeptus Psychonautica recommends spreading the DMT into several gel capsules, starting with a 100mg dose and then following up with 30–50mg doses to increase the intensity as needed up to 200mg total.
Step 3: Prepare the MAOI
To prepare the Syrian rue tea, grind the seeds with a coffee grinder or by smashing them in a plastic bag with a hammer. There are several extraction methods outlined in this Erowid post, but the Lemon Juice Method—essentially boiling the cracked seeds with water and lemon juice—is the most accessible.
If you’re using moclobemide, Jim DeKorne, editor of The Entheogen Review, recommends starting out with a dose of 75mg.
Step 4: Enjoy
As with any psychedelic experience, prepare the set and setting in advance, communicate with your roommates, loved ones, or trip-mates about your plans, and hydrate.
After taking the MAOI, wait ten minutes to an hour before eating the DMT. One DMT Nexus user claimed to get reliable results by mixing each dose with a shot of Coca-Cola and chasing with peppermint tea and a croissant.
This method isn’t backed by science and you should only partake after extensive research, expert guidance and personal readiness.
Who Drinks Pharmahuasca and Why?
There’s a constellation of psychedelic YouTubers and podcasters who have documented their pharmahuasca experiences, including Psyched Out, Quantum Marie, Kevin L. White, Jr., and SleepyE. Its allure for modern-day psychonauts ranges from convenience to comfort to caution.
After smoking DMT once, Rob knew he wanted to try the longer-lasting experience of ayahuasca. At first, it seemed like a retreat in South America was the only way he’d be able to. “Before I committed to a full-on traditional medicine retreat, of which I was extremely skeptical, I thought I’d test the waters first. I’d heard that you can make a DIY version of it, pharmahuasca. I thought, ‘I’ll try that, and then we’ll see.’” He has since traveled to Peru for numerous ayahuasca retreats and began reviewing them on YouTube, which became the basis for Adeptus Psychonautica.
Not all pharmahuasca fans enjoy its botanical roots, however. “I find the ayahuasca vine by itself very unpleasant,” says Hamilton Morris in an interview with podcaster Nick Jikomes. The host of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia on VICELAND and son of famed documentarian Errol Morris has been reporting on drugs for at least 13 years.
In comparing his experience using DMT and moclobemide to ayahuasca, Morris says, “I find that it’s less sedating and certainly less nauseating,” a finding Ott corroborates. “It allows you to have this profound extended DMT experience without the distracting contributions of the β-Carbolines, which I don’t think are really beneficial. You get a sharp, very clear, pristine [high]—I can sit and write in a chair at a desk for the entire ayahuasca experience, which might not be possible with botanical ayahuasca.”
Legalization
Ayahuasca is technically legal under international law, due to Article 32, paragraph 4 of The United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. DMT is a Schedule 1 substance, but the law allows for “plants growing wild which contain psychotropic substances from among those in Schedule I and which are traditionally used by certain small, clearly determined groups in magical or religious rites.” However, the US did not accept this interpretation and multiple people have been convicted of possession of DMT in ayahuasca.
Some cities, such as Oakland, Santa Cruz, and Ann Arbor, have decriminalized entheogens, and some courts have interpreted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to protect ayahuasca use on religious grounds. Two syncretic Brazilian churches, União do Vegetal and The Santo Daime Church, have earned the right to import and imbibe ayahuasca in the US. However, these exceptions don’t extend to pharmahuasca consumed for personal use.
Despite his passion for pharmahuasca, Rob isn’t sure he’s ready to advocate for full cannabis-style legalization of DMT. “I don’t want to see anybody criminalized for using these drugs, but I don’t know whether I’d want to see people using it like I used LSD as a teenager,” he said.”The emotional and psychological turbulence that comes off the thing weeks or months afterward cannot be underestimated. It’s not the same as taking mushrooms or LSD.”
The International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research, and Service (ICEERS), which runs an Ayahuasca Defense Fund (ADF), documents local laws on this map.
