Drug addiction treatment with indigenous medicine. The Takiwasi case in peruvian Amazon.

Abstract

This case study illustrates the manner how the drug addiction is treated in the Takiwasi Centre (Tarapoto, Perú). There are for more than seventeen years plant medicines applied in the drug rehabilitation program which combines the traditional indigenous medicine of the Amazon and psychotherapy.

The Takiwasi model is based neither on complete abstinence nor substitution. Its key component is the ritual ingestion of Ayahuasca, psychoactive substance producing altered states of consciousness.

Keywords

• drug addiction
• traditional medicine
• ayahuasca