The persecution campaign of the police anti-cult group against ayahuasca groups lasted 2 years from August 2022 to August 2024. This police group was created to persecute sects and although I have evidence that they have arrested some real sects regarding ayahuasca, they did not succeed in most of them and the judges confirm it. The persecution of groups using ayahuasca began in August 2022 in Asturias after Axel Rudin was arrested for a retreat he organized of yopo after an evangelical pastor denounced him because his niece decided to stop taking antidepressants. The case was archived and the yopo, caapi (ayahuasca vine) and mambé (ground coca leaf) were returned to them, the lawyer was Oscar Palet. The second case was in November 2022 in Berga (Barcelona), Micaela was arrested and the case was also archived, again Oscar Palet. Then in January 2023 there was an intervention in Yecla (Murcia) to a British couple but this time it was the Guardia Civil who intervened, the case is being handled by the lawyer Francisco Azorín but is still in the process of resolution. Later there was also an intervention of the anti-sect group in February 2023 to Nieves in Gran Canaria which is still ongoing and whose lawyer is Oscar Palet also. In March 2023 they came to Sant Pol de Mar and the case was filed yesterday and we have requested the return of the medicines. In May there was an intervention in Burriana in which a person who gave ayahuasca was arrested and that yes a woman needed psychological intervention for being physically and sexually assaulted, it is the only case of those I know in which I support the intervention that was made, not all people who work with ayahuasca do so responsibly or have done the necessary inner work or have the required mental health, however they are not the majority. Later in December there would also be another case in Vera de Extremadura in which it seems that it had overtones of a sect where there was sexual exposure to children and also «heterosexualizing» therapies that involved sleeping with the leader. Marijuana was mainly used but according to the report ayahuasca and peyote were also found. The cause of these behaviors cannot be attributed to ayahuasca. Just because a person using a car is crazy or aggressive does not mean that the car is dangerous and should be banned, you have to know how to separate things and facts.
In July 2023 they attacked Inner Mastery in several of its headquarters and the case is still ongoing, the lawyers are Laura Torrabadella and Iñaki. After that they would enter the Olot and Pedraforca retreats of Vincent and Andrei which were also filed and returned the substances including ayahuasca, snuff, mambé and psilocybe mushrooms. In April 2024, a psychedelic society in Castellón, Spain, which also used ayahuasca, was also seized. The last cases of interventions of the antisect group were in the summer of 2024, that of Cristian in Tenerife and in Madrid that of Cesar and Erika who are still in process and whose lawyer is Oscar Palet. In the case of Cesar and Erika there was not even a raid on the house but they simply set up a fake police traffic control at the door of the retreat house to arrest them.
After this some say that the anti-sect group stopped getting funding and backing from the high command to attack ayahuasca groups because of the judicial records and also because of the growing scientific evidence and testimonies on the internet about the therapeutic benefits of ayahuasca. Although possibly the reason was, according to my sources, that there was a change of «boss» in the anti-sect command. They fired the man who was determined to ban ayahuasca in Spain and now the head of the command is a woman who seems to be much more conscious and intelligent than her predecessor and who has decided not to attack ayahuasca anymore and to focus on dismantling real sects, as confirmed by the new news that real sects are being dismantled, none of which used entheogens.
In the summer of 2025, there was a case in the media level in which the Guardia Civil entered the Dutch organization Ommij based in Valencia by a complaint of a former participant, but it was an isolated case and not framed in a campaign, in fact the group lied saying they gave ayahuasca when in fact they gave anahuasca (mimosa and rue) and that they called themselves «the best ayahuasca retreats in the world» on their website, the lawyer of the case is Azorin.
Having said all this, of all the cases intervened by ayahuasca only two met the criteria of being a sect, which means that there was a lack of research and many prejudices and a demonization of ayahuasca as well as the groups that used it. To do this, they allied with sensationalist television programs on channels such as Cuatro or Sexta to try to put fear in the population and generate noise to try to reach the ears of politicians and thus try to ban it. These same channels years later would publish news in favor of ayahuasca and bufo talking about the latter as an «antidote for depression» as well as psychedelics in general of which many hospitals in Spain are conducting clinical trials for approval as drugs in 2 or 3 years.
We must not forget that there was already an attempt to ban ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote and 194 other plants in 2004, which was annulled because it was not presented to the European Commission. The ministerial order was annulled by the Audencia Nacional the same year and its annulment was ratified by the Supreme Court on July 9, 2008. The order remained in the Boe without annulment, perhaps by omission or perhaps to put fear and confusion that they are prohibited when they are not.
According to the INCB conventions, only three plants are internationally prohibited: opium poppy, coca leaf and cannabis. In their 2010 and 2012 reports they specifically clarify that ayahuasca is not, only DMT in its synthetic form. And finally I take this opportunity to recommend to all honorable policemen with depression, service traumas and other ailments that they can take ayahuasca as recommended by the Inspector of the National Police Marcos Quinteiro Lopez of the police station of Vigo, who has recommended it so that they do not commit suicide as 21 members of the state security forces did in 2024.
To all of them I recommend watching this interview with Inspector Marcos Quinteiro:
https://youtu.be/SzsTpc7ATRk?si=jKOG4pqrI7ZdLt9t
Thanks to all of you who persist in your work with ayahuasca, thanks to your courage and perseverance, the immediate future of mental and spiritual health is already here, although there is still much work to be done.
Thanks Òscar Palet Santandreu, tireless lawyer of ayahuasca and entheogens, for putting so much heart and thanks also to Francisco Azorín, Laura, the late Diego de las Casas and all the lawyers who worked and tarabajais to clear the legal path of ayahuasca and the love and peace that brings in it.
