Mind Body Health & Politics

Sam Believ came to Colombia as a Latvian oil-and-gas engineer with a depression he could not name. Today he runs LaWayra, the highest-rated ayahuasca retreat in South America, and has served close to 3,000 people. I asked him the question I have been trying to answer for my forthcoming book: what does the safety data actually look like when you are not a clinical trial, but a jungle with a shaman and thirty-seven staff. His answer is the most honest field account I have heard. My new book, The Adverse Effects and Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelic Medicines (Park Street Press), publishes May 5, and Sam's work sits inside it.00:00 Welcome and the Case for Tribal Community01:40 From Latvia to Colombia, How Sam Got Here06:02 Running the Retreat, What's on Sam's Mind10:59 Running Four Businesses in One Jungle14:08 Frequency and the Indigenous vs Western Debate21:53 Dosing, Why You Trust the Shaman Not a Scale24:10 The Bastardization Argument, Tobacco Cacao Coca26:17 Adverse Effects, What 3,000 Ceremonies Have S