This Brazilian Psychedelic Root Might Actually Cure Depression

In northeast Brazil, in ceremonies filled with drums, trance states, and likely some white American narco tourists who have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into, Indigenous groups have been sipping a tea made from a plant called jurema preta.

Its root contains DMT, a molecule so potent that its users often report profound spiritual and enlightening experiences after taking it. Scientists are wondering if this ancient psychedelic could be used to treat people with depression.

Guaracy Carvajal is a software programmer who studied the ancient practice of Googling how to extract DMT from plant roots bought off the street. He was desperate. He had been chronically depressed and tried everything, except for jurema. So, he extracted some DMT, went on a little psychedelic trip, and came out the other side feeling like he’d “solved something” in his life.

Does This Psychedelic Root Actually Help Treat Depression?

This psychedelic root that could be bought off the streets of Brazil might be the key to getting people through major depression. Physicist Draulio Araujo and his team at Brazil’s Brain Institute treated 14 patients with vaporized DMT in a clinical setting. Some saw rapid mood improvement within a day.

This isn’t a matter of simply taking a pill or inhaling a vapor and Poof—you’re all better. There’s therapy involved, and some people just don’t respond to it. Neuroscientist Fernanda Palhano-Fontes says it’s hit-or-miss. But when it hits? “A key opened something,” he said.

Araujo’s research using a street psychedelic drug to treat depression has made it into legit journals like Nature and Psychedelic Medicine. He’s now planning studies with 100 people the hope that one day all this effort will lead to a prescribable depression treatment that does not require a drum circle.

Jurema is legal to grow and possess in Brazil, but DMT use is technically only allowed for religious or research purposes. Its roots are deeply embedded in spiritual practice. As one ceremony-goer said, “It’s not hallucination,” said a woman named Joyce Souza, an attendee of a jurema ceremony.

“My spiritual channels become more accessible. I can communicate better with myself.”