Canadian man kills Brit in psychedelic ceremony in Peru's Amazon

LIMA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A Canadian man killed a British man
after the two took a hallucinogenic plant brew known as
ayahuasca together at a spiritual retreat in the Peruvian
Amazon (O:AMZN), authorities said Thursday.
Witnesses told police the Canadian man, 29-year-old Joshua
Andrew Freeman Stevens, killed the British man, Unais Gomes, 26,
in self-defense after Gomes attacked him with a knife during an
ayahuasca ceremony near the jungle city of Iquitos Wednesday
night, said Normando Marques, a police chief in the region.
Ayahuasca is a combination of an Amazonian vine and
dimethyltryptamine (DMT) - containing plants that give users
psychedelic experiences when combined. It is not normally
associated with violence.
The Canadian citizen was in police custody Thursday, Marques
said.
Witnesses said Gomes tried to stab Stevens during a bad
trip, according to a police source in Iquitos familiar with the
case.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gomes
apparently used a knife from the kitchen of the alternative
health center Phoenix Ayahuasca to attack Stevens. Stevens ended
up killing Gomes with the same knife, stabbing him in the chest
and stomach, he said.
Phoenix Ayahuasca did not immediately respond to requests
for comment. Its Facebook (O:FB) page describes it as a safe place to
"experience plant medicines and explore the true nature of the
self."
Ayahuasca tourism in Peru has surged in recent years, with
dozens of jungle retreats offering the traditional indigenous
brew to visitors under the supervision of a guide or shaman.
Many tourists seek the drug out because of its reputation as
a way to help ease depression and other mental troubles.
Amazonian tribes in Peru and Brazil use ayahuasca, or yage, as
an important spiritual and medicinal tool.
"It might be folkloric, spiritual or whatever else, but that
doesn't mean it isn't a drug that dramatically alters your state
of mind," said Marques.
In 2012, an 18-year-old American man died during an
ayahuasca retreat in the jungle and the shaman leading the
ceremony buried his body in an attempt to cover up the death.