harmala seeds, contains DMT and MAOi (monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors), the same active principles present in ayahuasca, which is also an indigenous psychoactive beverage used in syncretic religions worldwide [6]. In Brazil, ayahuasca is legal if consumed during the course of religious activities, even by children and pregnant women [7].
Despite being present in the human body, DMT has been classified
internationally as a Schedule 1 controlled drug, following the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances [8]. However, consideration needs to be given to the therapeutic potential of psyche- delic drugs. This is especially important because research on this matter was interrupted in the late 1960s [9–11]. The first subsequent work was conducted by Dr. Strassman between 1990 and 1995, in a clinical re- search approved by the US DEA (United States Drug Enforcement Ad- ministration), during which around four hundred doses of DMT were administered to sixty volunteers [12]. There is currently increased inter- est in the mode of action of DMT in the brain [8,13–18].
Studies involving the determination of this tryptamine compound in
plant matrices, as well as in ritual beverages, are essential given the cur- rent expansion in its use for religious and recreational purposes [4,19]. Several methodologies have recently been developed to quantify DMT in plants, as well as in the beverages used in religious practices [4]