PSYCHOACTIVE PLANTS, BORDERS AND (I)LEGALITY

Objective: This work aims to raise awareness on the normative tensions that exist between International Human Rights Law and the international drug control treaties. Methodology: The ICEERS Foundation created the Ayahuasca Defense Fund (ADF), a program that deals with the legal defense of people facing criminal proceedings for the use of ethnobotanicals. For the present analysis, the most important sentences and judicial decisions compiled since 2009 have been selected. Results: So far, three large sets of judicial decisions have been observed: first, the "restrictive interpretations"; second, "conciliatory interpretations"; and third, "biocultural interpretations". Conclusion: Given the legal loopholes in which some of the psychoactive plants arc, some legal operators have started to integrate a strong human rights perspective, thus reconciling the normative tension that exists between the international drug control framework and the domestic law.