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Ayahuasca in Colorado Tradition Legality and Ceremonia’s Next Chapter
By Ceremonia Circle ·
Ayahuasca, often called the vine of the soul, is a sacred brew from the Amazon that has been used for centuries in Indigenous traditions for healing, ceremony, and spiritual guidance. It is prepared by combining the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with Psychotria viridis leaves, creating a powerful medicine that opens the mind, heart, and spirit.
For the Shipibo, Quechua, and many other peoples of the Amazon, ayahuasca is not simply a psychedelic—it is a teacher, a healer, and a bridge between worlds. The ceremonies surrounding it are deeply communal, guided by shamans who sing icaros—medicine songs that help participants navigate the visions and emotions that arise.
As interest in ayahuasca grows in the West, the challenge is not just to understand its effects but to hold it with the reverence it deserves.
What Science Is Discovering
Modern research is beginning to study what Indigenous traditions have long carried. The early findings are limited:
Default Mode Network: a small fMRI study of 10 people reported that the ayahuasca state modulated DMN activity and connectivity (Palhano-Fontes et al., 2015).
Neuroplasticity: the evidence is preclinical, with DMT and plant alkaloids shown to affect neurogenesis in cells and mice.
Grief: a single non-randomized trial of 84 people reported tolerability and preliminary benefit in bereavement (Soto-Angona et al., 2025).
Clinical research on ayahuasca is early, with a few small trials on mood. Our reason for offering it isn't a clinical one: it's the ceremony, the lineage, and what people find there.
Ayahuasca in Colorado The Legal Reality
Many people wonder about the possibility of an ayahuasca retreat in Colorado. Here is the current reality:
At the federal level: Ayahuasca remains illegal because it contains DMT, a Schedule I controlled substance.
In Colorado: Proposition 122, the Natural Medicine Health Act (NMHA), decriminalized the personal use, possession, cultivation, and non-commercial sharing of natural medicines, including DMT-containing plants. This means adults 21+ may work with these plants personally or in community without fear of state prosecution.
Important distinction: decriminalized does not mean legalized. While individuals are protected from prosecution, there is no legal framework for licensed facilitation of ayahuasca in Colorado today.
Licensed Natural Medicine Facilitators in Colorado
Under the NMHA, Colorado has created a system for licensed natural medicine facilitators, but currently this only applies to psilocybin and psilocin. Facilitators can legally guide people with psilocybin in approved healing centers, provided they are trained and licensed.
However, these facilitators cannot legally offer ayahuasca at this time. Any ayahuasca ceremonies happening in Colorado today operate outside the state facilitator-licensing framework, often in underground or church-based settings.
Looking ahead, there is momentum for DMT and ayahuasca to be included in the regulated model as early as 2026, which could create a legal pathway for retreats in Colorado.
Ceremonia’s Path Forward
At Ceremonia, we are committed to walking in alignment with the law while honoring the integrity of traditional medicines. This is why we no longer host ayahuasca retreats in Colorado.
For those who feel called to work with ayahuasca, we now host retreats in Baja California, near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where the medicine can be offered legally and in sacred ceremony.
🌿 Our next retreat, Heal Feb 2026: 7 Day Ayahuasca Retreat + Prep & Integration, will be held February 2–8, 2026. It includes preparation, ceremony, and integration support, all held in community with reverence for tradition. You can learn more and register here.
This step allows us to remain faithful to both the law and the lineage, offering seekers a safe and legal way to experience the medicine.
Integration The Real Work of Healing
Whether in the Amazon, Mexico, or one day legally in Colorado, the deepest work of ayahuasca is in integration. The visions and emotions that arise in ceremony are powerful, but it is the weaving of those insights into daily life—into our relationships, habits, and ways of being—that creates lasting transformation.
At Ceremonia, integration has always been central to our mission. Through reflection, community support, and mindful practices, we help participants ground their experiences into real change. Healing, after all, is not a single event—it is a way of living.
Closing Reflection
The story of ayahuasca in Colorado is still unfolding. Today, it is decriminalized but not legalized, with no regulated retreat model in place. Licensed facilitators may guide psilocybin sessions, and conversations are underway to expand access to ayahuasca and DMT by 2026.
For Ceremonia, this marks both an ending and a beginning. While we focus on psilocybin in Colorado, we continue to hold ayahuasca retreats in Mexico where the medicine can be honored safely and legally.
The vine of the soul continues to guide us—toward humility, respect, and a deeper connection with ourselves, each other, and the earth.