American tourist dies after drinking psychedelic ayahuasca drug during popular ritual in Peru

A US tourist has died after the effects of a psychedelic tea caused a shocking thing to happen to his body while he was enjoying a spiritual retreat in Peru.

Traveling the world to get in touch with your spiritual side isn’t something new, as many people yearly will take to retreats, mountain tops and hiking trails to find their zen and peace.

However, the dangers of one method of rekindling your spirituality has been warned about after an American fell victim to a shocking effect and passed away.

Aaron Wayne Castranova, 41, was on a spiritual retreat in the Peruvian Amazon when he ingested a psychedelic tea, causing several of his organs to ‘breakdown’.

Castranova died Monday (June 2) after drinking a strong hallucinogenic plant brew called ayahuasca, something that is banned in the US and several other countries globally.

It was reported that Castranova was taking part in a shamanic ritual at La Casa de Guillermo ICONA, a ‘spiritual tourism’ location in Loreto.

Aaron Wayne Castranova ingested a tea concoction in Peru (Helder Faria / Getty)

The man, from Alabama, drank the elixir and according to Narcisco Lopez, the regional prosecutor’s forensic pathologist, his organs had a lethal side-effect which caused him to die, per the Daily Mail.

The mind-altering drug is something that has been long used in Amazonian tribes for their spiritual rituals, but tourists who are looking for a reprieve from their mental health struggles, or a renewed sense of purpose have begun to take an interest in experiencing it.

Despite its history, the US Embassy in Peru have warned people about its potentially fatal effects.

The website for the embassy states: “These dangerous substances are often marketed to travelers in Peru as ceremonial or spiritual cleansers.

“However, Ayahuasca is a psychoactive substance dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a strong hallucinogen that is illegal in the United States and many other countries.”

According to officials, the US man is not the first to have died during this ritual, claiming that several have passed away or suffered from severe mental health crises or physical issues just last year after consuming the DMT drug.

Shockingly, it is also alleged that some who were under the influence were robbed, harmed, or sexually assaulted.

The drug causes hallucinations (Lena Gadanski / Getty)

According to Partnership to End Addiction, DMT is ‘a mind-altering substance in the hallucinogen family’ that can ‘change a person's reality, causing dramatic changes in mood, thought and emotions’.

The website states that it can ‘result in special and spiritual experiences’.

However, hostel managers in Peru have reportedly claimed that Castranova’s death and adverse reaction to the drug could be because he allegedly failed to inform ceremony organizers he was on antibiotics, which may have had a fatal reaction.

The powerful psychedelic can cause ‘irreversible damage’ and death, Lopez said as per Infobae.

The US Embassy shared that taking the drug can cause psychosis, neurological diseases, insomnia, and persistent hallucinations in the long run, and nausea, vomiting and increased heart rate in the short-term.

Castronova’s death isn’t the first that has been reported in the last year, as mother-of-three, Maureen Rainford from the UK suffered a similar reaction, as per the Daily Mail.