Is Ayahuasca legal in South Africa?

Legal status

Controlled as an undesirable dependence-producing substance under Schedule 2 Part III of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992.

Consequences if caught

The brew is not named, and it does not need to be: three of the substances it is made of are each printed in Part III. They are "Dimethyltryptamine [3-(2-(dimethylamino)-ethyl)-indole]." "Harmaline (3,4-dihydroharmine)." and "Harmine [7-methoxy-1-methyl-9H-pyrido (3,4-b)-indole]." Two independent routes therefore reach it. Paragraph 2 (d) extends every Part III entry to "all preparations and mixtures of the specified substances or plants", and a brew of two plants is a preparation and a mixture. Section 1 reaches it a second way, by defining an undesirable dependence-producing substance to mean "any substance or any plant from which a substance can be manufactured included in Part III of Schedule 2", with manufacture defined in the same section to include "the preparing, extraction or producing of the substance". Section 4 (b) forbids the use or possession of any dangerous dependence-producing substance or undesirable dependence-producing substance. Section 13 (d) makes that an offence and section 17 (d) fixes the penalty at such fine as the court may deem fit to impose, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years, or both. Dealing is section 5 (b), made an offence by section 13 (f) and punished under section 17 (e) by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years, or by both that imprisonment and such fine as the court may deem fit to impose. The reader should note how wide dealing is: section 1 defines deal in to include transhipment, importation, cultivation, collection, manufacture, supply, prescription, administration, sale, transmission and exportation. Capital exposure: none, and life exposure: none. Section 17 sets out the whole penalty scale of this Act and its highest figure is 25 years for dealing; no provision of the Act carries a death sentence or a sentence of life imprisonment.

If prescribed or medical

The Act's own lawful route is the set of exceptions in section 4, paragraphs (i) to (vi). A patient falls outside section 4 only where the substance was acquired from a medical practitioner, dentist or practitioner acting in a professional capacity and in accordance with the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 101 of 1965, or from a pharmacist on that person's oral instruction or written prescription, and is used for medicinal purposes under that person's care or treatment. Section 2 states that this Act applies in addition to, and not in substitution for, the Medicines Act. The Medicines Act schedules themselves are not held in this repository and were not read for this cell, so no medicine schedule number is stated here. There is no religious or ceremonial exception anywhere in this Act. The section 4 exceptions are medical and professional only, and none of them fits a ceremonial preparation.

Documentation

Search record. The terms searched were ayahuasca, yage, caapi, Banisteriopsis, Psychotria, harmala, harmine, harmaline and dimethyltryptamine. The plant names return nothing; the three alkaloid names return three printed entries. [Certain] that an ayahuasca brew characteristically contains dimethyltryptamine together with harmine and harmaline. The dossier for this row cited only the dimethyltryptamine entry and reached neither harmala alkaloid, although both are printed in the same Part a page apart. The text read for this cell is the Juta consolidation of the Act downloaded on 29 May 2025, taken from the Department of Justice copy at justice.gov.za whose sha256 begins bc1216a3. It carries the substitution of Schedules 1 and 2 by section 2 of Act 14 of 2022 with effect from 14 December 2022, and it marks section 7 of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act 7 of 2024, the provision that would amend Schedule 2 again, as not yet put into operation by proclamation. The schedules are stated as at that consolidation and this does not rule out a later amendment made or commenced since.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with South Africa’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.