A British mum-of-three has died at a remote retreat in the Amazon rainforest after allegedly drinking a psychedelic tea laced with the drug ayahuasca.
Social worker Maureen Rainford, 54, from Romford, paid £800 for the ten-day stay at the Ayahuasca and San Pedro Pisatahua Retreat in Bolivia, her daughter was told.
The lodge promotes itself as a ‘sacred space’ to ‘work with plant medicines, including ayahuasca’ and an ‘ideal environment to heal, expand consciousness, and connect with the wonders of the Amazon’.
Ayahuasca is a powerful plant-based psychedelic that can cause users to hallucinate, and is considered a Class A illegal drug in the UK.
The drug is made by brewing leaves and stalks from local plants into a digestible tea, and has long been used by indigenous tribes in South America for spiritual ceremonies.
Maureen’s daughter Rochel, 32, said staff at the retreat told her that her mother suffered a ‘medical emergency’ shortly after arriving at the lodge.
According to witnesses, Maureen began to complain she was feeling ill around 10 minutes after drinking the ayahuasca tea, with her heart and breathing rate plummeting shortly afterwards.
She then collapsed and died around an hour later,before a doctor arrived following attempts from staff to resuscitate her.
A post-mortem revealed that a heart attack was given as the official cause of death, which staff say was ‘unrelated’ to the ayahuasca she had ingested.
Rochel told The Sun on Sunday: ‘There should be a trained medic on standby when hallucinogenic drugs are being handed out in a remote area. Eric [a worker at the retreat] tried to insist that she must be cremated in Bolivia as her body would decompose, but I did not want any cover-up.’
She said her mother’s body was eventually returned to her after she got in touch with the local British Consulate, and that a funeral was held last week.
Rochel added: ’I want to raise awareness about these places for people tempted by glossy brochures selling a dream.’
A spokesman for the retreat claimed that Maureen’s passing was ‘due to a medical emergency that was not related to Ayahuasca.’
‘Our heart goes out to her family,’ they added.
Recent years have seen the Amazon experience a boom in Western tourists travelling to retreats in order to take part in ayahuasca ceremonies, seeking holistic therapy.
In Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, he admitted taking part in ayahuasca therapy in order to help him overcome PTSD caused by his mother’s death.
He wrote: ‘[Ayahuasca] didn’t simply allow me to escape reality for a while, they let me redefine reality,’ before adding he would not advise taking it recreationally.
Following Maureen’s death, her loved ones created a GoFundMe in order to help her family with funeral and emotional costs. The fundraiser reads: ‘Maureen… Our dear colleague and for some of us….. a close friend, died suddenly while on a “wellness retreat” in South America. Maureen’s love of travel and her curiosity took her to the Bolivian Amazon to detox from the noise of London and work for 10 days.
‘It was a trip she was eagerly looking forward to, sharing her excitement with everyone with her usual vibrancy and zest for life and travel…a time for reflection and personal development. We waited for her return to share her stories, with fascination and expectation; that the long distances she had travelled to experience this retreat would be reflected in a re-invigorated Maureen…
‘We have organised this GoFundMe to collect funds for her immediate family to ease any financial burden and in Maureen’s memory. This small gesture also allows us to remember Maureen for the wonderful person she was and keep her children and grandchildren in our thoughts during this difficult time.’
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