Police in Kielce county break up ayahuasca ritual, couple charged over 7 litres of DMT brew

The raid in early October

Police from the anti-narcotics unit of the Katowice regional headquarters acted on detailed information about a planned pseudo-therapeutic meeting in the Daleszyce commune, Kielce county. When officers entered the property, they found a group of people preparing to drink a brew, together with the two organisers, a 65-year-old man and his 58-year-old wife. Police described the planned gathering as an ayahuasca ritual, in which participants take strong psychoactive substances to bring on altered states of awareness.

Police spokesman Mateusz Mrachacz described the scene inside the property.

“After entering the property, police officers revealed a group of people ready to drink the brew and the married couple organising it.”

What officers seized

Searching the grounds, officers secured more than 7 litres of prepared liquid containing DMT (dimethyltryptamine). Investigators stressed that the compound has no legal medical application in Poland. Polish law places DMT in group I-P of psychotropic substances, the same group as LSD and MDMA, a classification used for substances with high potential for misuse. Officers also secured other substitute psychoactive substances that the couple used to prepare the brew.

Police warned about the health risks of holding such sessions outside medical settings.

“This practice is dangerous because it takes place in non-medical conditions, which prevents quick help being given in a health crisis.”

Charges and possible penalties

Prosecutors at the Kielce-Wschód District Prosecutor's Office, which supervises the case, charged both suspects with possessing a significant quantity of psychotropic substances and substitute substances in breach of the law. Each faces up to 10 years in prison. Both admitted the offences during questioning. The prosecutor ordered police supervision and property bail, and wPolityce also reported a travel ban.

Earlier case cited in the same reporting

wPolityce also pointed to a separate case in Częstochowa, where a 45-year-old computer specialist was tried after organising dozens of similar gatherings in Poland and the Czech Republic under the pretext of treating mental health problems. According to the same outlet, toxicology reports said the mixture he gave could have led to participants' deaths. The court handed him a suspended prison sentence.