We couldn’t find a single published case of ayahuasca and benzodiazepines reacting dangerously in a person. The danger with a benzo is how you stop it. The FDA warns that stopping abruptly, or cutting the dose too fast, can cause withdrawal reactions, including seizures that can be life-threatening. So don’t quit Xanax, Klonopin, Valium or Ativan on your own to make a retreat date. Tell us what you take. Our physician reads it, and if you need a taper, she works with your prescriber, who sets the speed.
Benzos are common. US pharmacies filled an estimated 92 million benzo prescriptions in 2019, by the FDA’s count. Alprazolam, sold as Xanax, made up 38% of them.
Since 2017, about 1,900 guests have stayed at our center outside Iquitos. A licensed physician sees every application first, and we decide benzos case by case.
Can you mix ayahuasca and benzodiazepines?
Sometimes, and only once our physician has gone through your file. The answer depends on which benzo you take, how often, for how long and at what dose.
Ayahuasca and benzodiazepines are mainly a timing problem. No study we found shows the 2 reacting dangerously in people. The documented harm comes from withdrawal: stopping a benzo abruptly can cause seizures. So the date you stop, and the pace you taper, should come from your prescriber, with time to watch for withdrawal before you travel.
You can ask before you apply. Send us the drug and the dose, and you’ll get 1 of 3 answers. You can come as you are, you’ll need your own prescriber to taper you first, or you can’t come.
One way the 2 could interact is in your liver. A 2011 lab study in Phytotherapy Research tested harmine, an alkaloid also found in the ayahuasca vine, on human liver samples. It slowed CYP3A4, an enzyme your liver uses to break down drugs. The FDA labels for Xanax, Klonopin and Valium all link this enzyme group to breaking them down. Slowing it could leave more of the drug in your blood. Ativan’s label describes a different route. We found no report of it happening in a person.
Real-world data is thin. A 2021 Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry study surveyed 614 members of a religious group that drinks ayahuasca. The 31 who took psychiatric medication showed no rise in side effects. The study’s summary doesn’t say which drugs those 31 took, so it can’t settle the question for benzos. For other medicines, check the full medication list in our dieta guide.
What ayahuasca trials do with benzos
At least 1 ayahuasca trial let people stay on benzos, and others require a full stop first. A Brazilian trial published in 2019 gave ayahuasca to patients whose depression had resisted other treatment. Every patient took benzos regularly during the study, including the 14 who drank ayahuasca. Its authors say that, to their knowledge, it was the first controlled test of a psychedelic for this type of depression. The team stopped antidepressants before dosing but allowed benzos for sleep or anxiety.
That trial ran in a university hospital in Brazil, with at least 2 researchers waiting in the next room through each session. Its 2019 report in Psychological Medicine lists short-lived nausea in 71% of the ayahuasca group and vomiting in 57%. It doesn’t tie any side effect to the benzos.
Other teams take benzos away first. Their rules run from 5 days off to a full taper.
| Study | Medicine given | Benzo rule |
|---|---|---|
| Depression trial, Brazil, published 2019 | Ayahuasca | Allowed. Every patient took benzos regularly |
| Non-epileptic seizure trial, Brazil, recruiting in 2026 | Ayahuasca | A gradual reduction, then a full stop before enrolling |
| Grief trial, Spain | Ayahuasca | No regular medication of any kind in the month before |
| Dose-finding study, Switzerland | DMT plus harmine | No medication for 2 weeks before each test day |
| Anxiety trial, finished | A DMT-type drug | No benzos for 5 days before each dose |
The first row comes from the published trial. The rest come from ClinicalTrials.gov records NCT07747324, NCT06150859, NCT05829603 and NCT06051721, all checked in October 2026. The seizure trial says its stop is meant to avoid interactions with, or influence on, ayahuasca’s effects.
With rules this far apart, no single number fits every benzo user. That’s why our physician works out your plan with your prescriber.
Where the danger sits: stopping too fast
The risk is in the stop. In 2020, the FDA ordered the boxed warning on every benzo, its most prominent warning, updated to cover addiction, dependence and withdrawal.
Dependence can build after days to weeks of steady use, even at the prescribed dose. Quitting abruptly or cutting too fast is when seizures can happen. Some withdrawal also lingers. The FDA describes a protracted form that runs past the first 4 to 6 weeks. The current Xanax label says it can last more than 12 months.
Now set that next to what some retreats tell benzo users. 2 retreat preparation pages that came up in our search say to stop 1 to 6 weeks before ceremony. Both tell you to check with a doctor, and 1 says some drugs need tapering. Neither gives a pace or mentions seizures.
Withdrawal also belongs at home, near the doctor who knows you. No road links Iquitos with the rest of Peru’s road network, so you can’t drive home if withdrawal starts mid-retreat.
Withdrawal and ayahuasca look alike at 2 AM
At least 7 signs of benzo withdrawal also show up on ayahuasca. They’re on the common-signs list in a 2025 benzo tapering guideline that the American Society of Addiction Medicine wrote with 9 other societies. In a dark ceremony room, even a physician can struggle to tell them apart.
| Sign | In benzo withdrawal | On ayahuasca |
|---|---|---|
| Racing heart | On the guideline’s list | 34% of poison center cases |
| Agitation or anxiety | On the list | 34% (agitation) |
| Confusion | On the list, mostly after a high dose is stopped abruptly | 18% |
| Raised blood pressure | On the list | 16% |
| Changes in perception | On the list, as perceptual disturbance | 35% (hallucinations) |
| Nausea and vomiting | On the list | 62% of drinkers in a global survey |
| Seizures | On the list, mostly after a high dose is stopped abruptly | 12 of 538 poison center cases (2%) |
The withdrawal column comes from the guideline’s table of common withdrawal signs. Most ayahuasca figures come from 538 exposures reported to US poison centers from 2005 to 2015, analyzed in a Journal of Medical Toxicology paper. Those are people who ended up needing help, so the numbers describe reported problems, not a typical ceremony. The nausea figure is from the Global Ayahuasca Survey’s 2022 paper on side effects. Its physical-effects sample was 8,216 drinkers.
That overlap is why we want any withdrawal over, and watched by your own doctor, before you’re in the room. Our hour-by-hour guide shows when ayahuasca’s own effects usually peak.
Which benzo user are you?
Your withdrawal risk turns on 3 things: how often you take a benzo, how long you’ve taken it and your daily dose. The 2025 guideline sorts it like this.
| How often | How long | Daily dose | Risk of real withdrawal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days a week or less | Any length | Any | Rare |
| 4 or more days a week | Under 1 month | Any | Lower, but possible |
| 4 or more days a week | 1 to 3 months | Low | Lower, but possible |
| 4 or more days a week | 1 to 3 months | Moderate or high | Yes, and it rises with dose and time |
| 4 or more days a week | 3 months or more | Any | Yes, and it rises with dose and time |
A low dose means 10 mg of diazepam a day or less. The guideline’s matches for other benzos are up to 0.5 mg of clonazepam, 2 mg of lorazepam or 1 mg of alprazolam. The table comes from clinical consensus, so use it to start the talk with your prescriber.
Alprazolam can bring on dependence faster than the others. The guideline says a taper may fit after only 2 to 4 weeks of daily use.
Dependence isn’t the same as addiction. The guideline cites a review of US survey data. Only 1.5% of people who used benzos met the criteria for a benzo use disorder. Wherever you land in the table, list it on your application, even the pill you take for flights.
How long does a benzo taper take in 2026?
Usually months. The 2025 guideline starts with cuts of 5% to 10% every 2 to 4 weeks. It typically goes no faster than 25% every 2 weeks, and a full taper can take months to years. With strong dependence, like a high dose for over a year, it suggests 5% to 10% every 6 to 8 weeks or slower.
| Pace from the guideline | Weeks from first cut to zero |
|---|---|
| 25% every 2 weeks, the ceiling, mainly for low doses taken under 3 months | 6 |
| 10% every 2 weeks | 18 |
| 10% every 4 weeks | 36 |
| 5% every 4 weeks | 76 |
| 5% every 8 weeks, for strong dependence | 152 |
That’s our arithmetic from the guideline’s percentages, with equal cuts sized from your starting dose, the fastest way to read them. The guideline warns the last cuts can be harder and tells prescribers to consider smaller or slower ones near the end.
Then come 2 to 4 more weeks. The guideline asks prescribers to keep watching for withdrawal that long after the last dose. Your prescriber slows or pauses the taper if symptoms show up. People who’ve taken a low dose for under 3 months may be able to go faster.
Deadlines push people to rush. The guideline names pressures like work or a custody case. It says people facing them may be candidates for inpatient tapering when that’s medically necessary. A retreat date shouldn’t be one of those pressures. We set your dates around the taper, and a taper that runs long means a later date.
Taper first, then book: how it works with us
Your benzo gets settled before your place does. Our physician signs off on your medication plan before we confirm a place, and flights come after that.
| Step | When | Who | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Ask | Before you apply | You, then our physician | Send the drug and dose. You hear: come as you are, taper first, or no |
| 2. Apply | Your application | You | List each prescription, its dose and your months on it, plus anything you take now and then |
| 3. Review | Within 72 hours | Our physician | Goes through your file and calls your prescriber when a taper is needed |
| 4. Talk | Before any decision | Our team | Video call with you, 30 to 45 minutes long |
| 5. Decide | After the review | Our team | Yes, conditional yes or no. A needed taper means a conditional yes |
| 6. Taper | Months, at your prescriber’s pace | Your prescriber, with our physician | If your prescriber thinks it isn’t safe now, you don’t come this cycle |
| 7. Confirm, then fly | When our physician signs off | You | Book flights only after confirmation |
| 8. Prepare | 4 to 6 weeks out from your first ceremony | You | The dieta plus the other preparation steps |
Of every 100 applicants, 5 to 8 receive a conditional yes, then fall short of its conditions. The usual reason is an unfinished medication taper. Our page on ayahuasca in Iquitos lists the conditions our physician screens for. Our physician also clears each of our services on its own, so a yes for ayahuasca isn’t a yes for anything else.
Why a hidden benzo gets you sent home
Our physician can’t plan around a drug she doesn’t know you take. We’ve had 1 guest in 9 years hide active benzo use from us. We caught it before that guest drank anything, and they went home.
Our terms put it plainly. Telling us late is fine, even on arrival day, but hiding an important medical fact is grounds to end your stay. The reasons are practical:
- A benzo dropped right before travel puts the guideline’s withdrawal window on your ceremony nights.
- If our physician has to give you a medicine at 2 AM, she needs to know what’s already in your blood.
- Pills carried to end a hard night early mean you make a medical call alone at night. Here, the physician who’s awake all night makes that call.
Your medical file goes to 2 people: the physician who reviews it and your integration lead. Our healers never see it. On arrival day, our senior facilitator sits down with each guest to go over their preparation. That’s a good moment to mention a pill you took on the plane. Both medical evacuations in our safety record trace back to something a guest left off a form.
Benzos in the maloca: the medicine our physician carries
Benzos are also what doctors use when an ayahuasca night turns dangerous. US poison centers logged 538 ayahuasca exposures from 2005 to 2015, and 162 of those people, 30%, were treated with a benzodiazepine.
Medical guidance starts with less than a pill. StatPearls, a medical reference hosted by the US National Library of Medicine, covers this in its chapter on LSD toxicity. Care for someone in trouble on a hallucinogen starts with a quiet room and 1-to-1 supervision. It adds that a low benzo dose may sometimes be needed to control anxiety.
A benzo isn’t an off switch, though. In a 2024 study in Translational Psychiatry, 8 healthy adults took psilocybin with midazolam, a benzo given through an IV. Higher midazolam doses didn’t make the experience weaker or shorter. They did blur memory of it: 2 of the 4 people on the higher doses showed impaired recall the next day. That’s psilocybin, not ayahuasca, and only 8 people. It’s still a reason not to treat a pill as an exit.
Our physician carries benzodiazepines and doesn’t sleep on ceremony nights. In 2022, a guest became acutely psychotic about 90 minutes after drinking. She gave him an injection of diazepam, the generic name for Valium. Within 20 minutes he was stable. At dawn we evacuated him, and he made a full recovery.
That night counts as 1 of the 2 evacuations we’ve had since 2017. Apart from those, she has been called to a guest’s mat 6 to 8 times. The reasons were a racing heart, severe panic or dissociation that wouldn’t lift, and each was handled on site. A benzo given by a physician who has read your file is a treatment. One taken alone in the dark is a guess. If you bring your own, she needs to know where it is and when you last took it.
Can ayahuasca help you get off benzos?
We found no evidence that it can, and no published study of ayahuasca for benzodiazepine dependence. A ceremony in the middle of withdrawal is a hard place to find out.
A treatment center’s blog claims 1 or 2 ceremonies can end a benzo habit. It gives no count of people and no follow-up. A 2022 Drug and Alcohol Review paper analyzed 8,629 ayahuasca drinkers from a large global survey. It looked at current alcohol and drug use, not benzo withdrawal. It also measured use at 1 point in time, so it can’t prove ayahuasca made anyone quit.
Our own numbers show why the work after ceremony matters. We’ve tracked 290 guests’ depression scores to 3 months. 70% held their gains. Another 16% got better by day 10 and then lost part of it. You can read our 3-month scores in full. If you’re coming off opioids too, read how ayahuasca and ibogaine compare before you choose either.
The order we’d suggest: finish the taper with your prescriber, give it the guideline’s 2 to 4 weeks of watching, then come.
After the retreat: the months withdrawal can last
Withdrawal can outlast your retreat. The FDA lists protracted symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia and muscle twitches, and the Xanax label says they may last more than 12 months.
Those symptoms can look like the problem the benzo was treating in the first place. The guideline says telling the 2 apart is often difficult. So don’t restart a benzo, or change a dose, without your prescriber. Our ayahuasca page puts the rule in 4 words: restart per your prescriber.
During week 1 at home, we offer each guest a half-hour video call, and about 82% take it. A second call follows in week 3. If a hard week comes sooner, message our WhatsApp line, and a facilitator replies within 4 hours unless it’s the middle of the night. For a seizure, severe confusion or thoughts of self-harm, phone emergency services where you are before anything else. In the US, that’s 911, or 988 for a mental health crisis. If home feels like too much, read our guide to being overwhelmed after ayahuasca. It names the feeling that shouldn’t wait and the signs that need same-day help.
Ayahuasca and benzodiazepines come down to the order of events. Your prescriber manages the taper at a safe pace. Our physician approves the plan. Only then do you book. Ask us about your benzo before you apply, and put the same question to any center you’re weighing, along with 8 questions in writing.
FAQs
Can you take ayahuasca and benzodiazepines?
Sometimes, but not before a physician has gone through your file. At our center, the decision is our physician’s, one person at a time, with your prescriber’s input when a taper is needed. The answer turns on which benzo you take, how often, how long and at what dose. If you take one most days, check with us before booking, since a taper may come first and can run for months.
Is it dangerous to mix ayahuasca and benzodiazepines?
We found no published case of the 2 reacting dangerously in a person. In a small 2019 hospital trial, all 14 people who drank ayahuasca also took benzos, with no side effect tied to them. A 2011 lab study did find that harmine, an ayahuasca alkaloid, slows a liver enzyme that clears Xanax. The documented danger is stopping a benzo too fast, which the FDA warns can cause life-threatening seizures.
When should you stop Xanax or Klonopin before an ayahuasca retreat?
Your prescriber should set that date, not a booking. A 2025 guideline backed by 10 societies starts tapers with 5% to 10% cuts every 2 to 4 weeks, so most run for months. It also asks prescribers to keep watching for withdrawal for 2 to 4 more weeks after the last dose. We confirm your place only after our physician approves the plan.
Can I take a Xanax if my ayahuasca ceremony gets too intense?
Not on your own. Our physician carries benzodiazepines for emergencies and stays up through each ceremony night. A benzo may not end it: in a small 2024 psilocybin study, higher doses didn’t shorten the experience but did blur memory of it. If you bring your own pills, tell our physician they’re with you.
Can ayahuasca help with benzo withdrawal?
We found no study showing that it does. A 2022 analysis of 8,629 ayahuasca drinkers worldwide looked at current drug use, not benzo withdrawal. Withdrawal can bring nausea, agitation and a racing heart, which ayahuasca can also cause, so a ceremony is a poor place for it. Finish the taper with your prescriber first.
What happens if you don’t tell a retreat you take benzos?
At our center, hiding an important medical fact is grounds to end your stay. In 9 years, 1 guest hid active benzo use, and that guest left before drinking anything. Telling us late is fine, even on arrival day. Only 2 people see your medical file: the physician who reviews it and your integration lead.
Do you need to taper if you only take a benzo now and then?
Probably not to avoid withdrawal, but list it anyway. The 2025 guideline rates real withdrawal as rare for people who take a benzo 3 days a week or less. Our physician still needs to know what you take and when, and decides whether you need a gap before ceremony.