N.S. man who claimed religious right to the psychedelic ayahuasca pleads guilty

A man who argued he has a religious-freedom right to give out a South American psychedelic tea known as ayahuasca during spiritual ceremonies has pleaded guilty to drug charges stemming from a 2022 police search of his southwest Nova Scotia yurt.

Michael Adzich, 52, had been scheduled to testify Monday at the fifth day of a hearing in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, but instead pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking and importation of N,N-dimethyltryptamine, commonly called DMT.

DMT is a crucial component of ayahuasca, a plant-based liquid that originates with Indigenous people in the Amazon but which has gained a following in many other parts of the world, with adherents often crediting it with helping with trauma or addiction.

Defence lawyer Asaf Rashid said in an interview that Adzich decided to end his challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and plead guilty for "personal reasons and to move on with his life," but he declined to detail the nature of those reasons.

The change of plea, however, is "in no way detracting from the substantial argument made for religious freedom," Rashid said. "It's still very important, that's a fundamental right, and Mr. Adzich maintains that he is engaged in spiritual practice with ayahuasca."

In accepting the guilty pleas, Justice Josh Arnold told Adzich that such charges carry with them the risk of imprisonment. Adzich will be sentenced in September.

The court heard four days of testimony last week from defence witnesses, including a researcher who has studied ayahuasca and three women who were in the final hours of a three-day retreat in November 2022 at Adzich's yurt near Annapolis Royal, N.S., when police arrived.

DMT is illegal in Canada under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but the defence had sought to have ayahuasca explicitly excluded from the law, making it legal.

Prosecutor Glen Scheuer had raised concerns about health implications for people using ayahuasca while on certain antidepressants or while suffering from heart conditions, as well as users being the victims of crime or accidents while in altered mental states.

Scheuer opposed the defence Charter application, noting in court records that other churches have received exemptions from Health Canada in order to legally use ayahuasca, but there's no record of Adzich applying for one.

The ayahuasca experience

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In the Peruvian Amazon, ayahuasca is a sacred medicine. Drinking the dark tea derived from the plant is part of a ritual that leads to vomiting and hallucinations, but proponents say it has major healing effects. As the ayahuasca experience becomes more common outside of the Amazon, Mark Kelley takes a closer look at what it’s all about.

Witnesses who attended Adzich's ceremonies described filling out intake forms and feeling safe, calling the experience transformative, with one testifying ayahuasca was a "sacrament" with "incredible" healing powers, and another saying it "forever changed me."

But they also testified they did not believe ayahuasca should be freely sold at corner stores, and the scientist called by the defence acknowledged it should be "handled with care" and safety practices were important.

Adzich has been joined in the courtroom by supporters who have listened from the public gallery, including more than 20 who were on hand Monday to hear him plead guilty.

Ian Synnott, who has done a number of ceremonies with Adzich, said the change of plea was a difficult moment. He said Adzich was "risking himself" to help others, and his supporters are worried about what comes next.

"He's the most compassionate person I've ever met," Synnott said in an interview. "And he is completely unassuming and there's no ego there. It's really, his own sole purpose is to be a service."

Rashid would not discuss what sentence he will seek for his client in September but said it will not include jail time. He said his client has no criminal record.

The case stemmed from the 2022 seizure in Miami of a suspicious package from Peru that contained a black tar-like substance that tested positive for DMT, according to a prosecution statement of facts that Adzich accepted in court.

It was being mailed to an address in New York. A woman who lived in the apartment told investigators she knew Adzich did ayahuasca ceremonies. She said he had told her to label the package as birthday gifts and coffee and mail it to him in Nova Scotia.

When RCMP officers searched Adzich's yurt, they found a kilogram of the tar-like substance, which tested positive for DMT.