From Whiskey to Hoasca
The Bronfman Legacy + the Politics of Ayahuasca
See photo credits below.
The following is an excerpt from p. 160-163 of Chapter 3, “Everywhere, All the Time: DMT and Drugism” from my new book, Drugism (2022):
União do Vegetal (UDV) was established in 1961 by José Gabriel da Costa, who worked as a rubber tapper (extracting latex from rubber trees) in the Amazon at the time. Da Costa had first encountered ayahuasca two years prior. He formed UDV with his wife, children, and a small group of fellow rubber tappers.[i] UDV incorporates the use of ayahuasca (which they refer to as hoasca) into a religious doctrine which blends elements of Christianity with African Yoruba traditions as well as belief in reincarnation. Since its establishment in 1961, the practice has spread throughout the western hemisphere, Europe, and Australia.[ii]
Outside of Brazil, UDV’s biggest proponent has been Jeffrey Bronfman. Bronfman comes from a wealthy family with a controversial past. While Bronfman’s work with UDV has lent it legitimacy among certain circles, for others, his family’s sordid legacy presents issues for the church’s image. The questions raised by Bronfman’s involvement with UDV are worth examining, for, as we will see, they directly impact the politics of ayahuasca and, therefore, DMT.
Outside of Brazil, UDV’s biggest proponent has been Jeffrey Bronfman. Bronfman comes from a wealthy family with a controversial past.
Some quick background on the Bronfmans’ various business ventures may be necessary for those who are unfamiliar. Originally tobacco farmers from Russia, the Bronfman family fled for their lives to Canada in 1898 to escape anti-Semitic Russian pogroms.[iii] Unable to grow tobacco in Canada’s climate, they dabbled in a series of other trades to sustain themselves. They are most famous for their success in the alcohol business.
When alcohol was prohibited in Canada, from 1915-1919, the Bronfman brothers—Samuel, Harry, Abraham, and Allan—exploited a loophole in the law that allowed distribution of alcohol for medicinal use.[iv] They sold liquor through the mail as well as at hotels they owned in Canada. The same year alcohol prohibition ended in Canada, it began in the US.
When alcohol was prohibited in Canada, from 1915-1919, the Bronfman brothers exploited a loophole in the law that allowed distribution of alcohol for medicinal use.
The Bronfmans took advantage of the stateside thirst for liquor by importing a cheap type of whiskey they made with “a touch of burnt sugar” and “a shot of sulfuric acid” into the US.[v] Before long, they partnered with mafia heavyweights Meyer Lansky and “Lucky” Luciano, who helped them distribute the liquor.
When Lansky and Luciano expanded into the Asian heroin business, Samuel Bronfman created a shipping company for them to use to get the heroin from Shanghai to the US. With Bronfman’s help, an international heroin syndicate was thus developed before alcohol prohibition ended in the US in 1933.[vi] The Bronfmans were well enough established in the liquor business by then that the repeal of prohibition did not put them out of business. On the contrary, it only facilitated their further rise in the industry.
Samuel Bronfman created a shipping company to transport heroin from Shanghai to the US for the mafia.
They bought a distillery and used its name, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, to build a company that became one of the most successful ever in the alcohol business. Seagram in time assumed ownership of a wide variety of popular alcohol brands. Through Seagram, the Bronfmans also bought an oil company and assumed twenty percent ownership stake in DuPont.[vii] The financial exploits of the Bronfman family are fascinating in their own right and are worth further examination as a case study in capitalism gone amok.
Suffice it to say that the Bronfman family built their initial wealth by selling alcohol when it was prohibited—first in Canada, then in the US. The same laws which banned alcohol in Canada and the US had created exemptions for medicinal use. The Bronfmans took advantage of this in each situation to create a thriving liquor business.
Jeffrey Bronfman, the grandson of Harry and scion to the Seagram fortune, became president of the UDV’s US branch.
Keep this in mind for a moment, for in it we see a pattern that is loosely repeated in the story of UDV. Jeffrey Bronfman, the grandson of Harry and scion to the Seagram fortune, first learned about UDV in the early nineties while traveling to Brazil.[viii] Back in the US, Bronfman began to hold UDV meetings with ayahuasca in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The group in Santa Fe received shipments of prepared ayahuasca from Brazil which it dispensed to its members in regular sessions.[ix] In 1994, the same year Rushkoff’s Cyberia was published, Bronfman was made president of the UDV’s US branch.[x]
Despite holding such a prominent position in the church, Bronfman was rather quiet in his early years with UDV. In 1997, after word got out that the scion of the Seagram Liquor fortune was involved in a drug-inspired Amazonian religion, he told journalists that it was “not a subject I choose to discuss” but rather preferred to “keep private.”[xi]
Bronfman crafted a religious freedom defense for UDV. The case wound up in the Supreme Court, who, in 2006, ruled in UDV’s favor.
However, he was not able to maintain such silence for long. In 1999, the UDV temple in Santa Fe was raided, and in Bronfman’s office there, federal agents found and seized roughly thirty gallons of ayahuasca.[xii]
In the case that ensued, Bronfman served as the legal strategist and lead plaintiff. His goal was to achieve governmental approval of UDV’s use of ayahuasca. To achieve this, Bronfman crafted a religious freedom defense for UDV. The case wound up in the Supreme Court, who, in 2006, ruled in UDV’s favor. To resolve the case, the Court ordered UDV and the DEA to negotiate a settlement agreement.
And thus, after a rocky start, began UDV’s “cooperative relationship,” in Bronfman’s words, with the federal government.[xiii] As part of their negotiation, the DEA agreed to create licenses which grant UDV rights to import and distribute ayahuasca. These licenses made UDV the first non-scientific institution to legally administer ayahuasca since the drug’s prohibition with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. They enable UDV members to practice their religion with minimal obstruction or oversight from the government.
The DEA agreed to create licenses which grant UDV rights to import and distribute ayahuasca.
Bronfman describes UDV’s relationship with the DEA as “cordial, respectful, and cooperative,” and insists that it is “beneficial to both sides.”[xiv] Would Bronfman have been able to successfully take on the Supreme Court if he did not come from a family of incredible wealth? Did alcohol money, in effect, buy legal protection for ayahuasca in the US?
It is admittedly difficult to answer these questions given the nuance and complexities of the case at hand. Nonetheless, they merit our consideration of we wish to objectively understand the modern politics of ayahuasca. Ultimately, it is doubtful that UDV would have achieved success in the Supreme Court were they not represented by a wealthy and well-connected figure such as Bronfman.
Did alcohol money, in effect, buy legal protection for ayahuasca in the US?
The irony of the situation—that Bronfman, whose family utilized a legal loophole enabling them to distribute alcohol for medicinal use, similarly utilized a legal loophole enabling UDV to distribute ayahuasca for religious use—is hard to miss.
Ironic or not, the Supreme Court’s 2006 decision on UDV has functioned as a tremendous validation of the use of ayahuasca. Since its passage, the case has been cited in more than three hundred separate federal cases involving the religious use of drugs.[xv] In this sense, it has helped open the door to wider acceptance of ayahuasca and similar drugs in the US.
The growth in popularity that ayahuasca has experienced in recent years is itself replete with drugism. The Supreme Court’s decision on UDV has only contributed to this drugism, lending a veneer of acceptability to ayahuasca that other illegal drugs can only dream of.
Endnotes
[i] Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, “The Origin.”
[ii] Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, “From the Northeastern…”
[iii] Brink, “10 things: Get…”
[iv] Parlato, “The True, Sinister…”
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Brink.
[viii] Laskow, “In 2016, the…”
[ix] Bronfman, “Federal Government Licensing…”
[x] Toobin, “High Tea.”
[xi] Landman Keil and Mitchell, “Intelligencer.”
[xii] Toobin.
[xiii] See 12:21 in Bronfman.
[xiv] Ibid., 18:00.
[xv] Ibid., 20:12.
Sources
Brink, Graham. “10 things: Get to know the Bronfman family’s rich and storied history.” Tampa Bay Times, Jul 3, 2019.
Bronfman, Jeffrey. “Federal Government Licensing of Ayahuasca Use and Personal and Religious Freedom.” Psychedelic Science 2013. San Francisco, CA.
Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal.“From the Northeastern Backcountry to the Amazon Forest.” Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal. https://udv.org.br/en/mestre-gabriel/the-founder/do-sertao-a-amazonia/
Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal. “The Origin.” Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal. https://udv.org.br/en/udv-creation/the-origin-of-the-udv/
Landman Keil, Beth and Deborah Mitchell. “Intelligencer.” New York Magazine, Mar 31, 1997.
Laskow, Sarah. “In 2016, the ‘First Legal Ayahuasca Church’ Got Shut Down. Was It a Scam—or a New Religion?” Atlas Obscura, Sep 16, 2016.
Parlato, Frank. “The True, Sinister Origin of Bronfman Family Wealth.” Frank Report, Jul 6, 2019.
Toobin, Jeffrey. “High Tea.” The New Yorker, Dec 13, 2004.
Photo credits
Photo of Samuel Bronfman, on left, from Numérique at https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2855064
Photo of Jeffrey Bronfman, on right, from Mapping Medicine on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYqjM51UPY
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