Ayahuasca: Maureen Rainford consumed hallucinogen ‘praised by Prince Harry’ at Bolivian wellness retreat
A British mother has died after apparently taking a psychedelic druglaced tea which was praised by Prince Harry.
Social worker Maureen Rainford, 54, had allegedly consumed the hallucinogenic drink called ayahuasca during a ten-day stay at a wellness and detox retreat in Bolivia.
The mother of three was fit and healthy before she went on the trip last month, her family say.
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Her daughter Rochel was told by a resort official that Ms Rainford had suffered a ‘medical emergency’ at the resort.
But others say her mother collapsed ten minutes after drinking the ayahuasca brew. She had complained of feeling ill as her breathing and heart rate dropped, they said.
Last year, Prince Harry admitted to taking ayahuasca to help him cope with trauma after the death of his mother.
It is made from the bark of a vine and the leaves of a bush found in the Amazon rainforest which contain the hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine.
Ms Rainford was given CPR at the Ayahuasca and San Pedro Pisatahua Retreat but died an hour after she collapsed.
The family has been told that a doctor did not arrive on site until later on. Rochel, 32, told The Sun on Sunday: ‘There should be a trained medic on standby when hallucinogenic drugs are being handed out in a remote area. [A staff member] Eric tried to insist she must be cremated in Bolivia as her body would decompose but I did not want any cover-up.’
Ms Rainford’s body was returned to Britain after Rochel contacted the British consulate. A coroner was informed of her death and a post-mortem found Ms Rainford, from Romford, Essex, had suffered a heart attack. Her funeral was held last week.
Ayahuasca has long been used for spiritual and religious purposes by tribes in the Amazon and is considered sacred by some communities.
A spokesman for the retreat said Ms Rainford’s death ‘was due to a medical emergency that was not related to ayahuasca’.
He added that ‘our heart goes out to her family’. Prince Harry was criticised for talking about his ‘positive’ experience of taking ayahuasca.
He said it ‘brought me a sense of relaxation, release, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hold on to for a period of time’.
But the prince said he would not recommend taking the substance recreationally. ‘Doing it with the right people if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine,’ he said.
