Mother dies in Bolivia after drinking 'psychedelic drug-laced tea'

A British mother has died at a Bolivian retreat that specialises in the psychedelic drug ayahuasca.

Social worker Maureen Rainford booked a ten-day stay last month at the Ayahuasca and San Pedro Pisatahua Retreat, an Amazon commune billed as a wellness and detox retreat.

The family of the mum-of-three, who paid £800 for the trip, stressed that she was fit and healthy ahead of the visit.

Her daughter Rochel, 32, was told by a resort official named Eric that Ms Rainford suffered a 'medical emergency' while on site.

Others told her that her mother collapsed ten minutes after drinking the ayahuasca and she was complaining of feeling ill as her breathing and heart rate dropped.

It is the same drug that Prince Harry admitted to taking to help him cope after the death of his mother Princess Diana.

Ayahuasca is a bitter-tasting drink made from the bark of a vine and the leaves of a bush found in the Amazon rainforest that contain N-N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic.

Despite CPR efforts Ms Rainford died an hour after she collapsed with a doctor not arriving until after, the family heard.

Rochel told The Sun on Sunday: 'There should be a trained medic on standby when hallucinogenic drugs are being handed out in a remote area.

'Eric tried to insist that 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 after Rochel said she contacted the he British consulate. A post-mortem confirmed that she suffered a heart attack.

Her funeral was held last week with East London's coroner being informed of the death.

The substance 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 'her passing was due to a medical emergency that was not related to ayahuasca' before adding that 'our heart goes out to her family'.

Prince Harry has previously been criticised for talking about his 'positive' experience of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca, saying it 'brought me a sense of relaxation, release, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hold on to for a period of time'. 

In a previous interview, Prince Harry said he would not recommended taking the substance recreationally.

But he added: '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.'