Précis

Thousands of young travelers are flocking to the Amazon to chase the highs of the ayahuasca plant. Tragically, some never return. Hamish Macdonald investigates.

Matthew Dawson-Clarke made no secret of it. The young Kiwi had told his mum and dad that he was off to Peru to try ayahuasca, a traditional hallucinogen that’s made the adventure travelers’ bucket list.

Then, out of the blue, came the phone call. It was Father’s Day, but it wasn’t Matthew ringing home. It was a young woman he had met in Peru. She was ringing to offer her condolences.   

“My world stopped that day.” – Matthew’s mother Lyndie

At that moment Matthew’s parents were told that their 24-year-old son had died three days earlier at an ayahuasca retreat in the Peruvian jungle, in highly questionable circumstances.

“This is my world, you know? It doesn’t happen to people like me, and it doesn’t happen to my son.” – Lyndie

Matthew was among the tens of thousands of tourists who visit the Amazon every year to try ayahuasca, which is legal in Peru. Many do have a positive experience and some rave about its supposed healing and spiritual properties. But in the 18 months since Matthew’s death, another five people have died there.

Hamish Macdonald joins Foreign Correspondent for its 2017 season with an expose of the Amazon’s booming ayahuasca industry, told through the prism of Matthew Dawson-Clarke’s death. He reveals an industry that rakes in money for its mostly western operators, but falls badly short in regulation or accountability.

Macdonald and his team track down the shaman who prepared the brew of “cleansing” tobacco tea that Matt consumed before he died…

“I think that it was his destiny.” – the shaman

… the tour operator who failed to notify Matt’s parents...

“People die sometimes. Shit happens. It’s always gonna happen.” – tour operator

…and the fellow tourist who tried to save him when no one else would, and lives with guilt for having failed.

“He’s just a 24-year-old kid for God’s sake. He went there to better himself, to become a better person, a better human being, and now he’s dead. I think about Matt every day. If I could have done just a little bit more…” – “Richard”, from Texas

Aerial boat on river

Music

00:00

Super:
IQUITOS, PERU

00:08

Macdonald on boat on river

00:22

Super:
Reporter:
HAMISH MACDONALD

00:25

Aerial Iquitos GVs

HAMISH MACDONALD: Iquitos is on the banks of the Amazon. It was once famous for exporting rubber to Europe. These days, it’s a mecca for anyone trying to get their hands on a new “it” drug, a natural high known as ayahuasca.

00:31

Here, they call it “the medicine” and each year tens of thousands are coming to try it, many of those are Australian. Some claim it can cure everything from cancer to heroin addiction – but not all ayahuasca experiences end well. I want to investigate the death of one young man.

00:55

Macdonald to camera on Iquitos street

“This is where Matt Dawson-Clarke’s journey into Amazon began and it’s where it ended. And that’s why we’ve come here, to try and get some answers about how he died and why”.

01:17

Sydney GV. Dawson-Clarke home exterior TITLE: “It Doesn’t Happen to People Like Me”

Music

01:40

Dawson-Clarke home interior. Phone ringing

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “It was a Sunday afternoon.

01:48

Lyndie interview

The phone was ringing and usually I’ll ignore it, but for some reason I thought, oh I’ve got to get that call”.

01:52

Reconstruction of Lyndie answering phone. Super: Reconstruction

LYNDIE:   “Hello, it’s Lyndie here”.

01:58

Lyndie interview

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “And then I got this really heavy accent that came through saying, is that… is that Matthew’s mum? And I can remember thinking what, who’s this?

02:02

Reconstruction. Lyndie on phone

LYNDIE:   “I’m sorry, who are you?”

02:18

Lyndie interview

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “And she said to me, I was… I’m so sorry for your loss. At that point my heart just stopped, and I think I started screaming at her and I just said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And she said,

02:22

Photo. Matthew on boat

‘I was on a retreat with your son.

02:37

Lyndie interview

Matthew died. He died three days ago’.

02:40

Reconstruction. Lyndie to front door crying

02:43

Lyndie interview. Super:
LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE

My world stopped that day. So now I had

02:53

Home footage. Matt on boat

a son apparently dead. I didn’t know where he was.

02:59

Lyndie interview

And this is my world, you know? It doesn’t happen to people like me and it doesn’t happen to my son”.

03:06

Photo. Lyndie with Matt in London

HAMISH MACDONALD: Like so many young people from this part of the world, Matt was living and working in London.

03:20

Home video. Matt snorkelling

From there he got work on a super yacht, taking clients through the waters of the Mediterranean, all the way to the Caribbean.

STUART CLARKE: “Matt had a lot of promise and the saddest part of it all, apart from losing our boy, is that the

03:27

Stuart interview. Super:
STUART CLARKE

opportunity of seeing what he was going to become we’re not going to have”.

03:46

Matt on boat

03:53

Matt’s face to camera

HAMISH MACDONALD: On the 6th of September 2015, Matthew Dawson-Clarke’s family at home in Auckland

04:06

Auckland suburban street

desperately start searching for information. They reach the tour operator in Peru, Andy Metcalfe, and record the call.

04:15

GFX on screen text:

-          tell me where Matt is

-          in the Iquitos morgue

STUART CLARKE: “I want somebody to tell me where Matt is”.

ANDY METCALFE: “He’s currently in the morgue in Iquitos”.

STUART CLARKE: “In where?”

ANDY METCALFE: “In the Iquitos morgue”.

04:24

Still. Matt

STUART CLARKE: “To have to say goodbye to one of your kids…

04:33

Stuart interview

all you know is you want as much of them back as you can get”.

04:37

Auckland street

04:39

GFX on screen text:

-          rely on you track things down right thing

-          our son

[on phone to Andy] “Can I rely on you to help us to track things down so that we can do the right thing for our son?”

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “This is our son!”

ANDY METCALFE: “Of course, of course”.

04:43

GFX on screen text:

-          please I beg of you help us find our son

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE:  “Please, I beg of you. If you have anyone who can help us there find our son.”

04:51

View of houses

HAMISH MACDONALD: It turns out Andy Metcalfe had told other members of the retreat he’d broken the news to Matt’s family.

04:59

Stuart interview

STUART CLARKE: “He told them that he had told the parents what had happened. So he lied”.

HAMISH MACDONALD: “Had he?”

STUART CLARKE: “He never told us at all. He’s acknowledged that since”.

05:07

Auckland suburbs

Music

05:16

Macdonald into boat on river with Freddie Findlay

05:29

HAMISH MACDONALD: Iquitos holds a lot of the answers, not just about Matt’s death but also about why so many people are being drawn to ayahuasca. This ancient custom, once confined to the Amazon, has spread like wildfire on the internet. It’s now even available in countries like Australia and America.

05:37

Findlay and Macdonald in boat

FREDDIE FINDLAY: “Now we’re going just down the Itaya River and we’re just taking a short ride down here to Mamcuyna… the land and then because it’s flooded, we’ll go in through the camo camo orchard”.

HAMISH MACDONALD: Freddie Findlay is a British ex-pat who lives here.

06:01

River GVs

From a successful child actor in London, to a drug addict living on the streets of Peru’s capital Lima, he’s now an apprentice Shaman, a traditional healer. Tonight, Freddie’s agreed to host us for an ayahuasca ceremony.

06:18

06:32

Getting out of boat

FREDDIE FINDLAY: [getting out of boat] “Be careful getting off here because the floor is very slippery.

06:37

Findlay and Macdonald into Mamcuyna

This is Mamcuyna!

06:47

Findlay prepares ayahuasca

07:00

Best way to start the day!”

HAMISH MACDONALD: Ayahuasca only grows in the Amazon jungle and when brewed with other plants, it’s one of the most powerful hallucinogens on earth. It’s illegal in most western countries, but not here in Peru and each retreat has its own recipe.

07:14

Findlay with ayahuasca. Super:
FREDDIE FINDLAY
Apprentice shaman

FREDDIE FINDLAY: “If you just drunk this by itself you would just purge. You know you would just vomit and go to the bathroom, but the combination of ayahuasca and the chacruna and the other two things is what makes our medicine.

07:30

Findlay interview

I guess I have a history of drug abuse and from an early age, you know, from when I was 13 or 14 onwards, you know crack, heroin – I also did a lot of, you know, of ecstasy and acid and things like that. But the harder drugs, I had problems with them, you know, from having quite a good career and earning some good money, having a lot of things, I lost everything”.

07:54

HAMISH MACDONALD: “What proportion of the people do you think coming here are trying to deal with an addiction of some form?”

FREDDIE FINDLAY: “A lot of them.

08:29

Some people have, you know, an addiction to marijuana, other people are doing heroin and other people that are doing coke, but you know whatever it is, there’s a lot of them coming”.

08:35

Ayahuasca brew on fire

HAMISH MACDONALD: “And how effective do you think it is as a mechanism for dealing with addiction?”

FREDDIE FINDLAY: “I think it’s very effective

08:47

Findlay interview

and I would say that I’m living proof of it you know because I was a mess, a big mess”.

08:53

Ayahuasca brew on fire

HAMISH MACDONALD: “How safe is it to come here and try this?”

FREDDIE FINDLAY: “It’s very safe.

09:01

Findlay interview

Again, as long as you’re with the right person, you know, the right people”.

09:12

Guys sitting around at retreat

HAMISH MACDONALD: People come here to drink ayahuasca for all sorts of reasons. There are the sick and vulnerable, people with addictions, and with post-traumatic stress. But there’s also the younger crowd, a lot just come for the adventure.

09:17

Ayahuasca brew on fire

09:41

Macdonald to camera outside hut

Enters hut

HAMISH MACDONALD: “Well the afternoon light is disappearing pretty quickly and inside they’re preparing for their ayahuasca ceremony. We are allowed to watch, but the whole thing is going to happen in darkness”.

09:51

Ayahuasca ceremony

FREDDIE FINDLAY: “What we’re going to do now yeah is prepare the medicine. … We’re going to sing to the medicine”.

10:08

HAMISH MACDONALD: This ceremony will continue for the next five or six hours, as will the singing and the purging.

10:31

Ceremony continues

10:40

Texas GVs

Music

12:01

Richard putting on motorcycle gloves and helmet

RICHARD: “I think about Matt every day, even though I don’t let myself think about it very long”.

HAMISH MACDONALD: After Matthew Dawson-Clarke’s death, his parents began contacting the other guests from the retreat to find out what happened. They reached Richard, from Texas.

12:14

Richard rides off on bike

RICHARD: “There’s not one day that has gone by that I haven’t thought about him or his family and the pain that they must have been going through and are going through right now”.

12:37

Music

12:45

HAMISH MACDONALD: Talking about his ayahuasca journey could cost Richard his job, so we’ve agreed to keep his identity and his real name secret.

12:50

Richard on motorbike

Music

12:58

HAMISH MACDONALD:  Like many others, he hoped the drug would relieve his PTSD brought on by working as a paramedic with the fire department. Instead, it only made things worse.

13:03

Richard interview

RICHARD: “I feel more lost now than I was when I started, and the shameful thing is what I was on my way, you know, I was almost there”.

13:18

River aerial

Music

13:28

HAMISH MACDONALD: Here’s what we understand happened to Matt on the 3rd of September 2015.

13:34

Reconstruction of ayahuasca ceremony and Matt’s situation. Super:
Reconstruction

It begins the morning after a wild night of dancing around the fire. In preparation for another ayahuasca ceremony, Matthew drinks a powerful brew of tobacco tea, part of the cleansing ritual. Within 15 minutes he feels unwell. He says he thinks he’s been poisoned. Matt is attended by the shaman who prepared the tea, Don Lucho, and a helper, Carolina.

13:39

At one point during the day they cycle Matt’s legs as if to maintain circulation.

RICHARD: “My intuition as a medic, as someone who’s been doing this job for a while,

14:12

Richard interview

was something wasn’t right with Matt”.

14:23

Reconstruction of Matt’s collapse

HAMISH MACDONALD: Richard the paramedic offers help but is turned away at the door by Carolina. It’s not until the very end of the day at 5 pm, when Matt goes into cardiac arrest that Richard is finally enlisted to help.

14:26

RICHARD: “I realised that I was the only person there that was medically trained.

14:48

Richard interview

No one had any first aid training or CPR training – at all”.

14:51

Reconstruction of CPR and transport of Matt to hospital

HAMISH MACDONALD: A frantic effort begins - CPR, a vehicle to get Matt to hospital. Deep in the Amazon it is a dangerous and difficult journey. The vehicle gets bogged, it even tips over. Eventually making it down the river, just before midnight, Matthew Dawson-Clarke’s body is released to the morgue. Richard is still deeply troubled by the events of that week.

14:55

Richard interview

RICHARD: “I mean he’s just a 24 year old kid for God’s sake, you know? He shouldn’t be… he shouldn’t be dead. He went there to go better himself, to become a better person, a better human being. And I’m sorry that I couldn’t … [upset]. I tried you know? Sorry”.

15:28

HAMISH MACDONALD: “Are you okay?”

RICHARD: “Yeah. I tried so hard. I did everything in my power to save their son and, you know, I’m sorry”.

15:45

Aerial. Macdonald in boat on river

Music

16:00

HAMISH MACDONALD: The striking thing about Matt’s death is that no one has ever been held accountable. In the year and a half since, another five people have died in this region in connection with ayahuasca retreats.

16:07

Macdonald walking down track

The investigation into Matt’s death was closed last year and the shaman, Don Lucho is still operating Kapitari, the retreat where Matt died - and still offering that same tobacco tea. That’s where I’m heading now.

 “It’s fair to say this place is remote.

16:19

It’s taken us two boat journeys to get here, a good 30-40 minutes walking deeper into the jungle. There is no phone reception or patchy reception and no electricity. If something goes wrong out here, you’re a long way from help”.

16:41

Finding Don Lucho may help answer some of the many questions about Matt’s death.

17:05

Macdonald walking down track with translator to Kapitari

“There’s Kapitari”.

17:14

Man greets Hamish

HAMISH MACDONALD: “Hi, I’m Hamish. I’m from the ABC Australia. We’re hoping to speak with Don Lucho if that’s possible. We have some questions.

PERSON FROM RETREAT: “Don Lucho is not here. He went to Iquitos. Where are you?”

17:28

Man on phone to Don Lucho

HAMISH MACDONALD: It turns out the man we have come here to find has gone to town for the day.

MAN FROM RETREAT: [on phone to Don Lucho] “Do me a favour. We have some people here from Australia”.

17:42

Macdonald walks from river and greets Don Lucho

HAMISH MACDONALD: So we race back to the port, to find Don Lucho is waiting.

“We just have a few questions about the death of Matthew Dawson-Clarke. We are looking into his case. I’d like to understand why you didn’t take him to hospital that day”.

17:52

Don Lucho

DON LUCHO: “We work with the translators. The translator didn’t communicate with me. That’s why there was a delay. We did try to take him to the city, but there was a strike.

18:11

HAMISH MACDONALD: “But if he took the tobacco tea very early in the day and immediately he said that he thought he’d been poisoned and it wasn’t until 5 pm that you asked others for help?”

DON LUCHO: “Well, he was in a trance. One moment he felt well, and said he was okay. The next moment he felt bad, and it was like that, back and forth. It wasn’t continuous. He was in a trance, saying “Okay… I’m okay”.”

18:28

Don Lucho continues

HAMISH MACDONALD: “And have you got anything you want to say to Matthew Dawson-Clarke’s parents?”

DON LUCHO: “From my point of view, I believe it was his destiny. Look, you might die from a car accident… from a bullet… I think it was his fate. I’ve worked with tobacco for 30 years and I’ve never had anything like this happen”.

18:57

Don Lucho walks away

HAMISH MACDONALD: Don Lucho might say there’s no issue with tobacco teas, but in the very same year that Matt died, a young Canadian woman died after drinking one, too.

19:19

Don Lucho on phone

And while Don Lucho says Matt’s death is not his fault, remember the tour operator Andy Metcalfe from the phone calls? He’s never been held accountable either.

19:30

Macdonald approaches Metcalfe

 “I just want to know if we might be able to talk to you for the story”.

After initially agreeing to see us one day…

“It would be better to talk to you and get your version of things”.

ANDY METCALFE: “I will talk to you. I’d rather not be on camera though”.

19:42

HAMISH MACDONALD: When it comes to meeting the next day, Andy is giving us the slip. He’s about to disappear into the jungle, where he now owns his own retreat and he’s texted saying he’s too busy.

16:56

Macdonald walks to Karma café

On a tip off, we learn that’s not quite true. Andy is in fact just down the road having lunch at the Karma Café.

20:08

Macdonald approaches Metcalfe in café.

“Sorry I heard you were down here so I thought I’d come and say hi”.

It’s our last chance to get some answers about his responsibility to his clients. Guys like Andy make a lot of the money in this largely unregulated industry, often more than the local shaman do.

20:16

A lot of people are still trusting Andy Metcalfe with their lives in these remote jungle retreats. So we decide to secretly record his response.

ANDY METCALFE: “I don’t accept blame for what happened. You know, we had well over a thousand people on retreats at Kapitari before Matt came along and no incidents whatsoever, you know, so maybe we were complacent, I don’t know”.

20:37

HAMISH MACDONALD: “But what about things like first aid and training and plans for if things go wrong?”

ANDY METCALFE: “I guess it wasn’t really something that we imagined would ever happen. I mean, it’s not very easy to get first aid training in Peru, Iquitos”.

20:58

Macdonald and Metcalfe continue

HAMISH MACDONALD: “I mean I guess when you… when you accept the money you take some responsibility, right?”

ANDY METCALFE: “Sure, I suppose so. As far as I’m concerned the shaman is ultimately responsible, the shaman gives the medicine. I’m not Kapitari, yes I did accept the money, but I in a kind of way work as a middleman or whatever. So you could argue that there is some responsibility there.

21:13

Macdonald and Metcalfe continue

Things were handled very badly in the aftermath as well, you know, and I certainly accept some responsibility for that. The big story which everybody’s ignoring is how many people die from pharmaceutical drugs every year – even ones that were properly prescribed. Shit happens. It’s always gonna happen, you know?”

21:38

HAMISH MACDONALD: Shit happens? Well that’s not how Matt’s family sees this.

21:54

Aerial over jungle/Dissolve to stills of Matt

Music

22:00

HAMISH MACDONALD:  The reality is that Matt Dawson-Clarke paid 650 US dollars to go to a retreat – Kapitari - that we’ve learned was and still is operating illegally. And when things went wrong for Matt, it was another tourist, Richard from Texas who had to try and save him.

“What sort of stands out to me is that

22:05

Richard interview

it wasn’t the staff that sort of initiated taking Matt to hospital”.

22:24

RICHARD: “I was the one that had to take charge of this whole situation. There was no help. Don Lucho didn’t come. He didn’t come, you know, with us along the way to the, to the boat or, you know, he wasn’t there. I did feel, I did feel like we…”

HAMISH MACDONALD: “Did he take responsibility for Matt?”

RICHARD: “I’ve never, I’ve never heard him take responsibility”.

22:29

HAMISH MACDONALD: “Andy saying that he’d told the parents, was he telling the truth?”

22:48

RICHARD: “I would say not”.

22:52

Police outside courthouse

HAMISH MACDONALD: So will anyone ever be forced to take responsibility for this death?

23:00

Macdonald to camera outside courthouse

 “Since we’ve been working on this story there’s been a huge development. Matt Dawson-Clarke’s family lodged a formal complaint with the Peruvian authorities and that’s now led them to re-open the investigation”.

23:05

Don Lucho entering courthouse

As a result, Don Lucho is now inside this building making a pointed claim to the prosecutor that Matthew Dawson-Clarke may have been using other drugs just before coming to the retreat.

23:18

Macdonald and translator greet Don Lucho

Now Matt did tell others on the retreat that like many young people, he’d used some drugs in the past, but the claim made by Don Lucho is not supported by any actual evidence.

23:31

Don Lucho interview

DON LUCHO: “It’s possible that he had taken drugs and they reacted badly with the plant. I’ve been working with the plant for more than 20 years. I’m still working with it, and have never had any problems. People have to tell me what they’re taking – what medicine or drugs they’re taking – so I can understand them. Because if they don’t tell me, look what happened”.

23:44

HAMISH MACDONALD: “Andy Metcalfe says that he takes no blame for what happened, that he was just a middleman”.

24:08

DON LUCHO: “Now he says that. Before, he was a partner! He was taking more money than me, and I’m the one doing the work. But who’s taking responsibility? Andy? No, me! If it kills, I’m the one dying. If someone has to go to prison, I’m the one jailed. That’s what bothers me. During tough times he just steps aside. Problems have to be fought from beginning to end. That’s how I like it”.

24:13

Don Lucho leaves

HAMISH MACDONALD: Don Lucho still hasn’t been charged and convictions for ayahuasca related deaths are very rare.

24:40

Macdonald and Stuart Clarke looking at autopsy reports

Matthew Dawson-Clarke’s family has now spent a year and a half fighting for justice and fighting for answers.

STUART CLARKE: “They’re referring to the comment about stimulant drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, no information regarding this in the case. Neither of these drugs were detected by the post mortem or tox”.

24:51

HAMISH MACDONALD: The post mortem from Peru blames pneumonia leading to cardiac arrest for Matt’s death, but in New Zealand, so far a coronial inquest remains inconclusive. And an autopsy report points to possible nicotine poisoning.

25:14

STUART CLARKE: “Possible nicotine toxicity which fits exactly with what we believe to be the occasion that led to him being given the tobacco tea”.

25:28

Video footage of Matt

HAMISH MACDONALD: On the accusation about Matt using drugs before he went to Kapitari, his family and the available evidence are clear.

25:36

Photo. Matt on boat

STUART CLARKE: “Well Mathew wasn’t a drinker. He certainly wasn’t a methamphetamine addict. Our belief is pretty simple,

25:48

Stuart interview. Super:
STUART CLARKE

as the rumours that were proliferating out of Peru really just were to give themselves, they thought, some breathing space I believe, because at the end of the day they’re too easily disproved”.

25:53

Video footage of Matt

There’s a part of you that going to be forever empty.

26:08

Stuart interview

It can’t be undone, and you go through regular periods where you just actually, you just want to go and be with him. And that’s often at the expense of those that are still with us while you’re alive, because it’s very easy just to go I don’t want to be here anymore”.

26:14

Lyndie with Macdonald at home, with Matt’s things.

HAMISH MACDONALD: Lyndie Dawson-Clarke even had to fight just to get Matt’s belongings back home from Peru.

26:34

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “This is my place of remembrance”.

HAMISH MACDONALD: “And what is it about the physical thigs do you think?”

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “It reminds me, I mean every day when I go walking in the morning as I’m coming down the driveway, I yell out to the universe,

26:43

 ‘I have a son and his name is Matthew James Dawson-Clarke’ because people forget and their lives move on. But for me, my life stopped that day and I have to remember that I have a son. These physical things remind me that he was my boy, and he lived here and he still does live here”.

26:56

HAMISH MACDONALD: She wants anyone thinking about ayahuasca to know the risks.

27:22

Lyndie interview

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “I think for me personally, it wasn’t the ayah that took my son, it was the tobacco purge that took my son. They need to be aware that it may not be right for everybody and if you are a really healthy individual, what are you putting into your system, and the possibility of you dying can happen. I’m not here to tell people what to do with their lives, I’m just here to say be aware”.

27:26

Home movie footage Matt on pier

Music

27:56

HAMISH MACDONALD: “How would you describe what it is you’ve been through?”

LYNDIE DAWSON-CLARKE: “It’s now been

28:03

Lyndie interview

16 months of darkness and of torment and of me searching for my son, trying to, because my belief was that he was in such agony when he died and I wasn’t there to save him”.

28:06

Home movie footage Matt on pier

Music

28:31

Credits over river aerial

Reporter - Hamish Macdonald

Producer - Sashka Koloff

Camera - Mathew Marsic

Editor - Garth Thomas

Research - Karina Meier

Drone operator – Yachaywasi Films

Executive producer – Marianne Leitch

abc.net.au/foreign

28:46

29:00