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Peyote

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Peyote
File:But plug
Peyote in the wild

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Division:
Magnoliophyta
Class:
Magnoliopsida
Order:
Caryophyllales
Family:
Cactaceae
Genus:
Lophophora
Species:
L. williamsii
Binomial name
Lophophora williamsii
(Lem.) J. Coult.

Lophophora williamsii (Template:PronEng), better known by its common name Peyote, (from the Nahuatl word peyotl), is a small, spineless cactus[2]. It is native to southwestern Texas and through central Mexico. It is found primarily in the Chihuahuan desert and in the states of Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosi among scrub, especially where there is limestone.

It is well known for its psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. It is used world wide as an entheogen, and supplement to various transcendence practices, including meditation, psychonautics, and psychedelic psychotherapy. Peyote has a long history of ritual religious and medicinal use by indigenous Americans. It flowers from March through May, and sometimes as late as September. The flowers are pink, with thigmotactic anthers (like Opuntia).

Description

The cactus flowers sporadically, producing small (edible) pink fruit. The seeds are small and black, requiring hot and humid conditions to germinate. Peyote contains a large spectrum of phenethylamine alkaloids, of which the principal one is mescaline. The mescaline content of Lophophora williamsii is about 0.4% fresh[3] (undried) and 3-6% dried.[3] Peyote is extremely slow growing. Cultivated specimens grow considerably faster, sometimes taking less than three years to go from seedling to mature flowering adult. More rapid growth can be achieved by grafting Peyote onto mature San Pedro root stock[4].

A flowering peyote, in cultivation.

The top of the cactus that grows above ground, also referred to as the crown, consists of disc-shaped buttons that are cut above the roots and sometimes dried. When done properly, the top of the root will form a callus and the root will not rot.[5] When poor harvesting techniques are used, however, the entire plant dies. Currently in South Texas, peyote grows naturally but has been over-harvested, to the point that the state has listed it as an endangered species. [citation needed] The buttons are generally chewed, or boiled in water to produce a psychoactive tea. Peyote is extremely bitter, and most people are nauseated before they feel the onset of the psychoactive effects.

Distribution and habitat

L. williamsii is native to southern North America, mainly distributed in Mexico. In U.S.A. it grows in the south limit state of Texas. In Mexico it grows in the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas in the north to San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas[6]. It is primarily found at elevations of 100 to 1500 m and exceptionally up to 1900 metres in the Chihuahuan desert, but is also present in the more mild climate of the state of Tamaulipas. Its habitat is primarily in desert scrub, particularly thorn scrub in Tamaulipas. It is most common on or near limestone hills.[7]

Uses

Dried Lophophora williamsii slices ("Peyote Buttons")
Chemical structure of mescaline, the primary psychoactive compound in peyote

The effective dose for mescaline is 200–500 mg, equivalent to about 5 g of dried peyote.[8] The effects last about 10 to 12 hours.[9] When combined with appropriate set and setting, peyote is reported to trigger states of deep introspection and insight that have been described as being of a metaphysical or spiritual nature. At times, these can be accompanied by rich visual or auditory effects (see synesthesia).

In addition to psychoactive use, Native Americans used the plant for its curative properties. They employed peyote to treat such varied ailments as toothache, pain in childbirth, fever, breast pain, skin diseases, rheumatism, diabetes, colds, and blindness. The U.S. Dispensatory lists peyote under the name Anhalonium, and states it can be used in various preparations for neurasthenia, hysteria and asthma. Screening for antimicrobial activity of peyote extracts in various solvents showed positive microbial inhibition. The principal antibiotic agent, a water-soluble crystalline substance separated from an ethanol extract of the plant, was given the name peyocactin.[10]

In the same study, mice were used for preliminary animal toxicity tests and protection studies to determine the degree of the inhibitory action of peyocactin against normally fatal infections with the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. In every case, the mice that had been given a peyocactin extract survived, while those in the control group died within 60 hours after infection. Peyocactin proved effective against 18 strains of penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, several other bacteria, and a fungus.[10]

The flesh may also be applied topically to promote milk production (see galactogogue).[citation needed]

Long-term use

A 2005 paper published in Biological Psychiatry outlines research into peyote use conducted by Dr. John Halpern. He found that peyote users scored significantly better than non-users on the "general positive affect" and "psychological well-being" measures of the Rand Mental Health Inventory (RMHI), a standard instrument used to diagnose psychological problems and determine overall mental health. By contrast, alcohol abusers did significantly worse than the comparison group (non-users) in all measures of the RMHI. [11]

History

Peyote is known to have been used since the middle of the Archaic period in the Americas by the people of the Oshara Tradition in the Southwest. In 2005 researchers used radiocarbon dating and alkaloid analysis to study two specimens of peyote buttons found in archaeological digs from a site called Shumla Cave No. 5 on the Rio Grande in Texas. The results dated the specimens to between 3780 and 3660 BCE. Alkaloid extraction yielded approximately 2% of the alkaloids including mescaline in both samples. This indicates that native North Americans were likely to have used peyote since at least five and a half thousand years ago.[12] Specimens from a burial cave in west central Coahuila, Mexico have been similarly analysed and dated to 810 to 1070 CE.[13]

From earliest recorded time, peyote has been used by indigenous peoples, such as the Huichol [14] of northern Mexico and by various Native American tribes, native to or relocated to the Southern Plains states of present-day Oklahoma and Texas. Its usage was also recorded among various Southwestern Athabaskan-language tribal groups. The Tonkawa, the Mescalero and Lipan Apache were the source or first practitioners of peyote religion in the regions north of present-day Mexico.[15] They were also the principal group to introduce peyote to newly arrived migrants, such as the Comanche and Kiowa from the Northern Plains. Documented evidence of the religious, ceremonial, and healing uses of peyote dates back over 2,000 years.[16]

Under the auspices of what came to be known as the Native American Church, in the 19th century, American Indians in more widespread regions to the north began to use peyote in religious practices, as part of a revival of native spirituality. Its members refer to peyote as "the sacred medicine", and use it to combat spiritual, physical, and other social ills. Concerned about the drug's psychoactive effects, between the 1880s and 1930s, U.S. authorities attempted to ban Native American religious rituals involving peyote, including the Ghost Dance. Today the Native American Church is one among several religious organizations to use peyote as part of its religious practice.

Peyote and its associated religion are fairly recent arrivals among the Navajo in the Southwestern United States, and can be firmly dated to the early 20th century. [citation needed] Traditional Navajo belief or ceremonial practice did not mention the use of peyote before its introduction by the neighboring Utes. The Navajo Nation now has the most members of the Native American Church. According to some estimates, 20 percent or more of the Navajo population are practitioners.[citation needed]

Dr. John Raleigh Briggs (1851-1907) was the first to draw scientific attention of the western scientific world to peyote.[17] Arthur Heffter conducted self experiments on its effects in 1897.[18] Similarly, pioneering Norwegian ethnographer Carl Sofus Lumholtz [19] studied and wrote about the use of peyote among the Indians of Mexico. Lumholtz also reported that, lacking other intoxicants, Texas Rangers captured by Union forces during the American Civil War soaked peyote buttons in water and became "intoxicated with the liquid" (p.358) His 1902 account seems to have been the first documentation of peyote use by non-native Americans.

In the 1970s, the early writings of Carlos Castaneda sparked a resurgence of interest in using peyote as a psychoactive drug.[2]. In these works, now widely regarded as wholly or mainly fictional, Don Juan Matus, said to be Castaneda's teacher in the use of peyote, named "Mescalito" as an entity that purportedly could be sensed by those using peyote to gain insight in how to live well. This was possible only if Mescalito 'accepted' the user. In later works, Castaneda asserted that the use of such psychotropic substances was not necessary to achieve heightened awareness, although, he reported, his teacher advised that its use was beneficial in helping to free some people's minds.

Legality

United States

United States federal law (and many state laws) protects the harvest, possession, consumption and cultivation of peyote as part of "bonafide religious ceremonies" (the federal statute is 42 USC §1996a, "Traditional Indian religious use of the peyote sacrament," exempting only Native American use, while some state laws exempt any general "bonafide religious activity"). American jurisdictions enacted these specific statutory exemptions in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), which held that laws prohibiting the use of peyote that do not specifically exempt religious use nevertheless do not violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Peyote is listed by the United States DEA as a Schedule I controlled substance.

Although many American jurisdictions specifically allow religious use of peyote, religious or therapeutic use not under the aegis of the Native American Church has often been targeted by local law enforcement agencies, and non-Natives attempting to establish spiritual centers based on the consumption of peyote as a sacrament or as medicine, such as the Peyote Foundation in Arizona, have been prosecuted. Those with Native American blood[citation needed] are allowed to consume and cultivate Peyote in all 50 states while non-native Peyote use is only protected in five states : Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon. Native Americans have subsequently been allowed to answer "no" on armed forces application question "Have you ever used illegal drugs"? with respect to peyote.

Canada

Mescaline is listed as a Schedule III controlled substance under the Canadian Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but peyote is specifically exempt. [1]

Seedling Peyote cactus which has been growing for roughly one year.

International

Article 32 of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances allows nations to exempt certain traditional uses of peyote from prohibition:

A State on whose territory there are plants growing wild which contain psychotropic substances from among those in Schedule I and which are traditionally used by certain small, clearly determined groups in magical or religious rites, may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, make reservations concerning these plants, in respect of the provisions of article 7, except for the provisions relating to international trade.

However, this exemption would apply only if the peyote cactus was ever explicitly added to the Schedules of the Psychotropic Convention. Currently the Convention applies only to chemicals. Peyote and other psychedelic plants are neither listed nor regulated by the Convention. See Convention on Psychotropic Substances#Psychedelic plants and fungi.

Many authors, especially those of the Beat Generation, wrote about their experiences with peyote, or were otherwise influenced by the plant. Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl was partly inspired by his use of Peyote on October 17, 1954 in his apartment at 755 Pine Street in San Francisco, when he had a vision of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel and the Medical Arts buildings being transformed into the ancient Phoenician god Moloch. [20]. Michael McClure wrote his great "Peyote Poem" after experimenting with peyote and other psychadelic drugs.[21]

Author Aldous Huxley published The Doors of Perception in 1953, which describes his experience with mescaline. Jim Morrison, lead singer of the band The Doors was known to experiment with peyote, and got the band's name from Huxley's novel. In the movie The Doors, Jim Morrison and the band go to Death Valley and have a spiritual experience with peyote.

Ken Kesey, while working as a night watchman at a psychiatric ward, was inspired to write his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest one night while he was on the job under the influence of peyote: he thought up Chief Bromden, who would turn out to be the central character in the novel, described by Tom Wolfe, in his novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, as "a full-blown Indian -- Chief Broom -- the solution, the whole mothering key, to the novel". Wolfe indicates Kesey was part of a medical test group being administered LSD, not mescaline. The rest of the account beyond the substance used is correct, according to Wolfe.[22] Kesey himself, however, always maintained it was in fact peyote, e.g. stating in his book Kesey's Garage Sale, "...it was after choking down eight of the little (peyote) cactus plants that I wrote the first three pages (of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)". Another example is from William S. Burroughs' semi-autobiographical novel Queer. The protagonist and his unrequited lover are setting out to search the Amazon jungle for yage, another psychedelic drug, prompting the protagonist to recount his idiosyncratic struggles with the peyote experience.[23] Nevertheless, his first account of a peyote experience can be found in his seminal work Junky, as by the end of the novel the protagonist-narrator describes a detailed episode of undergoing the effect of the plant in sundry locations in Mexico city. Also, an image of the plant, and by extension its possible usage, can be seen in the gonzo fist symbol attributed to Hunter S. Thompson. Hunter S. Thompson also recounts experiences with mescaline, most notably in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception gives a detailed account of his experience while on mescaline.

The image of the peyote plant has made its way into other media as well. The Eagles song "Bitter Creek" contains the line, "Oh peyote/She tried to show me/You know there ain't no cause to weep/at Bitter Creek." In the movie Zoolander, hippie model Hansel talks about his psychedelic experience with peyote, falling off Mount Vesuvius, and later realizing he had never even been to such a place. In the movie Young Guns the band of outlaws led by Billy the Kid while hiding from a pursuing posse consumed a peyote drink prepared by their Mexican companion. They then proceeded through a hostile Indian village under the influence. The Indians all looked at them a bit bemused and Billy asks "Hey, Chavez, how come they ain't killing us?" to which Dirty Steve answers, "Because we're in the spirit world..., They can't see us." Peyote was also ingested by Beavis in the film Beavis and Butthead Do America in which Beavis had a "trip" with music by White Zombie.

In The Matrix, Choi, who buys illegal software from Neo at the beginning of the film, replies to Neo's inquiry of whether he ever doesn't know if he's awake or still dreaming with, "All the time, its called mescaline, its the only way to fly."

In Garth Ennis's acclaimed graphic novel Preacher the main character Jesse Custer takes a ball of peyote after a sudden bout of amnesia wipes a portion of his memory. The ensuing hallucinations give him insight into his missing memories including a face to face confrontation with God.

In The Sopranos, episode "Kennedy and Heidi", mobster Tony Soprano takes peyote with a girlfriend in Las Vegas. He then goes on to win big at the roulette table - at which he says "It's the same principle as the Solar System" - and has a epiphany at sunrise in the Nevada desert, crying, "I GET IT!" This marks a turning point for the character in the concluding episodes of the series.

In the television series, 90210, Ethan asks Liam to score him some peyote while on a field trip for Habitat for Humanity. Liam says he'll make the tea, but ends up giving him herbal tea instead. This was in the episode, Okaeri, Donna! in Season 2 of the show.

In the movie "The Great Bank Robbery" (1969), Sister Lyda Kebanov, played by Kim Novak, seduces Ranger Ben Quick, played by Clint Walker with peyote she refers to as "candy".

In the movie Even Cowgirls Get the Blues the group of cowgirls gives peyote to Whooping Cranes to sedate them.

In the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Desert," Sokka drinks the liquid contents of a cactus while marooned in the Earth Kingdom desert, and experiences hallucinations similar to mescaline.

In the In Flames song World Within the Margins: "Feverish fractal scar ,Dance like were they on drugs, Peyote labyrinth re-mapped exits"

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lohophora williamsii". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
  2. ^ a b Salak, Kira. ""National Geographic article about Peyote"". National Geographic Adventure.
  3. ^ a b . Erowid.org Cite error: The named reference "erowid" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Year by year progress report documenting the increased growth rates of grafted peyote". The Lophophora Blog. Retrieved 30 December 2008.
  5. ^ "Proper peyote harvesting technique". The Lophophora Blog. Retrieved 30 December 2008.
  6. ^ http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.2985/0007-9367-80.6.310.
  7. ^ Zimmerman, Allan D.; Parfitt, Bruce D. (2006), "Lophophora williamsii", in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+ (ed.), Flora of North America, vol. 4, New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 242{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: editors list (link)
  8. ^ Baselt, Randall C.; Cravey, Robert H. (1995). Disposition of Toxic Drugs and Chemicals in Man (4 ed.). Foster City, CA: Chemical Toxicology Institute. ISBN 0-9626523-1-8.
  9. ^ Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (September 1991). PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Berkeley, California: Transform Press. ISBN 0-9630096-0-5. OCLC 25627628.
  10. ^ a b McCleary, J.A.; Sypherd, P.S.; Walkington, D.L. (1960), "Antibiotic Activity of an Extract Of Peyote [Lophophora williamsii (Lemaire) Coulter]", Economic Botany, 14: 247–249{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Addictions/tb/2070 Dr. John Halpern, "Psychological and Cognitive Effects of Long-Term Peyote Use Among Native Americans"], Biological Psychiatry, MedPage Today
  12. ^ El-Seedi HR, De Smet PA, Beck O, Possnert G, Bruhn JG (2005). "Prehistoric peyote use: alkaloid analysis and radiocarbon dating of archaeological specimens of Lophophora from Texas". J Ethnopharmacol. 101 (1–3): 238–42. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2005.04.022. PMID 15990261. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Bruhn JG, Lindgren JE, Holmstedt B, Adovasio JM (1978). "Peyote Alkaloids: Identification in a Prehistoric Specimen of Lophophora from Coahuila, Mexico". Science (journal). 199 (4336): 1437–1438. doi:10.1126/science.199.4336.1437. PMID 17796678. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Lumholtz, Carl, Unknown Mexico, New York: Scribners, 1902
  15. ^ Opler, Morris Edward (2008 [1938]). "The use of Peyote by the Carrizo and Lipan Apache tribes". American Ethnography Quasimonthly. Retrieved 19 January 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Schultes, Richard Evans (2008 [1938]). "The appeal of peyote (Lophophora Williamsii) as a medicine". American Ethnography Quasimonthly. Retrieved 19 January 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Jan G. Bruhn and Bo Holmstedt, "Early peyote research: an interdisciplinary study", Economic Botany, Volume 28, Number 4, October 1973, accessed 15 Nov 2009
  18. ^ Daniel Perrine, "Visions of the Night: Western Medicine Meets Peyote, 1887-1899", in The Heffter Review of Psychedelic Research, Vol. 2, 2001, p.42, accessed 15 Nov 2009
  19. ^ Lumholtz, Carl, Unknown Mexico, New York: Scribners (1902)
  20. ^ "Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression." Edited by Bill Morgan and Nancy J. Peters
  21. ^ Charters, Ann. "Michael McClure." The Portable Beat Reader, 1992. Print.
  22. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (2001), "Ken Kesey, Author of 'Cuckoo's Nest,' Who Defined the Psychedelic Era, Dies at 66", The New York Times
  23. ^ Burroughs, William S. (1985), Queer, New York: Penguin Books, p. 94-95, ISBN 0-14-00-8389-8

Further reading

  • Calabrese, Joseph D. "The Therapeutic Use of Peyote in the Native American Church" Chapter 3 in Vol. 1 of Psychedelic Medicine: New Evidence for Hallucinogens as Treatments Michael J. Winkelman and Thomas B. Roberts (editors) (2007). Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood.
  • Feeney, Kevin. "The Legal Basis for Religious Peyote Use." Chapter 13 in Vol 1 of Psychedelic Medicine: New Evidence for Hallucinogens as Treatments Michael J. Winkelman and Thomas B. Roberts (editors) (2007). Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood.
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