The Supreme Court versus Peyote: Consciousness Alteration, Cultural Psychiatry and the Dilemma of Contemporary Subcultures
Anthropology of Consciousness September 1, 2001 DOI: 10.1525/ac.2001.12.2.4 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mescaline |
| Keywords | Supreme court Ethnography Dilemma Consciousness Ethnocentrism Law Criminology Anthropology Epistemology |
| Citations | 11 |
| Key points | Argues that the Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith is not supported by ethnographic findings on Peyote use in the Native American Church, and that Peyote's Schedule I status contradicts evidence of its safety and therapeutic value. |
Abstract
The Native American Church is examined as an illustrative example in the political anthropology of consciousness. Specific attention is paid to the Supreme Court's ignoring of accepted research on this tradition and its sacrament, Peyote, in the case of Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith. An anthropological reaction to the Smith decision is constructed, focusing on ethnographic findings regarding Peyote that contradict the Supreme Court's ethnocentric assumptions. This paper argues that Peyote's Schedule I status is not supported by the ethnographic findings. Peyote, as used in the Native American Church, is recognized as safe and therapeutic. It is also argued that the Supreme Court's rationale for denying Peyotist religious freedom is not supported by the ethnographic findings nor by legal precedent. Not only is the Native American's right to use Peyote a matter of freedom of religion, it also involves other rights such as the right to raise one's children in one's own culture and the right to be treated using a culturally relevant therapeutic modality.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mescaline, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schizophrenia: A New Approach. II. Result of a Year's Research | 1954 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Thought insertion as a self-disturbance: An integration of predictive coding and phenomenological approaches | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Entactogens: How the Name for a Novel Class of Psychoactive Agents Originated | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Steric and Electronic Relationships among Some Hallucinogenic Compounds | 1970 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| EFFECT OF DRUGS One individual | 1952 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | n = 1 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Clinical Paradigm Clashes: Ethnocentric and Political Barriers to Native American Efforts at Self‐Healing Ethos September 1, 2008
- American Trip The MIT Press eBooks July 14, 2020
- Amazonian Medicine and the Psychedelic Revival: Considering the “Dieta” Frontiers in Pharmacology May 28, 2021
- Clinical Contributions to Consciousness Studies Activitas Nervosa Superior March 1, 2010
- Anthropology and the development of the Transpersonal Movement: Finding the Transpersonal in Transpersonal Anthropology Transpersonal Psychology Review 2007
Cites 4
- Inhibitory effects of ibogaine on cocaine self-administration in rats. European Journal of Pharmacology September 14, 1993
- Peyote in the Treatment of Alcoholism Among American Indians American Journal of Psychiatry November 1, 1974
- Navajo Peyote Use: Its Apparent Safety American Journal of Psychiatry December 1, 1971
- The Use of Hallucinogens in the Treatment of Addiction Addiction Research & Theory 1996