Reviewed by: Amada’s Blessings from the Peyote Gardens of South Texas by Stacy B. Schaefer Teresa Palomo Acosta Amada’s Blessings from the Peyote Gardens of South Texas. Stacy B. Schaefer. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2015. Pp. 301. Notes, references, index.) Early in her thoroughly engaging book on Amada Cardenas, the first federally licensed peyote trader, Stacy Schaefer...
This book explains the role that peyote—a hallucinogenic cactus—plays in the religious and spiritual fulfillment of certain peoples in the United States and Mexico, and examines pressing issues concerning the regulation and conservation of peyote as well as issues of indigenous and religious rights. Why is mescaline—an internationally controlled substance derived from peyote—given exemptions...
Mescaline,β-3,4,5-trimethoxy phenethylamin, is a psycho-active hallucinogen alkalloid extracted from cactus of peyote that resemble natural neurotransmitters epinephrine and dopamine. Peyote is a long-time expanding herb in the desert sand area along Texas and Mexico region and continues to be used hundreds of years by Residents of Mexico and South-western America for rituals. Following the...
High throughput transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis allowed us to efficiently identify candidate genes involved in mescaline biosynthetic pathway in L. williamsii; these included tyrosine/DOPA decarboxylase, hydroxylases, and O-methyltransferases. This study sets the theoretical foundation for bioassay design directed at confirming the participation of these genes in mescaline production.
We evaluated the pharmacological consequences of tissues other than crown being included with harvested peyote. Mean mescaline concentrations were determined for crown, non-chlorophyllous stem, and root, using mature individuals from the same population in South Texas. Samples of each tissue—crown, non-chlorophyllous stem, and root—were taken from each of 13 individual plants. Samples were...
Peyote was classified as a hallucinogen in the Drug Abuse Control Act of 1965, leaving American Indian (AI) religious use in legal ambiguity. In 1994, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was amended to unambiguously protect the right of religious use of peyote for AIs. The purpose of this article is to report the prevalence rates of peyote use by AIs compared to the rest of the US...
Substances known as psychedelics, hallucinogens and entheogens have been employed in ethnomedical traditions for thousands of years, but after promising uses in the 1950's and 1960's they were largely prohibited in medical treatment and human research starting in the 1970's as part of the fallout from the war on drugs. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies which suggest that these...
Reviewed by: The Peyote Road: Religious Freedom and the Native American Church by Thomas C. Maroukis William M. Clements The Peyote Road: Religious Freedom and the Native American Church. By Thomas C. Maroukis. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012. Pp. 296. Illustrations, map, notes, bibliography, index.) Note regarding changes to the book reviews section: The publishing world is...
In October 1956, a peyote ceremony took place at the Red Pheasant reserve in Saskatchewan. Organized by the Native American Church, the ceremony featured the use of peyote, a psychedelic substance from a cactus traditionally found in Mexico. Its use among Canadian Native peoples in the first half of the twentieth century had signalled concerns about American influences, but by the 1950s the...
Abstract Peyote, a cactus containing the hallucinogen mescaline, is used to induce altered states of consciousness in religious ceremonies or for recreational purpose. This study reports a case of an underage boy suspected of mescaline abuse. For this purpose, we analyzed a dark green liquid sample found in the bedroom of the boy whose urine and hair samples were collected shortly after the...