WEBVTT - What Is Peyote?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren Vogeba here. For centuries, people's in Central America

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<v Speaker 1>and the North American Southwest have used peyote, a hallucinogetic cactus,

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<v Speaker 1>for certain religious ceremonies and rituals, and during the psychedelics

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<v Speaker 1>infused days of the nineteen sixties, peyote found a new

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<v Speaker 1>audience among counterculture hippies seeking a back to nature lifestyle.

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<v Speaker 1>These days, peyote is in the news again, in part

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<v Speaker 1>because the plant, along with hallucinogenic mushrooms, was decriminalized in Oakland, California,

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<v Speaker 1>in June of nineteen, the second city in the US

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<v Speaker 1>to do so after Denver, Colorado. Advocates say the cactuses

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<v Speaker 1>new status will free up law enforcement to pursue more

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<v Speaker 1>serious matters and potentially allow for more research into payotes

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<v Speaker 1>physical and psychological effects, which may help people with mental

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<v Speaker 1>health disorders or substance misuse disorders. But before we look

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<v Speaker 1>at its medicinal side, let's first find out what the

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<v Speaker 1>plant is all about. Payote taxonomical name Lufaphora william z I.

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<v Speaker 1>Peyote is a small cactus that grows mostly underground only

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<v Speaker 1>its top is visible. This is called the button or crown,

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<v Speaker 1>and it ranges in size from roughly that of a

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<v Speaker 1>ping pong ball to a baseball. Both slightly flattened and bulbous,

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<v Speaker 1>they're actually super cute and look like little bluish green

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<v Speaker 1>steam buns. Peyote is a spineless, slow growing cactus one

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<v Speaker 1>that may take years to reach flowering maturity in the

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<v Speaker 1>deserts of South Texas and northern Mexico. As they grow,

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<v Speaker 1>the cacti produced a range of compounds called enetyl amine alkaloids,

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<v Speaker 1>some of which have a distinctive hallucinogenic effect on humans.

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<v Speaker 1>Once harvested, the crowns can be eaten, brewed as a tea,

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<v Speaker 1>or dried and crushed into a powder, which can then

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<v Speaker 1>be loaded into capsules. Users may also smoke the dried version.

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<v Speaker 1>The primary active ingredient is mescaline, a powerful drug that

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<v Speaker 1>the United States categorizes as a Schedule one substance, making

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<v Speaker 1>it mostly illegal to possess or consume. Interestingly, the mescaline

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<v Speaker 1>causes a severe reaction in animals, which deters them from

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<v Speaker 1>eating it, providing protection for this cactus with no spines,

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<v Speaker 1>but as with many plants, that developed chemical deterrence to

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<v Speaker 1>being eaten by mammals. Some humans have decided that they

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<v Speaker 1>enjoy the effect flavor compounds that taste bitter or spicy,

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<v Speaker 1>or thought to have developed for the same reasons. Some

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<v Speaker 1>indigenous people in parts of northern Central America revere peyote

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<v Speaker 1>is a way to accentuate their spiritual ceremonies. Native Americans

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<v Speaker 1>may gather around a fire and share peyote as a

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<v Speaker 1>shaman or ceremonial leader chance and sings, guiding participants through

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<v Speaker 1>the experience, which may last ten hours or longer. In Mexico,

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<v Speaker 1>the Uhe tool or Weraritari people may set out on

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<v Speaker 1>peyote pilgrimages throughout the desert several times a year, stopping

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<v Speaker 1>along the way to take more peyote. The traditional belief

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<v Speaker 1>is that the experience opens channels to their gods, and

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<v Speaker 1>I hope I said we atari correctly. I couldn't find

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<v Speaker 1>a good pronunciation. I did try. Beyond religious ceremonies, peyote

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<v Speaker 1>has a long history as medicine in these cultures. People

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes use the cacti to help with fever, skin problems, blindness, colds, diabetes,

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<v Speaker 1>and pain. The u s government does not reckoning eyes

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<v Speaker 1>any of the medicinal claims made regarding payoty, and given

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<v Speaker 1>its illegality, research into those medical claims has thus far

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<v Speaker 1>been limited. Paoty ingestion was prohibited in nineteen seventy when

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<v Speaker 1>the Controlled Substance Act was passed by Congress, although the

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<v Speaker 1>Native American Church was exempt from this law. In nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventy six, Alan Bernbaum, founder of his own Native American

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<v Speaker 1>Church of New York, challenged the status quo by insisting

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<v Speaker 1>that the Drug Enforcement Administration or d e A quote

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<v Speaker 1>exempt the use of all psychedelic drugs and religious ceremonies

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<v Speaker 1>of all churches that believe that psychedelic drugs are deities.

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<v Speaker 1>When the d e A refused, he sued. The Supreme

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<v Speaker 1>Court sided with him. Laws regarding payoty vary in other nations.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, it's legal in Canada, but only if you're

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<v Speaker 1>using the plant for religious reasons, not for recreational purposes,

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<v Speaker 1>and in the United Kingdom it's legal to grow payote,

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<v Speaker 1>but not to prepare it for consumption. In Mexico, it's

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<v Speaker 1>illegal to consume payote or harvest the wild variety because

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<v Speaker 1>it's endangered, but there's again an exception for religious purposes.

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<v Speaker 1>Peyote works by interacting with the neurotransmitter serotonin in your

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<v Speaker 1>brain to alter your thinking and perception. Because potency varies

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<v Speaker 1>from plant to plant, it's difficult to dose the drug

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<v Speaker 1>with any real accuracy. Those who eat peyote cacti or

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<v Speaker 1>drink its tea report a bitter taste, one so overwhelming

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<v Speaker 1>that many people become nauseated and wind up vomiting, sometimes violently.

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<v Speaker 1>As the drug takes hold, people may see brighter colors

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<v Speaker 1>or hear louder sounds, or lose track of time or place.

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<v Speaker 1>They could experience euphoria, detachment, allusions, or visual distortions. As

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<v Speaker 1>to whether they have a good trip or a bad

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<v Speaker 1>trip can depend on the expectations of the users and

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<v Speaker 1>the setting. Is it taking place in a church, a nightclub,

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<v Speaker 1>or a doctor's office. If the trip goes badly, mood swings, paranoia,

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<v Speaker 1>or panic may occur. Other side effects may include dry mouth, headaches,

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<v Speaker 1>increased heart rate, and impaired motor skills. Peyote isn't generally

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<v Speaker 1>regarded as a physically addictive drug, like hallucinogenic mushrooms. Many

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<v Speaker 1>users take the drug only occasionally and often as part

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<v Speaker 1>of a spiritual experience, but as with all mind altering substances,

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<v Speaker 1>some mental health experts express concerns the peyote may produce

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<v Speaker 1>psychological dependency in some users. Although most Native cultures frown

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<v Speaker 1>on recreational use, many curious people outside of Native American

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<v Speaker 1>churches seek payote, sometimes simply as a psychedelic or perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>as part of what they see as a personal spiritual journey.

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<v Speaker 1>There is an industry of churches and guides who will

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<v Speaker 1>help tourists find an take peyote, but over harvesting from

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<v Speaker 1>tourism is threatening the payote supply, and as a result,

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<v Speaker 1>is also imperiling which hold religious traditions which rely so

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<v Speaker 1>heavily on the sacred plant. Once the plant has been harvested,

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<v Speaker 1>it may take a decade or more for it to

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<v Speaker 1>regenerate and produce mature crowns. In Texas, only a handful

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<v Speaker 1>of peyote harvesters called peyotheros can legally harvest the cacti

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<v Speaker 1>and then sell them to the Native American church. The

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<v Speaker 1>potheros leaves land in the tiny patch of Texas where

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<v Speaker 1>the cacti is found, hoping to find enough of the

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<v Speaker 1>prized plant to make a living. It grows in less

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<v Speaker 1>than one percent of the state by area, a swath

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<v Speaker 1>roughly the size of Rhode Island, or about one thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred and fifty square miles. That's around thirty square

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<v Speaker 1>kilometers for a metric fronts. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clain. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more

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<v Speaker 1>in this and lots of other spiritual topics, visit our

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