Peyote

Sacred medicine of the Tarahumara and Huichol people of Mexico and of the Navajo in the United States. Traditionally used for divination and to combat pain, hunger, intestinal disorders, diabetes, asthma, hysteria and many other conditions. The archaeological record suggests that Native Americans used peyote more than 5,000 years ago. Dried peyote buttons found in a cave in Texas were found to possess mescaline, the active psychoactive principle. The growing use as a treatment for addiction and trauma has aroused a new interest and appreciation for this multifaceted medicine. In the United States the use peyote by Native Americans is a protected constitutional right recognized by the courts. But for everyone else in the U.S. peyote is illegal to grow and use. In Canada, the psychoactive alkaloid mescaline in its isolated form is illegal but growing and possessing peyote cactus itself is not. Schedule III of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act explicitly exempts the peyote cactus (item #17). Peyote requires full sun and well-drained soil with plenty of sand mixed in. Water well but allow to dry out completely between waterings. Fertilize only twice a year. Ht. 7-8cm (3").