The most widespread indigenous religious organization today among Native Americans here in the U.S is the Native American Church. The organization has hundreds of thousands of members and was incorporated in the early 20th century.
Their religious practices involve consuming peyote, a spineless cactus that contains mescaline – a naturally occurring psychedelic. Peyote is a Schedule I controlled substance, but if you’re a member of a “traditional Indian religion,” there’s a legal exception.
Here in the United States, peyote is only naturally grown in one place: Texas.
But as a new story in Texas Monthly reports, the supply is drying up. Lea Konczal wrote the story and joined the Standard to discuss her reporting. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: You report there just aren’t as many peyote cacti as there used to be. Why?
Lea Konczal: Yeah, it’s really a decline that’s been happening for years and decades.
The area where it grows is mainly in South Texas along the border, and that area has just been growing in terms of population, and so there’s been a lot of development and habitat destruction. And then that has caused over-harvesting by the peyote dealers in the area, who are called peyoteros, and then also by poachers. So there’s a lot working against it.
You report there being only four active licenses to harvest and distribute peyote in Texas at the moment, but it sounds like there are a lot more people kind of getting in there and trying to do it themselves.
Yes, that’s right. One reason I think there are so few people licensed is you have to jump through hoops with the DEA and a lot of people just say, “well, I can just jump the fence on someone’s land and go harvest it myself and sell it.” So there’s a lot of that happening, which complicates matters.
Well, let’s talk about some of that red tape, because you wrote about Texas’ regulatory system and why it makes it hard to be a distributor – hard to plant new peyote. I thought this group had exceptions, so why are there so many challenges?
I think it’s just difficult because the way peyote is seen by different groups is very different.
So the members of the Native American Church see it as an extension of the divine. It’s like God in plant form, it’s been described as.
And it’s purely a cactus. It’s not a synthesized drug at all, but the U.S. government and the Texas government see it as a drug, a controlled substance. And so that just comes with a whole layer of regulations regarding who can sell it, who can pick it.
And then also it limits conservation too, because if you’re trying to, say, plant a bunch of peyote just because you want to conserve the species, the government can try and stop you and say, “wait a second, what are you doing? Are you selling drugs?”
These people that are, I guess, jumping the fence, as you said… Are they part of the church as well, or are these other folks who just kind of are interested in trying the effects of peyote and are trying to skirt the rules? Do we have a good idea?
So generally these people are locals living in South Texas who just see a way to make money by poaching peyote and then selling it to Native Americans.
And then there’s also some instances, as well, of Native Americans just coming and not knowing the laws in Texas and just thinking they can go anywhere and harvest it themselves, which is not the case.
So you focus in your writing on an organization called the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative, which owns land in South Texas where peyote is grown. Can you tell us more about that group?
Yeah, so this group is a coalition of various Native American tribes, none of which are actually based in Texas, but it’s just an effort nationally from these tribes that care about peyote to preserve it.
So they bought 605 acres in South Texas to set aside as a peyote preserve. A big part of their initiative is they also have a nursery on the property where they are growing peyote to try and replant it.
So you said this effort began really a few years ago, and last year you attended a large Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative gathering. What was that like?
Yeah, that was really interesting. So in addition to the conservation that IPCI does, they also have this element of their mission where they try to help Native Americans harvest the cactus themselves naturally through these annual Thanksgiving gatherings.
So this is a gathering that lasts about a week where they have lectures, they have panels, they have all-night peyote ceremonies and tipis. But really the centerpiece is allowing Native Americans who come to the gathering to harvest on local-area lands and leave their traditional offerings, often leaving offerings of tobacco or corn pollen.
And this is very different from what has been happening for more than 50 years, ever since peyote became a controlled substance. Native Americans have been having to buy it from peyote dealers. And that’s just a very transactional experience, which is something that’s kind of antithetical to the way that they hold peyote as sacred.
But it’s also my understanding that this group that you’ve focused on, this IPCI, has received some criticism for its relationship with the DEA. What are some of those complaints?
Yeah, it’s interesting because IPCI is the largest conservation organization of peyote, but there are many others and everyone has a different idea about how to conserve the species.
So IPCI got licensed as one of the four licensed peyoteros that you mentioned earlier because they wanted to be able to legally grow it and replant it as part of their conservation strategy. So I think just the fact that it is licensed with this federal drug organization is seen with suspicion.
They have to play by some of the DEA’s rules. You have to have two layers of fencing around the nursery where you’re growing peyote. And so some groups say, well, “the peyote is sacred, it shouldn’t be behind fences.” And then IPCI would say, well, “we’re trying to preserve it for the long term.”
So there’s just lots of opinions on how peyote should be conserved.