Peyote Peril
The legendary psychedlic peyote cactus, which takes 30 years to mature, is in danger of disappearing from the Mexican desert. Psychedelic tourists, toxic runoff from silver mines, and big agribusiness are to blame for the crisis. The native Huichol tribe, for whom peyote is integral to their culture, has turned to the government of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi for help. The government is working with a local university to try to save peyote from critical decline.
Photo courtesy Flickr user mugley
Tweet- 12-26-07
- Bill M's blog
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Harvesting the sacred...
NPR on the disappearing cactus...
It seems the greatest threat to peyote in the deserts surrounding Real de Catorce are the peyote-seekers. Of course there's a bitter irony to all this, but it's lost on the psychedelic "tourists" who scour the desert in droves.
Salvia is increasingly imperiled in the US, as more states pass prohibitive legistation. The notoriously permissive drug laws in the Netherlands recently shifted to ban psilocybin mushrooms. The Peruvian government is considering methods to regulate traditional shamanic practices, arguably in response to escalating ayahuasca tourism from Westerners.
We're looking at a rapidly approaching time when the remaining sacramental plants not outlawed in Western cultures are facing (re-)criminalization. In regions of the world where native shamanic use still lingers, against the pressures of globalization and environmental destruction, a rapacious hunger by Westerners for a brush with the repressed sacred threatens to deal the final blow. The need for a new shamanic arrangement between the ancient cultures and the bereft, tortured Western soul is starkly apparent...
-st
Hi technoshaman88, If you
Hi technoshaman88,
If you go to google video and search for ayahuasca conference, it should come up. Tourism vs Tradition by Jeronimo M. - I think thats it.