‘White people shouldn’t mess with it’: Native American church laments psychedelic cactus shortage
Summary
The Native American Church warns of a peyote shortage, a sacred cactus used in religious ceremonies.
Overharvesting, land development, and surging demand from Western psychedelic seekers contribute to the decline.
Peyote, which grows slowly and only in limited regions of the US and Mexico, is further pressured by decriminalization movements and illegal poaching.
The Church has called for conservation measures.
The shortage threatens traditional practices, as the cactus is vital to the spiritual and cultural life of its 350,000 adherents.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jan/11/white-people-shouldnt-mess-with-it-native-american-church-laments-psychedelic-cactus-shortageOpen linkView original on lemmy.world100
Comments9
The San Pedro cactus is plentiful and produces the same molecules. It also grows more rapidly and can be found at your local hardware store in the landscaping section.
I believe the varieties typically sold at hardware stores do not contain mescaline (the main psychedelic compound in these cacti). Here's a chart I found that has different varieties and their mescaline content. You can find the good ones for sale online.
Bolivian Torch Cactus 'Trichocereus bridgesii' is a good option if you wanna trip
It depends. People on r/druggardening were always sharing when they found some selling cultivars which had nice concentrations.
So varies hugely.
I've been growing these for more than ten years. Still have never eaten, lol. I could make them grow faster as well but basically I have like 3 foot longs about. I could go and take a picture but can't be arsed to get up.
Can we please stop taking things from these people for fuck’s sake?
I'd argue it's more of a sign to ramp up production. Never tried mescaline myself but seems interesting.
You can’t just ramp up production. Peyote is very slow growing and has special growing needs that don’t scale well
Read what you’re talking about. The article clearly states that is not possible in the short or medium term and why.
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."