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BENKE, RICHARD
JUDGE RIPS DRUG WAR, DISMISSES PEYOTE CHARGE
Associated Press, Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, WI, Friday, Sept 6, 1991
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Calling the drug war a 'menacing attack' on constitutional liberty, New Mexico's chief federal judge dismissed peyote importation charges against a white member of the Native American Church. U.S. District Judge Juan Burciaga said Wednesday the fight against drug trafficking is 'a wildfire that threatens to consume those fundamental rights of the individual deliberately enshrined in our Constitution.' Lawrence R. 'Bob' Boyll, 56, of Mill Valley, Calif., was accused of mailing about eight pounds of peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus, from Mexico last May to his own post office box in San Cristobal, N.M., north of Taos. He was arrested near Taos by U.S. Customs agents. Boyll, the son of a Methodist minister, said be has used peyote only as a religious sacrament since becoming a member of the Native American Church in Taos nearly 10 years ago. He said the peyote obtained in May would have lasted church members at least a year. Congress exempted religious usage of peyote in 1965, but the prosecution argued that it never authorized importation. On Wednesday night he said he was glad the ordeal was at least partly over, although prosecutors say they would like to appeal. They said the decision ultimately would be made in Washington, D.C. 'It wasn't easy for me to go through this,' Boyll said in a telephone interview from Mill Valley. 'It was very humbling.' Boyll defended his use of peyote. 'It's used in conjunction with prayer,' he said. 'It's used in a very careful way ... as a remedy. And I have seen it, along with prayer, heal people who were at death's door.' 'Not only does it not do anyone any harm, I believe that when it's used in a proper way, through prayer, it can be very helpful for life.... It's something that's for life. It's not just a roller-coaster ride.' The government argued that some church chapters required that members be at least one-fourth Indian. Boyll said he's part Indian, although not one-fourth.; Several Indian witnesses testified that Boyll is a legitimate church member. Boyll said nobody in the church sought to exclude him and the government shouldn't either.

BLUM, KENNETH; FUTTERMAN, SANFORD L; PASCAROSA, PAUL
Peyote, a potential ethnopharmacologic agent for alcoholism and other drug dependencies: Possible biochemical rationale.
Clinical Toxicology; 1977 Vol 11(4) 459-472
Examines folk psychiatry among Native American Church members from an ethnopharmacologic viewpoint. Alcohol and opiate abuse among Indians and non-Indians are presented in 3 case histories proving to be asymptomatic under Indian guidance and through participation in the peyote ritual. The biochemical alkaloids common in the peyote cactus, rather than just the psychoactive substances (mescaline), are purported to be pharmacologically similar to the neuroamine-derived alkaloids found in the brain during alcohol intoxication. Evidence is reviewed that points out possible common features of alcohol and opiate dependence, leading to the speculation that a common mode of treatment may reside in plants rich in isoquinoline alkaloids.

BOURN, W M; KELLER, W J; BONFIGLIO, J F
Psychoactivity of normacromerine in animals.
Life Sciences; 1978 Sep Vol 23(11) 1175-1184
Normacromerine (NMC), a dimethoxylated phenethylamine obtained from the Dona Ana cactus, was compared with mescaline (MES), psilocin (PSI), amphetamine (AMP), and pentobarbital (PEN) in several tests designed to detect psychoactive properties. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were Ss in the conditioned avoidance response and locomotor activity measures; male Swiss-Websters were used in the rotorod testing. Only the highest dose of NMC (10 mg) impaired the conditioned avoidance response, while MES, PSI, and AMP enhanced the response. NMC, AMP, PSI, and MES all produced increases in locomotor activity. NMC produced activity patterns similar to patterns resulting from treatment with MES or PSI. NMC appears to be psychoactive and correlates more closely with MES and PSI than with the other 2 drugs.

Cactus, Cactii, Cactaceae
See: Peyote, cactus, Trichocereus, Lophophora, plant database, Hyperreal, FAQ

Curandero del Peyote. Carlos Riccardo. Ediciones Ultimo Reino, Buenos Aires. 1988. 86 pages. photocopy velobound in anthology Mescaline Cactus: Mexico, San Pedro, and Pharmacology. [box v2]

Dobkin, Marlene.
Folk Curing with a Psychedelic Cactus in the North Coast of Peru.
International Journal of Social Psychiatry 15:23-32. (1968)

Dobkin, Marlene
The Religious Implications of Folk Healing with a Psychedelic Cactus in North Coastal Peru.
In: Salman & Prince 1968, 13-22. (1968)

Dobkin, Marlene
Trichocereus pachanoi -- A Mescaline Cactus Used in Folk Healing in Peru.
Economic Botany 22:191-194. (1968)

O'BRIEN; COHEN S
Dona Ana
The Encyclopedia of Drug Abuse. (1989)
Dona Ana: A cactus, Coryphanta micromeris, native to Texas and Mexico, which contains the psychedelic alkaloid micromerine. It is eaten or brewed into a tea and has about 1/5 the potency of mescaline.

PASCAROSA, PAUL; FUTTERMAN, SANFORD
Ethnopsychedelic therapy for alcoholics: Observations in the peyote ritual of the native American church.
Journal of Psychedelic Drugs; 1976 Jul-Sep Vol 8(3) 215-221
Describes the ceremonial use of Lophophora williamsi (peyote) by Arapaho Indians, members of the quasi-Christian Native American Church. The church membership includes many recovered alcoholics, and the effectiveness of the psychedelic ingredient in peyote in treating alcohol addiction is discussed. The ceremony at which the cactus is eaten combines 3 powerful therapeutic elements: a master or guide, the ritual or marathon group session, and the psychotropic drug. Although peyote has an unpleasant taste and produces disagreeable physical effects, many participants report periods of unprecedented mental clarity, heightened awareness of what their future life as an addict will be, and strengthening of their will to begin adjusting to a drug-free life. Several suggested criticisms of peyote use are answered. Overall, the ceremonies are reported to have quick and lasting effects on alcoholism.

Peyote: The Divine Cactus. Edward F. Anderson. University of Arizona Press. Tuscon. 1980. 249 pages. velobound photocopy. two copies. [box v4]

STROMBOM,J: BRUHN,JG
Cactaceae Alkaloids. 29. Alkaloids of Pachycereus Pecten-aboriginum, A Mexican Cactus of Ethnopharmacologic Interest.
Acta Pharm Suecica 15 : 127-132 (1978) English