Texas Peyote Culture

Peyote use in Texas dates between 5,200 and 5,700 years and is now embedded in its culture in many ways.  It is the only State that has a legally established peyote trade, dating back to the 1960s.  The prior involvement of peyoteros, however, dates much further back.  The well-known peyotera Amada Cardenas helped legalize peyote’s use as a bona fide religion practiced by The Native American Church (NAC) and helped establish rights of Native Americans to purchase and collect the plant in Texas.  Although the NAC’s membership and its demand for peyote continue to grow, actual peyote sales were on the decline when last reported.  A variety of factors — including access to land, overharvesting, exorbitant licensing fees, and local economic and population growth – are at play.  Peyote use as practiced by curanderos to alleviate arthritis and other ailments is now a distant memory but was also once an interesting and thriving part of the Texas peyote culture.  Today, Coahuiltecans, Mission Indians, and other indigenous Texans are reviving their ancient traditions.  It remains to be seen whether peyote conservation will enable these ways to be passed to future generations.  You can read this article, published in Cactus and Succulent Journal here.