Abstract

In this article we review the literature, with a focus on cacti, about the role of cultivation in conservation. We examine in detail the case study of Lophophora williamsii, the peyote cactus, and present arguments that cultivation is not only a necessary conservation strategy for this particular species but is likely the only viable alternative for long-term survival of this cactus in the wild. Concerns about cultivation, as well as recommendations and conservation implications are also discussed.

Our chapter

Our chapter is available on Chacruna website.

Book description

Essays on the history of psychedelics, the present renaissance, and visions for an inclusive and equitable future.

As psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted therapies explode into the popular consciousness, what does it mean to cultivate and embody a psychedelic renaissance that learns from the past and prepares for the future? 

From cultural appropriation and sustainability to diversity, inclusion and venture capitalism, Psychedelic Justice: Toward a Diverse and Equitable Psychedelic Culture examines the history of psychedelics, celebrates its present moment and contemplates how advocates and policymakers can shape the future integration of psychedelics into general society.

An anthology of essays written for the Chacruna Institute and edited by its co-founders Bia Labate, Ph.d, and Clancy Cavnar, Psy.D, Psychedelic Justice highlights the need for an inclusionary, societal-level approach to the psychedelic renaissance. In addition to psychedelics and drug policy, works in this book examine psychedelics in the contexts of capitalism, Indigenous traditions, reciprocity, sustainability, mental health, diversity, sex, power, and more. 

“Labate and Cavnar have done it again: an excellent, timely anthology that addresses crucial issues in the psychedelic community of social equity, the globalization of psychedelic substances and culture, and our shared responsibility to prevent the extinction of these plants and animals.” ─Julie Holland, MD author, Good Chemistry: The Science of Connection, from Soul to Psychedelics. (Harper Wave, 2020)

“Psychedelic Justice is an inspiring and important collection of essays that ask the hard questions the psychedelic community needs to grapple with to move forward with integrity.” ─Michelle Janikian, author of Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion

Abstract

Lophophora williamsii (Cactaceae) is thought to be threatened by habitat loss and overharvesting. However, basic demographic and habitat information to evaluate its conservation status has been lacking. We surveyed six wild populations of this species, three in South Texas and three in West Texas, to begin to address this gap. We found high levels of heterogeneity in plant presence and density at multiple spatial scales. While plant densities were not consistently different between South and West Texas, plants were significantly larger in West Texas. The two regions differ strongly in precipitation, temperature, elevation, and topography, all of which are correlated at the regional scale. Therefore, it was not possible to identify which of these variables, or other factors such as competition and human harvesting, may be responsible for the regional differences in plant size. However, our results provide initial information for determining the conservation status of this species.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate samples of commercial over-the-counter products purported to contain extracts from peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii), a vulnerable species. Samples were extracted with organic solvent and then washed to remove impurities. The extracts of these products were subjected to an analysis by real-time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) to determine the presence or absence of the alkaloid mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine). High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine mescaline concentrations in the samples and to provide quantitative evidence of the concentration—if any—of mescaline in the products. If a detectable level of mescaline—a stable and abundant alkaloid of L. williamsii—was found in a given extract, then it was inferred that L. williamsii was present in the corresponding topical product. The results of this investigation show that most consumers who purchase the products in question are being defrauded if they believe they are buying L. williamsii-based medicines. The lack of mescaline—implying the lack of peyote—in these products suggests that wild populations of the vulnerable cactus L. williamsii, though currently being decimated on a massive scale in Mexico and the U.S. for other purposes, are rarely harvested for use in topical analgesic products. This conclusion is based on the finding that less than 5% of the ostensible L. williamsii-containing topical analgesic products that were analyzed in this study actually contained mescaline.

Abstract

Lophophora williamsii, peyote, is a small cactus growing to approximately 10 cm in diameter with a flat to dome-shaped spineless crown with fissures or ribs that develop following the Fibonacci series and whose numbers indicate relative degree of maturing. In this study crown tissue of 30 wild-collected specimens was analyzed to determine whether there was a correlation between the concentration of the primary alkaloid mescaline in crown tissue with the average diameter of the crown. We also compared mescaline concentration in three groups of ten individuals: 5 ribs (juvenile stage), 8 ribs (intermediate), and 13 ribs (elder/mature stage), since these Fibonacci numbers are the most stable and long-lasting on L. williamsii. This was designed to test the hypothesis that there is a positive correlation between mescaline concentration and both diameter and rib number. Nine greenhouse-grown specimens were likewise analyzed to serve as a control group for the study. All 39 tissue samples were subjected to an alkaloid extraction procedure followed by an acid-base washing procedure. Mescaline was identified using liquid-chromatography and mass spectroscopy and then quantified using reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. The Pearson’s Chi-squared test showed no statistical correlation between increasing mescaline concentration and increasing rib numbers for field-collected samples and greenhouse?raised control samples. Field-collected samples: P-value of 0.392; greenhouse control samples: P-value of 0.313. Similarly, field and greenhouse samples showed no statistical correlation between mescaline concentration and average diameter of the crown. Field-collected samples: P-value of 0.251; greenhouse control samples: P-value of 0.229. This study contributes to the understanding of this vulnerable species and to approaches to its overall conservation and the preservation of Native American culture.

Abstract

Access to the peyote cactus, a religious sacrament of the Native American Church (NAC), has been regulated by the federal government and the state of Texas since the 1960s. Over the last forty years, the number of licensed distributors has declined, a trend accompanied by rising prices and a diminishing market supply of the psychoactive cactus. Distributors are recognized as the primary NAC peyote source; consequently, their disappearance would be devastating for the 250,000-plus adherents of this distinctive indigenous tradition. Based on interviews with current and former peyote distributors, peyote pickers, landowners, and NAC members, a map of the various commodity chains that make up the peyote supply network is constructed. This research applies Access Mapping and Access Analysis of the supply network to identify the primary factors driving the decline of the regulated peyote trade. Focusing on the distributors' and NAC members' rights-based, structural, and relational access mechanisms, avenues for increasing access are identified, including amendment of distributor licensing fees.

Abstract

The peyote cactus, Lophophora williamsii, is presently classified as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance in the USA, with an exemption for use as a sacrament in bona fide religious ceremonies of the Native American Church (NAC). Any botanist or other researcher seeking to work with peyote or any of its alkaloids, must comply with applicable (nontrivial) regulatory requirements. This paper presents an examination of the prohibition efforts that paved the way for current peyote regulation, accompanied by documentation of the religion-based political origins of such efforts, which involved the "acculturation" of Native Americans (i.e., the destruction of American Indian cultures). We also look at the historical emergence of a nationally organized and coordinated effort by missionaries and other prohibitionists to sell a federal anti-peyote law to Congress, which manifested itself repeatedly over a period of more than fifty years, before finally realizing success in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. In view of ongoing changes in the legal/regulatory status of Cannabis sp. (another Schedule 1 plant that was targeted for illegality during the prohibitionists' rise to political predominance), we compare and contrast the two plants with speculation on peyote's future. 

Abstract for our chapter

A number of errors were introduced into our chapter after both the authors and the editors had performed final proofing. It is otherwise a beautiful and interesting book.
[PDF of the problems that we have noticed in our hardcopy.]

Book description

This book explains the role that peyote—a hallucinogenic cactus—plays in the religious and spiritual fulfillment of certain peoples in the United States and Mexico, and examines pressing issues concerning the regulation and conservation of peyote as well as issues of indigenous and religious rights.

Why is mescaline—an internationally controlled substance derived from peyote—given exemptions for religious use by indigenous groups in Mexico, and by the pan-indigenous Native American Church in the United States and Canada? What are the intersections of peyote use, constitutional law, and religious freedom? And why are natural populations of peyote in decline—so much so that in Mexico, peyote is considered a species needing "special protection"? This fascinating book addresses these questions and many more. It also examines the delicate relationship between "the needs of the plant" as a species and "the needs of man" to consume the species for spiritual purposes.

The authors of this work integrate the history of peyote regulation in the United States and the special "trust responsibility" relationship between the American Indians and the government into their broad examination of peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus containing mescaline that grows naturally in Mexico and southern Texas. The book's chapters document how when it comes to peyote, multiple stakeholders' interests are in conflict—as is often the case with issues that involve ethnic identity, religion, constitutional interpretation, and conservation. The expansion of peyote traditions also serves as a foundation for examining issues of international human rights law and protections for religious freedom within the global milieu of cultural transnationalism.

Features

• Explains the complete history of the peyote plant in the United States, presenting views from religions including Native American and Christian churches, the creation and evolution of U.S. law regarding peyote, state and federal legal protections since 1990, reasons for the plant's apparent demise, and arguments for its stronger protection
• Identifies current peyote protective laws in Mexico and Canada
• Documents how many U.S. residents, including Native Americans, commonly use peyote as a spirituality enhancer or illegal recreational drug within the United States, or do so as tourists when visiting Mexico

 

Abstract

We evaluated the pharmacological consequences of tissues other than crown being included with harvested peyote. Mean mescaline concentrations were determined for crown, non-chlorophyllous stem, and root, using mature individuals from the same population in South Texas. Samples of each tissue—crown, non-chlorophyllous stem, and root—were taken from each of 13 individual plants. Samples were dried, triturated, defatted, and extracted with methylene chloride, using an acid-base aqueous wash to recover the alkaloids. The concentration of mescaline in each sample was determined by HPLC. The average mescaline concentration in non-chlorophyllous stem was an order of magnitude lower than that in crown, whereas the mescaline concentration in root was two orders of magnitude lower than that in crown. These results show that non-chlorophyllous stem is a poor source of mescaline, and root is an extremely poor source. These results have important implications for conservation, suggesting that non-traditional harvesting of peyote for religious or medicinal use involving the cutting of non-chlorophyllous tissue are contributing to the death of plants and the subsequent failure to regenerate new crowns. Therefore, this practice should be reevaluated by peyote harvesters and users.

We have been unable to obtain a copy of this but it will be added as soon as it becomes possible.

Abstract

Here we report the 6-year results of a long-term study of the effects of harvesting on a wild population of the cactus Lophophora williamsii (peyote). Harvesting was performed using the best known technique: removing only the crown from the top of the plant. The two-year interval between harvests was chosen because it was similar to that observed by persons who harvest peyote for legally protected religious use by members of the Native American Church. Plants in the study were divided into three treatment groups: (1) control plants that were never harvested, (2) plants that were harvested only once, at the beginning of the study, and (3) plants that were harvested at the beginning of the study and every two years thereafter. Over the last two years of the study (2012‒2014), the survival rate was significantly lower (77%) in the plants harvested every two years than in the once-harvested plants (100%) and the unharvested control plants (98%). At the end of the 6th year of the study, average volume of living crown tissue per plant was significantly and substantially lower in the plants harvested every two years than in the once-harvested plants and the unharvested controls. The average volume of once-harvested plants was 27% lower than that of the controls, although this latter difference was not statistically significant. The modal number of crowns per plant varied with treatment and over time; in the plants harvested every two years it underwent a progression from 1 to 2 to 3 to 1 in response to successive harvests. The results of this study indicate that a six-year recovery period, following the harvesting of peyote in natural habitats, is probably not long enough to ensure long-term sustainability. key words: cactus conservation, peyote harvest, cactus overharvesting, Native American Church, peyote conservation status.

Abstract

A phytochemical analytical study was conducted to address the question of whether the mescaline concentration in Lophophora williamsii (peyote) is dependent on the maturity and/or size of the plant. Samples of crown tissue (4 g each) biopsied from mature peyote cacti and whole small regrowth crowns (2-4 g each) were collected from the same population in the Tamaulipan Thornscrub ecoregion of South Texas. For each of the two groups (mature and small regrowth), the individual tissue samples were pooled, desiccated, and ground to powder. The alkaloids were extracted with methanol at 25°C, followed by evaporation of the methanol to dryness, then acid-base cleanup with water and dichloromethane. The mescaline concentration in each of the extracts was then determined by HPLC. Quantitative analyses provided evidence that the small crowns that develop in response to harvesting contain a lower mescaline concentration—about half as much—compared to that of crowns of mature unharvested plants in the same population. The deficiency in the mescaline concentration of these regrowth buttons (new crowns) exacerbates the problem posed by the small size of the buttons; that is, it further increases the number of buttons that must be consumed to obtain an efficacious dose for ceremonial use by members of the Native American Church (NAC). That means that either the NAC members must consume less than the traditional amount of peyote, or there will be increased demand for peyote. Any increase in demand, reflected in the price, will engender more intensive harvesting, which will inevitably have adverse effects on both the supply of sacrament for the NAC and the conservation status of L. williamsii wherever the harvesters have access to peyote populations.

Abstract

The progress toward and impediments to legally protected cultivation of Lophophora williamsii, commonly known as peyote, are elucidated. Recent increases in the ceremonial and medicinal consumption of peyote are inferred from published data and personal observations of the authors. The conservation-based rationale for peyote cultivation is that the predictable shift in the primary mode of production from the current unsustainable harvesting of wild peyote in habitat to regulated cultivation of peyote, either in situ or under glass, would provide alternative supplies of peyote for current and future
use by the Native American Church. Such a change in the principal peyote production system from wild-harvesting to cultivation would logically reduce the harvesting pressure on the peyote populations that survive the intense overharvesting inherent in the present system. We summarize current and evolving aspects of the regulatory environment and emerging perceptions regarding the need for U.S. federal regulations that would provide legal certainty for individuals involved in the adoption of cultivation of culturally acceptable peyote on an economically viable commercial scale.

Abstract

In 2008 we began a long-term study of the effects of harvesting on a wild population of the cactus Lophophora williamsii (peyote), including harvesting treatments similar to those used to harvest it for legally protected religious use by members of the Native American Church. Here we assess the effects of harvesting in three different treatments: (1) plants that were harvested once, (2) plants that were harvested every two years (typical of commercial harvesting rates), and (3) control plants that were never harvested. After four years, the survival rate was significantly greater in the unharvested control plants (94%) than in the harvested plants (73%). Average harvested mass of fresh tissue per plant decreased significantly (by 44%) between the first and second harvests, and then further decreased significantly (by 32%) between the second and third harvests. The average number of crowns per plant, which increased after the first harvest, decreased after the second harvest. Estimated total volume of the above-ground crown(s) of each plant, which was closely related to harvested plant mass, was used to compare growth rates between treatments. The average growth rate of the multiple-harvest plants was significantly lower than the average growth rates of plants in the other two treatments. Growth rates in the control and single-harvest treatments did not differ significantly in 2012, but because the single-harvest plants were so much smaller than the control plants in 2010, they remained smaller than the control plants in 2012. The annual number of crowns harvested and sold commercially as "buttons" by licensed peyote distributors continued its slow decrease in 2011, while the price per unit continued to rise. These trends and the results of this study all indicate that present rates of peyote harvest are unsustainable.

Abstract

A phytochemical analytical study was conducted to address the question of whether Lophophora williamsii (peyote) plants from Chihuahuan Desert populations in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas exhibited higher tissue concentrations of mescaline than plants from Tamaulipan Thornscrub populations of South Texas. This question is of cultural significance to the Native American peyote religion, which involves the ingestion of peyote as a psychopharmacologically active sacrament. Tissue samples were field-collected from 10 individuals in each of four L. williamsii populations, two of which were located in the Chihuahuan Desert, and two of which were located in the Tamaulipan Thornscrub ecoregion. For each of the four populations, the tissue samples from 10 individual plants were pooled, the alkaloids were extracted, and the average mescaline concentration of the population was determined by HPLC. There was limited geographic variation in mescaline concentration; the highest concentration (3.52% of dry tissue) was only 27% greater than the lowest (2.77%), and the difference between the Chihuahuan Desert populations and the Tamaulipan Thornscrub populations was not significant. However, mescaline concentrations increased significantly along a gradient from southeast to northwest, i.e., from the southeasternmost Tamaulipan Thornscrub population to the northwesternmost Chihuahuan Desert population. 

Abstract

Lophophora williamsii (peyote) is a cactus whose crowns are commercially harvested for religious use as an ingested psychoactive sacrament by members of the Native American Church. Over the past quarter century peyote has become progressively less available, due in part to improper harvesting techniques and excessive harvesting. Since anatomical aspects of the regrowth of peyote and best harvesting practices were explicated in a previous study (Terry & Mauseth 2006), the principal focus in the present study was to determine the effects of harvesting where only best practices were employed. We assessed the effects of (1) harvesting per se (a single harvesting event evaluated after two years), (2) repeated harvesting (two harvesting events two years apart), and (3) not harvesting at all. After two years, the once-harvested group had a 90% survival rate and the unharvested control group had a 98% survival rate, a difference that was not statistically significant. The above-ground volume of the unharvested plants was significantly larger than that of the regrown harvested plants. While the regrown harvested plants had on average more crowns, their crowns were significantly smaller, in comparison to those of the unharvested plants. After two years, the surviving plants in the harvested group were divided into two subgroups, one of which was harvested for a second time. The other subgroup consisted of plants that had been harvested only once (at the start of the study) and were not reharvested. The weights of the crowns obtained in the second harvest were significantly lower than the weights of the crowns obtained in the first harvest from the same plants two years earlier. The net effect of a single harvesting was a reduction of plant above-ground volume by almost 80% after two years of regrowth. These data reflect what is occurring on a massive scale in habitat where peyote is commercially harvested. The annual numbers of crowns being harvested have not yet decreased drastically, due to the increased number of crowns produced as regrowth in response to harvesting. But the average size of the crowns in the regulated peyote market has decreased markedly due to too-early harvesting of immature regrowth crowns. These results—with emphasis on the conspicuous reduction in mean size of individuals—are typical of overharvested populations of wild-collected species, such as ginseng. The conclusion for conservation management is that reducing the frequency of harvesting of wild peyote would allow regrowth crowns to mature in size—thus reducing the number of crowns per dose required for sacramental consumption. It would also allow regrowth crowns to mature sexually, which would effectively de-suppress the production of seed for the next generation.

Abstract

Exposure of Lophophora williamsii to environmental temperatures that remained continuously below freezing, with lows estimated at or below −10 to −15°C for three consecutive days, resulted in freeze-drying of the crowns of some individuals in their natural habitat. I dug up one such plant, brought it back to the lab, planted it in a pot, watered it weekly, and monitored it for signs of life. Eight weeks later new growth was observed as incipient lateral branches from the meristems at areoles on the subterranean portion of the stem. Eleven weeks after replanting and watering, there were four such offsets on the plant. This recovery attests to the resilience of this species in the face of extreme environmental conditions. It also shows that prolonged freezing under dry conditions constitutes a natural mechanism for destruction of the apical meristem. Such meristem destruction by frost would have the same effect on lateral branching as removal of the apical meristem by human harvesting of the crown, and thus provides an alternative mechanism for the formation of pseudocespitose clusters of densely packed individuals in habitat. The concepts of cespitosity (multiple stems on a single plant) and pseudocespitosity (multiple individuals in a dense cluster) are discussed with examples.

Abstract

Astrophytum asterias, commonly called star cactus, is a federally listed endangered cactus endemic to the Tamaulipan thornscrub ecoregion of extreme southern Texas, USA, and Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Only three metapopulations totaling less than 4000 plants are presently known in Texas. Star cactus, known locally as “star peyote”, is highly sought by collectors. This small, dome-shaped, spineless, eightribbed cactus is sometimes mistaken for peyote (Lophophora williamsii), which grows in the same or adjacent habitats. Peyote is harvested from native thornscrub habitats in Texas by local Hispanic people and sold to peyoteros, licensed distributors who sell the peyote to Native American Church members. Annual peyote harvests in Texas approach 2,000,000 “buttons” (crowns). Although the peyoteros do not buy star cactus from harvesters, they cultivate star cactus in peyote gardens at their places of business and give star cacti to their customers as lagniappe. If even 0.1% of harvested “peyote” is actually star cactus, the annual take of this endangered cactus approaches the total number of wild specimens known in the U.S. This real but unquantifiable take, together with information from interviews with local residents, suggests the existence of many more star cactus populations than have been documented.

Abstract

Peyote, a psychoactive cactus native to the Chihuahuan Desert, has been preserved from excavations at only two archaeological sites: Shumla Caves in the Lower Pecos region of southwest Texas and shelter CM-79 near Cuatro Ciénegas in Coahuila, Mexico. We determined three indistinguishable radiocarbon ages of 5160 ± 45, 5200 ± 35, and 5210 ± 35 ¹⁴C years BP, yielding a mean age of 5195 ± 20 ¹⁴C years BP for the three specimens from Shumla Caves. For one of the Cuatro Ciénegas specimens we obtained the first direct radiocarbon date of 835 ± 35 ¹⁴C years BP. This study demonstrates the use of peyote by inhabitants of the Lower Pecos region of the Chihuahuan Desert about 6000 calendar years ago, and confirms its use by inhabitants of the Cuatro Ciénegas region of the Chihuahuan Desert in Late Prehistoric times. The Shumla Caves' specimens are composed of an aggregate of ground peyote mixed with other plant material, i.e., they appear to be manufactured peyote effigies, and are definitely not intact peyote buttons.

Abstract

Over the last four decades, the size and density of populations of Lophophora williamsii (peyote) have diminished markedly in large areas of South Texas where licensed peyote distributors harvest the cactus for ceremonial use by the Native American Church. Part of the problem lies in the fact that some harvesters are cutting plants too low on the subterranean stem or taproot. That practice precludes the regeneration of new stems and ultimately results in the death of the decapitated plants. To address this problem, we describe the anatomical distinctions between subterranean stem and root in L. williamsii as follows: The stem cortex can be distinguished by the cortical bundles running through the parenchyma, in contrast to the root cortex, which consists of pure parenchyma without cortical bundles. The pith at the center of the stem is pure parenchyma (without xylem) and is readily distinguished from the dilatated metaxylem (with masses of dark-staining metaxylem tracheary elements) occupying the center of the root. With these new anatomical tools, it is now possible to set up titration experiments, first in the greenhouse and then in the field, to generate practical biometrie data to determine the maximum depth at which the peyote harvesters can cut the plants without significantly reducing the survival rate of the rootstocks left in the ground after harvest.