Posted on 11/04/2005 9:57:30 AM PST by laney
BOSTON A study of the effects of peyote on American Indians found no evidence that the hallucinogenic cactus caused brain damage or psychological problems among people who used it frequently in religious ceremonies.
In fact, researchers from Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital found that members of the Native American Church performed better on some psychological tests than other Navajos who did not regularly use peyote.
A 1994 federal law allows roughly 300,000 members of the Native American Church to use peyote as a religious sacrament. The five-year study set out to find scientific proof for the Navajos belief that the substance, which contains the hallucinogen mescaline, is not hazardous to their health even when used frequently.
The study was conducted among Navajos in the Southwest by McLean psychiatrist John Halpern.
It compared test results for 60 church members who have used peyote at least 100 times against those for 79 Navajos who do not regularly use peyote and 36 tribe members with a history of alcohol abuse but minimal peyote use.
Those who had abused alcohol fared worse on the tests than the church members, according to the study.
Church members believe peyote offers spiritual and physical healing, but the researchers could not say with any certainty that peyotes pharmacological effects were responsible for their test results.
Its hard to know how much of it is the sense of community they get from the religion and how much of it is the actual experience of using the medication itself, said Harrison Pope, the studys senior author and director of the biological psychology laboratory at the hospital.
We find no evidence that a history of peyote use would compromise the psychological or cognitive abilities of these individuals, the researchers wrote in their paper published today in Biological Psychiatry.
"Is peyote safe for whites too?"No,we're not in touch with the spirit world:)
Young Guns..." did you see the size of that CHICKEN!!!!
"Drinking an entire bottle of NyQuil works for whites."If you drank an entire bottle,you probably did get buzzed.If your interested,look up a drug called DXM(cough suppresent,in high enough quantities is a hallucinagenic).I believe NyQuil uses that as an ingredient.Now about those 2 new kids?You were out of it:)
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