The Peyote Effect : From the Inquisition to the War on Drugs

University of California Press

The Peyote EffectFrom the Inquisition to the War on Drugs\nAuthor(s): Alexander S. Dawson\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University of California Press, United States\nImprint: University of California Press\nISBN-13: 9780520285422, 978-0520285422\nSynopsis\nThe hallucinogenic and medicinal effects of peyote have a storied history that begins well before Europeans arrived in the Americas. While some have attempted to explain the cultural and religious significance of this cactus and drug, Alexander S. Dawson offers a completely new way of understanding the place of peyote in history. In this provocative new book, Dawson argues that peyote has marked the boundary between the Indian and the West since the Spanish Inquisition outlawed it in 1620. For nearly four centuries ecclesiastical, legal, scientific, and scholarly authorities have tried (unsuccessfully) to police that boundary to ensure that, while indigenous subjects might consume peyote, others could not. Moving back and forth ac.