Pubdate: Mon, 14 Nov 2005
Source: Daily Herald, The (Provo, UT)
Section: Pg A7
Copyright: 2005 The Daily Herald
Contact:  http://www.newutah.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1480
Author: Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press

RELIGIOUS USE OF PEYOTE NOT HARMFUL TO AMERICAN INDIANS

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 them spiritual and physical 
healing, but the researchers could not say with any certainty that 
peyote's pharmacological effects were responsible for their test results.

"It's 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 study's senior 
author and director of the biological psychology laboratory at the 
hospital near Boston.

The researchers argue that their findings should offer "reassurance" 
to the 10,000 Native American Church members serving in the military 
who were barred from using peyote before new guidelines were adopted in 1997.

"We find no evidence that a history of peyote use would compromise 
the psychological or cognitive abilities of these individuals," they 
wrote in their paper published in the Nov. 4 issue of Biological Psychiatry.

The researchers note that their study draws a clear distinction 
between illicit and religious use of peyote.

They did not rule out the possibility that other hallucinogens, such 
as LSD, may be harmful.

"In comparison to LSD, mescaline is described as more sensual and 
perceptual and less altering of thought and sense of self," they 
wrote, adding that peyote does not seem to produce "flashbacks" the 
same way that LSD apparently does.

The project was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug 
Abuse, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services. A NIDA spokeswoman would not comment on the study.

Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor who 
was not involved in the research, said the study lends scientific 
weight to a long-held belief that peyote is not harmful.

"The thing that excites me most about the paper is that the study was 
actually done," he said. "The U.S. government -- and NIDA, in 
particular -- has been rather balky about allowing studies of 
psychedelic drugs of any kind."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman