Appetite for Peyote Seeds Up Since Prohibition

1922

NORTHWESTERHERS ARE EATING PEYOTE SEEDS

Since the Prohibition Laws New Appetite Has Gone Even to the Orient.

A new form of intoxication, viewed as a social menace among Northwest Indians and Orientals in Washington, is the eating of peyote or button-like seeds of an Arizona cactus.

Thousands of these types of Northwest inhabitants are now alleged to be peyote drug fiends, a spree occurring several times a year and lasting many weeks. The effect of the cactus button on its victims is sleeplessness, morbidness and an increased mental desire for hilarity and games of chance.

The peyote is a pear-shaped species of cactus common in parts of the Southwest. The top bears seeds resembling red-coat buttons. These are sold by pickers to dealers for $2 per thousand.

The button-like seeds are generally eaten in the dry, brittle state, from 5 to 50 in a single night.

From time immemorial the peyote has been used in the Southwest among the aborigines and Mexicans for producing an intoxication of soul and body to aid them in gambling, dancing, or ill-timed deeds.

Since the abolition of liquor and the ban on narcotics, the peyote fans gradually moved northward along with other vile drugs. The consumption of this bean has invaded the Northwest to Alaska, and many bushels of the peyote buttons have been taken to the Orient.

—Oneonta Daily Star, Oneonta, New York, April 24, 1922, page 7.