AP, via TheNewsTribune.com, USA
Nov. 4, 2005
Michael Kunzelman
www.thenewstribune.com

---

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 12722 • Posted: Friday November 4, 2005  

---

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 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.

“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.

---

What You Can Do From Here

---

Read More Articles On These Topics Categories: Peyote Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article Subscribe Religion News Blog RSS feed [What is this?] RSS by topic: Peyote Read Another Article Previous entry: The Weird rituals at Scientology’s Sussex HQ Next entry: New Zealand group rejects ‘cult’ claim RNB Homepage with latest headlines Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults Find Related Books Peyote Most Popular Today Tokyo marks 15th anniversary of subway sarin attack Cult survivor relives history of servitude in the Brisbane Christian Fellowship Cults should be given nowhere to hide FLDS sect member Merril Leroy Jessop sentenced to 75 years in prison

---

Share This Article

---

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:

• Post a link on your blog or website:
  
• Send in an email or IM:
  
• Post on a forum:
  

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.