Re: Peyote suspected in death of ASU student

pollarde@email.uah.edu
Mon, 8 May 1995 22:12:37 -0500

On 6-May-1995, Nick Tapia posted a summarized newspaper account of
the death of an ASU student, which was suspected might be due to
ingestion of peyote. I can believe it *may be*. When I was a grad
student at the University of Oklahoma in the mid-60s, an undergrad
I had never met approached me wanting to know what I knew about
peyote. He knew that I was an anthro major, and had heard I had been
granted the honor of an interview with Charlie Archuleta, famed
Kiowa Peyote Chief, several years earlier. I warned him that there
is only one species of peyote cactus, *Lophophora williamsii*, and
that Archuleta had told me the Native American Church insists that
no one eat the buttons without a Peyote Chief present. The reason is
that it is a soporific drug, with the properties of both morphine
(a central nervous system depressant) and strychnine (a CNS stimulant).
The Peyote Chief is trained to observed which effect the buttons produce
and to make the individual wait until it wears off before eating more.
If he doesn't, or the person eats the buttons on his own, depression
of the CNS may be followed by stimulation and cause both respiratory
and cardiac arrest, and likely death. I have heard the same warning
from a professor of pharmacology.

The student was found dead in his dorm room less than a week after
our conversation. His parents authorized an autopsy, which found
nothing but bits of peyote buttons in his stomach. BTW, he was non-
native. The campus police concluded that his death was a suicide,
since NA spiritual leaders they consulted (I never heard who)
confirmed the risk I had warned him of.

Grosvenor Pollard

via Elizabeth B. Pollard
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Elizabeth Pollard
Systems LibrarianInternet: pollarde@email.uah.edu
University of Alabama in HuntsvilleCompuserve: 72457,1560
Huntsville, AL 35899Phone: (205)895-6313
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