Apparent Safety of Peyote
Robert Bergman
American Journal of
Psychiatry, 1971
Several states have passed laws against possession and use of
peyote. However, very little evidence has been reported on this
subject...My familiarity with the Native American Church has resulted
from the day-to-day work of the mental health program on the Navajo
area of the Indian Health Service working with the 125,000 Navajo
Indians, the largest tribe in the United States...We provide consultation
to many community organizations, including the Native American
Church. As a result, we seem to have good success in case finding,
and in general there is little reluctance to refer cases to us.
Nevertheless, we have seen almost no acute or chronic emotional
disturbance arising from peyote use.
For a period of four years we have followed up every report of
psychotic or other psychiatric episodes said to have arisen from
peyote use. There have been about 40 to 50 such reports, most
of which were hearsay that could never be traced to a particular
case. Some have been based on a physician's belief that Navajo
people use peyote and that if a particular person became disturbed
it must have been for this reason. There has been one relatively
clear-cut case of acute psychosis and four cases that are difficult
to interpret. (The "acute psychosis" occurred when a
Navajo man attended a peyote meeting after drinking alcohol-Ed.)
Assuming that all five of our cases represent true reactions to
peyote and that we hear about half of the cases occurring, the
resulting probably over-estimated rate would be approximately
one bad reaction per 70,000 ingestions...This rate is much lower
than others that have been reported for the use of hallucinogenic
agents.
We have seen many patients come through difficult crises with
the help of this religion. The Peyotists themselves are proud
in particular of the help the church has been to Indian people
who have drinking problems. In fact, Levy and Kunitz (1970) report
a greater success rate for the Peyotists than for any other agency
working with alcoholics in one part of the Navajo reservation.
—Dr. Robert Bergman, Chief U.S. Public Health Service Navajo
Reservation, Arizona
Discussion: I concur in all that Dr. Robert Bergman has said.
I see the legal persecution that keeps cropping up as typical
of the reactionary regression of the day...Peyote is not harmful
to these people; it is beneficial, comforting, inspiring, and
appears to be spiritually nourishing. It is a better antidote
to alcohol than anything the missionaries, the white man, the
American Medical Association, and the public health services have
come up with. It is understandable that these organizations should
be a bit envious of the success of this...natural native remedy.
—Dr. Karl A. Menninger Topeka, Kansas
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY: Bergman,
1971.