Did tribes in the PNW take entheogens traditionally?
If you are referring to peyote, specifically, some do. “Banned by the United States government in the 1940s and 1950s, the use of the peyote “medicine” became illegal because of its mescaline content. However, in 1976, the government changed its mind and declared that Native Americans could practice their religion by using the sacred medicine. “Native Americans just use it to pray,” said Richard Speer, also known as Hunting Crow. “It has been used by Native Americans for thousands of years and is thought to have been introduced by the Southern Plains tribes. It was introduced to the Navajos in the 1930s.” http://peyote.com/peyote/native.html “Peyote is employed as a religious sacrament among more than forty American Indian tribes in many parts of the United States and western Canada. Because of its wide use, Peyote early attracted the attention of scientists and legislators and engendered heated and, unfortunately, often irresponsible opposition to its free use in American Indian cerem
