Being Better People: Drug Using Careers and Peyote

Abstract

Our aim is to understand how narratives relating to personal identities and specific drugs shape people’s drug using careers. To do this, we rely on data from a photo-ethnography of people who used peyote in ceremonial contexts in the Southern United States. We found that the desire to become better people plot stories at each stage of their careers. The hope of positive personal change (e.g. heal trauma or break addiction) often motivates decisions to try peyote, while those who continue using do so because they believe peyote has aided in personal growth. Some desist because the discomfort from the acute effects of peyote outweighs the long-term benefits. Others stop using do so because they believe peyote has helped them reach their goals and they no longer need to continue. Findings have implications for broader understandings of drug using careers.

Keywords:

• Drug use careers
• peyote
• psychedelics

Disclosure Statement

Peter Hendricks was previously in paid advisory relationships with Eleusis Benefit Corporation, Reset Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Silo Pharma and is currently in paid advisory relationships with Bright Minds Biosciences Ltd. and Journey Colab Corporation. Dr. Hendricks is co-founder of Equulus Therapeutics and Mycelial Health.

Notes

1 Participants selected their own aliases, which we use throughout.

2 Sue was a White man who chose the alias in reference to the song, A Boy Named Sue, by Shel Silverstein and made popular by Johnny Cash.

3 N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a psychedelic drug found in the Amazonian admixture ayahuasca that is used for ritual purposes in many indigenous cultures and religious organizations including Santo Daime and União do Vegetal (UDV). Isolated DMT is also vaporized and inhaled outside of traditional ceremonies.

4 The ceremonies took place around a communal fire that they believed was sacred and connected them to peyote.

5 Ceremonies ran by people affiliated with federally recognized Native American tribes tend to be more structured and formal in their rituals than the ones run at the study location.