Bassett & Avalos/IRT5M, 58. Is Peyote a medicine or a drug?

Sixteenth-century Nahuatl speakers in Mesoamerica used the word peyotl to describe several medicinal plants, including a small cactus they harvested, dried, and ingested to treat illness, find lost items, and seek visions. Since then, Indigenous peoples throughout North America have used this cactus for physical healing and consumed it in ritual settings.