I can legally buy peyote? This just can't be true...can it?

Factual Questions
1

Had a conversation with a friend today about our respective heritages.

During said conversation, it came up that my grandfather was a full-blooded Cherokee Native American. Now mind you, I grew up as white-bread as you can possibly imagine – we were expected to learn a bit about the Cherokee culture, but we were far from living it. I grew up in the St. Louis suburbs, and never even saw any Native American dwellings until just a couple years ago.

However, my friend mentioned that in some Native American cultures, it is legal to purchase peyote for “religious observations.” The primary guideline for said purchase is that the person “must be at least 1/8th Native American.” Which, as established, I am.

Not that I’m planning on running out today to purchase peyote, but it would be a fun piece of glurge to offer up the next time somebody asks for an interesting fact.

So spill it, pharmacological historians – any truth to what I was told? Can peyote truly be procured so easily?

2

There is a limited exemption in federal law as follows:

Title 21 USC Sec. 1307.31 Native American Church.

The listing of peyote as a controlled substance in Schedule I does

not apply to the nondrug use of peyote in bona fide religious ceremonies

of the Native American Church, and members of the Native American Church

so using peyote are exempt from registration. Any person who

manufactures peyote for or distributes peyote to the Native American

Church, however, is required to obtain registration annually and to

comply with all other requirements of law.

3

Yes, when I was in College we did a field trip and one of the (very) optional things was a Native American Shaman ceremony, with (again optional) peyote. There was some ceremeony making us “members”, then we have the peyote ceremony at dark, around a fire.

The peyote yasted a bit like aspirin, and had a cehwy (dired) but okra-like consistency. Nasty.

We looked inot the fire and told what we saw. I saw demons dancing in the flames- not uncommon for those raised Christian I was told.

No big whoop, and I woudln’t do it again, but I have to admit the ceremony and all was one of those things that was a worthwhile “once in a lifetime” expereince.

I have since been told that what we did was of doubtful legality (well, they “doubtful” was after the fact, I think) and they no longer offer it to outsiders.

But no, AFAIK you can’t just go out and buy the stuff. You need to be a Preist/shaman, etc.