Episode 14: Peyote as an Ancestor and Living Relative - Not a Resource

Episode Summary: As many psychedelic enthusiasts promote and support the idea of psychedelic decriminalization, it is important to recognize that this is being done without consultation with Indigenous peoples, which inadvertently facilitates extractive harvesting practices, biopiracy, and an involuntary forfeiture of medicinal access. As an Indigenous Peyote practitioner, researcher, and scientist, Dawn is aware of the potential impacts that decriminalization could likely have towards further depletion of wild Peyote populations within the United States and Mexico and has been advocating for cultural, historic, and legal responsiveness to Peyote’s past as it relates to the Indigenous peoples of North America. Through her spiritual practices she recognizes Peyote as a sentient being, an ancestor, a relative, not a resource for commercialization, commodification, or at the expense of living Indigenous cultures. This session will delve deeper into these concerns and further question the perception of medicine vs. resource from an Indigenous perspective.

Exclusive Post Webinar Session:  Exclusive Q&A with Dawn.  Dawn was instrumental in bringing awareness to the potential environmental and cultural concerns associated with the inclusion of Peyote within decriminalization resolutions as well as the omitted consultation between Indigenous peoples and Peyote practitioners.  In this session, you’ll be able to ask questions pertaining to her webinar episode, or find out more about her life as a mother, a wife, a small-business owner, co-editor of the Journal of Native Sciences, a founding member of Source Research Foundation, a Newe and a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.  To register, see Ep 14Ex: Exclusive w/ Dawn.