Most people in the United States are unaware of what an important role plants play in the field of medicine.

Plants are the original source material for nearly 40% of all pharmaceutical remedies in the United States. In other words, there are prescription and over-the-counter drugs on the market right now that either contain plant-derived materials, or synthesized materials from agents that were originally derived from plants.

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https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/peyote-as-medicine-the-power-of-native-plants-to-heal-rG45R9ux0Ueb3JuOWyOssg/

Peyote grows in northern and central portions of Mexico, and in parts of America’s extreme southwest. Native peoples have been ingesting peyote as a part of spiritual ceremonies for thousands of years. At present, the legal use of the peyote in the United States is now restricted to use in rituals and ceremonies performed within the Native American Church.

https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/peyote-as-medicine-the-power-of-native-plants-to-heal-rG45R9ux0Ueb3JuOWyOssg/

Today, native people struggle with a myriad of health problems. Instead of feeding our sick an endless cycle of expensive, man-made prescription drugs produced by billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, some with possible side effects that include permanent heart or liver damage, stroke, or even death, we could be using ancestral knowledge to restore and safeguard our health. Native people who still practice traditional medicine are well aware of their healing benefits of medicinal plant use. They do not need western science to prove it to them. Nonetheless, as natives living in 2011, we ought to support ethical research into how native plants are used as medicine—for posterity, and to insure that our use as such is protected under the law. 

by RUTH HOPKINS

https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/peyote-as-medicine-the-power-of-native-plants-to-heal-rG45R9ux0Ueb3JuOWyOssg/