Drug legally sold on street
It has been used by native Americans for centuries. But now the dangerous hallucinogenic peyote cactus is being sold in London - and the trade is legal.
The effects are similar to LSD; it alters perception and it can last for about 12 hours.
But police are powerless to stop its sale. It is not illegal to sell the cactus in Britain and, over recent months, several outlets in Camden Town have sprung up to cater for customers.
Peyote only becomes an illegal Class A drug when it has been prepared for use as a hallucinogenic. Today, a drugs information charity warned against peyote because of its potential harm.
A DrugScope spokesman said: " People should be aware that although peyote comes from a natural source it is not a herbal high that should be underestimated.
"The drug is a strong hallucinogenic and people with mental health problems or who suspect they may have mental health problems should steer well clear."
On the stalls of Camden Market, peyote is being sold in trays alongside San Pedro - another type of hallucinogenic cactus - and a bewildering array of mushrooms.
On one stall, a woman sold our reporter a mature peyote cactus, in flower, for ?30.
When asked what to do with the plant she explained how to prepare it for consumption but warned that it was "very, very strong" and that it was not pleasant.
On a stall a few paces away, a whole tray of smaller peyote plants was on sale, again for ?30 a plant.
The young man who ran the stall explained: "It's all totally legal - for the time being.
"The problem is that too many people are selling it at the moment, so the police are probably going to crack down at some point.
"The peyote is really strong - like powerful LSD - but it's so bitter to taste that most people throw it up straight away. There are loads of ways of taking it ... but be careful with it man, it's heavy s***."
A Metropolitan police spokeswoman told the Standard: "We are not aware of peyote for sale in Camden but we will be looking into it."
Peyote has hallucinogenic properties because it contains large quantities of mescaline, a powerful mind- altering chemical. Until recently it was only found in central Mexico and southern Texas.
Peyote can take five to 15 years to reach maturity and is no more than five inches in diameter. The top of the cactus consists of disc-shaped " buttons".
It is illegal in most other countries including the US - except for a group
of native Americans who are permitted to use the drug for religious reasons in traditional ceremonies.
Singer Jim Morrison of The Doors was one of a number of musicians who experimented with peyote during the Sixties and early Seventies.
His use of the psychedelic drug was dramatised in a scene from the Oliver Stone film about the group, in which Morrison and the band go into the Californian desert high on peyote.
In 1953, psychiatrist Dr Humphry Osmond administered mescalin, derived from cactus, to English novelist Aldous Huxley, an episode described in his cult book The Doors Of Perception (1954).
The Doors took their name from Huxley's book.
