The Native American Church is the most widespread religious movement among the Indigenous people of North America. It considers sacred the peyote cactus, which grows naturally only in some parts of southern Texas and northern Mexico. Peyote has been used spiritually in ceremonies, and as a medicine by Native American people for millennia. Peyote contains several psychoactive compounds, primarily mescaline, which is a hallucinogen. While it is still a controlled substance under U.S. law, Native Americans are allowed to use, harvest and transport peyote under laws passed in 1978 and 1994.
