Note 26 — THE ETHNOLOGY OF PEYOTISM

The suppression of peyote was sought under an act of Jan. 30, 1897 (29 Stat. 506), Sect. 6 of the Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906 (34 Stat. 768-72), Sect. 11 of the same act, and Service and Regulatory Announcement No. 13, Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry (issued May 3, 1915)—all without success. Specific Federal anti-peyote bills were next attempted: Senate 1862 (65th Congress 1st Sess. Apr. 17, 1917), House of Representatives 10669 (64th Congress 1st Sess.), House of Representatives 4999 (65th Congress 1st Sess. June 12, 1917), House of Representatives 2614 (65th Congress 2nd Sess. May 13, 1918-Oct. 7, 1918). These all failed of passing. An anti-peyote proviso attached as a rider to Appropriations bill House of Representatives 8696 of March 28, 1918 was deleted before passage, under pressure from a powerful and alert Indian lobby. Later bills were House of Representatives 398 (66th Congress 1st Sess.), House of Representatives 2071 (about March 29, 1924), House of Representatives 5057 (not passed by Senate, but amended as:) House of Representatives 5078 (about Jan. 24, 1924, 68th Congress 1st Sess.)—all defeated. The Senate bill 1399 of Feb. 8, 1937 is pending at the present writing.

State laws against peyote have been more successful. The Oklahoma law of March 11, 1899 was automatically repealed by omission in the codification of the state laws; the Darnell bill of 1927 was defeated April 13, 1927. The following states have anti-peyote laws: Colorado (before 1923), Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana (by 1925), Nebraska, Nevada (by 1918), New Mexico, North Dakota (before 1923), South Dakota, Utah (before 1918), and Wyoming (1929). The Native American Church is incorporated in Oklahoma and Montana, however, under state charters.