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Drug Tourists Eating All the Peyote

Since the '70s--and the publication of Fear and Loathing, we suspect--tourists have trekked to Northern Mexico to hunt peyote, camp out and hallucinate for hours in the desert. While that's not exactly our idea of fun, it's a popular attraction for both Mexican and foreign tourists. But so many people are dropping in that locals are worried their cactus might be over-harvested--and their way of life threatened:

People come here for the peyote; that's the only reason. They come and they eat it. They come from all over the world. Russians, Chinese, Japanese, everything.

Digging up peyote didn't seem to bother this tourist from Geneva, though from the sound of it, not much would bother him:

I like to use this plant to, like, open my mind to the nature...The best way to use it is to go alone and to walk and to see the nature.

Related Stories:
· Mexico's Peyote Endangered by 'Drug Tourists' [NPR]
· Drug Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: shansby]