Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-02-04
MESCAL HABIT
GROWS ALARMING
How the Use of the Narcotic
Has Spread Among Indian
Tribes of America
PRODUCES MILD HALLUCINATIONS
Clubs are Formed for the Social In
diligence In this Strange Drug
Weird Rites and Ceremonals.

The constant spread of the use Of
mescal as narcotic among the In
dians grows alarming and must soon
demand widespread attention with a
view to discovering some remedy for
this pernicious habit and some check
to it's growth.
Mescal is the product of certain
cactus which has long been used in
various ways among the Mebicans as
an intoxicant under the name of pei
lote. The form In which it is used
by the Indians Is the mescal button
a kind of bean, very bitter to the
taste, which is sometimes chewed and
sometimes brewed in kind of tea
When taken in either way it produces
mild and delightful hallucinations of
such positive character as to place
this plant in the same rank with has
heesh, opium, or any other Of the fa-
nous drugs which have produced for
men the joys of an artificial paradise.
The Kiowa Indians of the RIO
Grande are said to have used the mes
cal button from time immemorial for
the purpose Of producing a beatific
state of mind in connection with Ger
tain of their religious ceremonies
Gradually the practice has spread
northward from tribe to tribe. The
Poncas and some of their neighbors
in Indian territory and Oklahoma took
it up and soon counted many worship
ers of this strange god. Thence it
extended to the Omahas and Whine
bagoes, among whom it is at present
constantly gaining new adherents, and
now the practice is acquiring foothold
among the Sioux. The tribes which
have longest used it have, in the ar
dor of their devotion, sent mission
aries to introduce their wonderful
new medicine among other tribes, and
wherever it becomes known its allure
ments prove irresistible. Clubs are
formed for social indulgence in this
narcotic, and for mutual participation
in the rites and ceremonials which
always accompany It's indulgence for
the purpose of giving to it religious
character. In some cases the stu
dents returned from eastern and 9TH
er boarding schools have become
members and promoters of these
clubs.
The meetings usually ale held in
the afternoon. After the mysterious
ceremonies in acknowledgment of the
secret power of the strange divinity
have taken place, the buttons are
passed around for chewing, four or
five to each member, and the tea Is
brewed and drunk. Only the novice
experiences any nausea or unpleasant
sensation and this soon passes off.
There ensues only a blissful feeling
of lassitude, accompanied by de-
licious sense of happiness and peace.
All thoughts of care or trouble or en-
nifty roll away and the devotee is
possessed by the feeling that all men
are brothers and all the world is good
Meanwhile his sense of vision is pow
erfully affected, so that he sees chang
ing and beautiful harmonies of color
In everything upon which his eyes
rest This lasts throughout the night
and until sleep comes next day, wheR
the effects pass off and he gets up and
goes away without any feeling Of de
preston or other unpleasant results
And throughout this saturnalia of the
senses and orgy Of vision the mind it
self remains clear and the devotee IL
a self-possessed spectator of all his
hallucinations. One other effect o.
this remarkable drug must be noted
in this brief summary, The mesca'
takes away all desire for alcoholic
drink
1t is no wonder that the mescal habit.
appeals strongly to the siple mind O:
the Indian. No doubt, in many cases
the effect which appeals to him the
most powerfully is the one last named,
He loses the desire for whiskey which
he knows has been his undoing.
Whether the means Justify the end is
a question he is little likely to ask.
Just what steps may best be undertak-
en- to counteract this pernicious habit
are not at once apparent, but the
practice is assuming such proportions
as to require some action. However
slight may be the physical effects of
the habit-and they do not appear
from brief observation to be either
rapid or serious-the moral effects are
obvious, for these mast be the same
as those which follow from any form
of the drug habit; and from these at
least 1t is the religious duty of the
friends of the Indian to try to save
him
Worldly Wisdom.