Window Rock, USA - Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. has signed a law that makes it legal for Navajos to transport and possess peyote for ceremonial purposes on Navajo Nation land.
The new tribal law also allows peyote that Navajo police confiscate from people who have it illegally to be given to the Native American Church to be used for approved ceremonies.
Shirley said the legislation is a way to preserve the Navajo way of life.
The Navajo Tribal Council approved the measure by a 63-1 vote. The July 29 signing included an all-night ceremony in a sacred teepee near the Navajo Nation Museum. Officials at the event stressed the importance of using peyote properly.
Peyote is used for meditation and spiritual ties both in the Native American Church and other ceremonies. Ceremonial peyote is not smoked, but ingested as a powder.
Smoking peyote is not allowed under the new law.
Peyote, a cactus plant that causes hallucinogenic effects when ingested, is classified by U.S. law as a controlled substance and it is illegal to possess in the United States, but the use of it by the Native American Church is allowed.