For the past 25 years, the wild peyote that grows in San Luis Potosi has been steadily decreasing as harvesters pick it illegally for personal and recreational use.

A small, spineless cactus that is native to the dry, desert climates of the southwestern United States and northeast Mexico, peyote is used by the indigenous peoples of the area, the Wixárika, as a psychedelic medicinal plant as part of their religious ceremonies. According to their belief system, the state of consciousness that peyote induces helps them speak directly with their gods and receive messages from them in return.

“The number of rocks you see everywhere, that was how it used to be with peyote in this area,” said Candelario Martínez, a member of the local indigenous community.

Various controls have been implemented to keep the peyote from being illegally collected, but so far they are not working to keep the area safe from the plant’s depletion. In 2000, a pilgrimage route made up of over 140,000 hectares of land and encompassing Real de Catorce, Charcas, Vanegas, Villa de la Paz, and Villa de Ramos was declared a Natural Protected Area, but these federal and state restrictions, in conjunction with efforts by landowners and local farmers, have not stopped the illegal harvest.

Some of the Wixárika ceremonial sites like El Bernalejo have also been vandalized. Locals blame the problem on zero enforcement of local and federal laws as well as the psychedelic tourism industry.

Residents said in interviews that local collectors will dig around the plant and cut it evenly from its root, covering it back up with dirt so that the plant can regenerate, but outsiders pull plants up roots and all both to use and take home to replant. Up until four years ago, plants were relatively plentiful, says one community member, but not anymore.

A deputy came under fire for tweeting “human rights are for humans” and “criminals are beasts that don’t deserve any consideration.”

A teenager is dead after three other adolescents showed up at his family’s store in Iztapalapa demanding an extortion payment.

Until organized crime groups stop looking for new and better ways to prey on Mexicans, their recent ‘apologies’ for violence are meaningless.

Building supplies outlets in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, have been forced to close after becoming the latest victims of extortion.

Residents of Múzquiz, Coahuila, awoke to severe flooding Thursday after a storm dumped about 30 centimeters of rain on the municipality.

A mother who had been looking for her missing son for nearly three years was abducted and killed this week in southern Sinaloa.

For the past 25 years, the wild peyote that grows in San Luis Potosi has been steadily decreasing as harvesters pick it illegally.

Mexico City’s mayor leads the foreign minister in popularity as a possible 2024 presidential candidate for the ruling Morena party.

As part of the impending sisterhood agreement, the Mexican and the U.S. city will promote each other as destinations.

Organic materials, not manmade substances, are mostly to blame for the problem, says Arturo Chacón, but authorities do little to address it.

If you’re a fan of the fruit, Pueblo Mágico Zacatlán de las Manzanas is an apple-growing town with an annual harvest fair not to be missed

People still debate the artistic value of this Surrealist estate in San Luis Potosí’s rainforest. James himself called it “pure megalomania.”

Janet Blaser offers up easy, refreshing recipes for those unbearably hot days when you just don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking.

San Juan Evangelista’s ceramic works, including figurines, furniture and more, start with ‘virgin clay’ that is collected by hand nearby.

Fifty years after the state’s last ceramics workshops closed, Ivan Pugga researched the defunct industry and found its last living craftsmen.

Helsinki-based author Linda Bondestam’s My Life at the Bottom: The Story of a Lonesome Axolotl gently teaches kids about climate change.

Saying these Jesuits who were dedicated to the indigenous Raramuri were killed by a sick criminal is the easy answer but not a complete one.

Two recent acts of violence toward animals that sparked Mexicans’ outrage got Sarah DeVries thinking about how we define animal cruelty.

The followers of Satan building a place of worship in Catemaco, Veracruz, has Sarah DeVries thinking about the value of subversion.

THE STORY: Conservationist urges Mexico adopt ‘blue label’ standard to protect vaquita