John R Briggs
Biography
John Raleigh Briggs (1851–1907) was an American physician and businessman based in Dallas, Texas. He was the first Westerner known to have tried and described the effects of peyote, which contains the psychedelic drug mescaline. Briggs learned of peyote from his brother, who had spent years among Native Americans and Mexicans and had observed their entheogenic use of the cactus, describing it as producing "beautiful visions" and allowing them to journey to the "spirit world". Briggs obtained peyote and tried a very low dose of it in June 1886, subsequently publishing his experience with it in an article titled "Muscale Buttons"—Physiological Effects—Personal Experience" in the Medical Register in May 1887. Briggs ate only one-third of a single peyote button, whereas a typical dose for hallucinogenic effects used by Native Americans was said to be 6 to 10 buttons (an 18- to 30-fold higher dose). Despite the low dose, he developed a variety of severe symptoms, including dramatically increased heart rate, rapid breathing, shortness of breath, feeling intoxicated, brief loss of consciousness, and feeling as if he were near death. Briggs concluded that the drug was a "poison" and was the most "violent" of all substances known to him. However, a modern interpretation is that Briggs was very apprehensive about peyote and simply had an extreme panic attack in response to the drug. As such, Briggs's experience is said to have also been the first psychedelic "bad trip" to have been published. Relatedly, Briggs held strong negative preconceptions about peyote, believing it be dangerous and easily lethal. As examples, he claimed that the drug induced total unconsciousness in Native Americans for 2 or 3 days, that it had once killed 30 Native Americans in a single ceremony, and that he believed that a mere 2 peyote buttons would surely kill a white man like himself. Briggs's publication on his experience with peyote was read by George Davis, of Parke, Davis and Company, who proc
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