The Spirit of Huachuma

Laurel Anne Sugden is a Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of British Columbia. She grew up in rural Montana, where she developed deep connections with the flora and fauna of the Rocky Mountains, and went on to earn a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology. Her PhD research centers on the visionary San Pedro Cactus (Huachuma) and its cultural and ecological roles in the Andes. Laurel conducted a broad survey of the endemic habitats of Huachuma which revealed the decline of wild Huachuma in Peru.

Josip Orlovac Del Río is a maestro huachumero from coastal Peru with over 33 years of experience growing, cooking, drinking, and sharing Huachuma. He received his connection to the plant through his Andean grandfather, and from a young age studied traditional healing in a lineage of curanderos from the Río Santa. He has been planting San Pedro for 30 years, and collectively his gardens are home to over 5,000 individual cacti. Josip is the creator of the Peruvian cultural phenomenon Mullu. Together with an alliance of traditional curanderos and Indigenous leaders, Josip and Laurel co-founded Huachuma Collective, a nonprofit association in Peru which works with Andean communities towards the bio-cultural sustainability of the San Pedro Cactus.

About Huachuma Collective: Huachuma Collective is a Peru-based nonprofit association that cares for the bio-cultural sustainability of the San Pedro Cactus. Their leadership is an alliance of curanderos, Indigenous leaders, and Andean community members. Together, they empower communities to protect, conserve, and plant Huachuma and explore sustainable practices for growing and working with traditional medicine in Peru. Their projects support and revitalize cultural traditions in Andean and Coastal Peruvian communities. The organization was founded in 2020 to unite and provide a platform for the voices of traditional curanderos and curanderas in North and Central Peru. The collective convened to address growing concerns with Huachuma's conservation status and the loss of traditional medicinal knowledge in North Peru. The knowledge and practices of San Pedro were declared Cultural Heritage of Peru in November 2022, an important step towards recognizing the unique cultural world of this medicine and the skill of practitioners. Huachuma Collective takes this a step further by working at the community level to ensure the survival of Huachuma and the healing arts of North Peru. The organization recently published a “Collective Statement from the Curanderos and Curanderas of North Peru on the State of Conservation of the San Pedro Cactus, their Traditional Knowledge, and the Use of Wild San Pedro by Foreigners.” In the statement, over 60 traditional practitioners and allies from the Huachuma / San Pedro Cactus bioculture in North Peru have drafted guidelines for foreigners about how to engage with their medicine. This statement is their response to the mistreatment of Huachuma in Peru and around the world. It makes their position clear about the exploitative practices used to produce commercial “San Pedro powder” and urges practitioners to give back financially to Andean communities. The statement is a call from the guardians of Huachuma to the world to st...