MEXICAN WATER, Ariz. — For Navajo spiritual leader Steven Benally, saving a Native American religion from extinction means preserving those diminishing lands where hallucinogenic peyote grows wild. “It’s a small but important step toward realizing a prophecy,” said the 61-year-old. Preservation also means battling activists in the California Bay Area and other cities who want to legalize consumption of the psychedelic cactus. “To these outsiders, we say, ‘Leave peyote alone. Please,’” Benally said. “Is that too much to ask?”
