Pollan expresses his disappointment at how the COVID pandemic delayed his trip to Laredo, Texas to explore the Peyote Gardens where the peyote cactus naturally grows. He explains that the peyote plant produces mescaline, a psychedelic drug, which has long been treasured by Indigenous American tribes for its unique properties. While it is illegal for most Americans to possess or ingest, Indigenous Americans are legally able to harvest and use it, which they do in healing rituals and ceremonies. Pollan is intrigued by Indigenous Americans’ claims that peyote has helped them to recover from intergenerational trauma and addiction issues and wants to experience one of these ceremonies firsthand.

Feeling disappointed and claustrophobic during the pandemic’s lockdown, Pollan turns to Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception, which explores Huxley’s 1953 experience of using mescaline. Pollan learns that Huxley felt mescaline offered “a door in the wall” to his own thinking, prompting Pollan to consider whether trying mescaline himself could help him overcome the obstacles of attempting research during the pandemic (165).