Mescaline: Harm Reduction

However, it is possible that people who have had negativeexperiences with mescaline might have been less likely to have seen or responded tothe present survey, which could have biased our findings. Additionally, definitivesafety profiles that include the assessments of vital signs, blood pressure, andelectrocardiography (ECG) need to be established in laboratory studies of mescalineadministration. As shown in Table 2,most respondents (66%) had consumed San Pedro in their lifetime, with smallerproportions of respondents having ingested Peyote (36%) and synthetic mescaline(31%). Overall, respondents reported that they had the most experience with SanPedro (45%). Almost all respondents reported that they had consumed mescalinethrough oral ingestion (97%), very small proportions reported ingesting bysnorting (1%) or via sublingual administration (2%), and most (67%) reportedthat they last consumed mescaline at least 6 months, prior to surveyparticipation.

Spiritual respect for peyote and the hard-fought legal right to use it are not the only reasons why the Native American community is pushing back on drug reform advocates. Peyote is very slow-growing and only thrives in a small territory of southern Texas and northern Mexico. It may take 10 or more years for a single peyote cactus to transition from a seedling to the first stage of flowering.

Publication types

It looks as if this was a pilgrimage site where ceremonies were conducted that involved processions and subterranean passages, and probably DMT-containing snuffs and other mind-altering plants as well as San Pedro. The term “psychedelic” originated in an exchange between Aldous Huxley and the psychiatrist Humphry Osmond, after Huxley’s first mescaline trip in 1953. Effective oral dosage of synthetic mescaline is in the 200–400 mg range, with threeorders of magnitude greater than the equivalent dose of lysergic acid diethylamide(LSD) (Beyerstein, 2003;Nichols, 2004). Oralingestion of mescaline appears to have a longer half-life compared to other classicpsychedelics (i.e. 6 h), with peak effects occurring approximately 2 h afteringestion and a total duration lasting 8–12 h (Dasgupta, 2019; Nichols, 2004). Mescaline is metabolizedvia oxidative deamination by liver enzymes, with 87% excreted in the urine after24 h (Dasgupta, 2019;Monte et al., 1997),and animal models show that 28%–46% of mescaline is excreted in the urine unaltered(Cochin et al.,1951). Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychoactive phenethylamine found inseveral cacti and historically used ceremonially by Indigenous and LatinAmerican populations.

What is mescaline cut with?

With that in mesclun psychedelic mind, each individual journey will be unique to the person, time, and place, and there’s no way to predict exactly what will happen. But, mescaline does induce some common experiences and effects that can help you prepare for your journey. The author of the book, Jean-Paul Sartre, is one of the first to have a life-changing mescaline trip and go on to write about it. Although the book is not entirely about his mescaline trip, the plant was a great inspiration for his existential writing. After experimenting with mescaline, Sartre believed lobster-like creatures were following him for many years.

The Mescaline Experience

This has led to some controversy as peyote is used for religious purposes by various Native American groups. When peyote is used in religious ceremonies, it is exempt from its classification as a Schedule I controlled drug under the 1994 American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA). Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychoactive alkaloid with hallucinogenic properties derived from a range of cacti. Subjective effects include open and closed-eye visuals, time distortion, enhanced introspection, conceptual thinking, euphoria, and ego loss.

Mescaline

• Peyote ceremonies took place in tipis, away from the prying eyes of government agents.
• In traditional ceremonial use, the hallucination phase has been reported as consistently transporting.
• Due to its status as an internationally controlled substance, research into the harm potential of mescaline—especially long-term—has been limited.
• Others, though, used mescaline not for spiritual enlightenment but for artistic and philosophical experiments.
• However, caution is warranted because controlled research studies have not examined the possible toxic effects of mescaline on the developing fetus or infant.

Broader recognition of its possible therapeutic valuein Western science began in the 1950s; however, knowledge of the safetyprofile of mescaline and the extent of its use remains limited. The primaryaim of this study is to examine the epidemiology of mescaline use amongEnglish-speaking adults. Many factors contribute to the mescaline experience, including dose, mindset, setting, and method of consumption.

Decriminalization resolutions, which include Peyote, maycontribute significantly to the extinction of the Peyote cacti in the wild.Similarly, the Republic of Peru, South America has enacted legislation protectingtraditional use of Indigenous plant medicines, such as San Pedro (Dunnell, 2018). About 452 respondents completed a web-based survey designed to assess theirprevious experience with mescaline (subjective effects, outcome measures,and mescaline type used). Mescaline is a potent hallucinogen found in the peyote cactus that causes visions and other sensory apparitions that aren’t real. This is due to the chemical reaction the drug has with neural pathways in the brain. Read here to find out more about mescaline highs or “trips” and the effects of peyote on the brain.

The NAC offers a form of worship that keeps Native American cultural identity alive in the modern world. Its members are often very active in their communities, in initiatives such as alcohol recovery programmes. Among the Navajo, the mescaline ceremony has developed a powerful healing element, and is often seen as being more effective than western psychiatry in addressing problems of trauma and social dislocation. Psychiatrists noticed that its effects had similarities with the symptoms of psychosis – hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, loss of identity – and speculated that disorders such as schizophrenia might be caused by a mescaline-like toxic chemical in the brain. By the 1960s, this “psychotomimetic” theory had been largely abandoned, and mescaline itself was mostly replaced by LSD, which produced similar effects at a tiny fraction of the dose.

The idea that mescaline could be used to mimic psychosis in patients, a property known as psychotomimetic, was common at the time. The medical field began examining this idea more closely — including administering the drug to artists. During the following years, while the Native Americans were being persecuted for peyote, mescaline was being regarded as an intellectual hallucinogen in Europe, acclaimed for its visions and ability to support progressive self-reflection. At the time, an educated doctor was assumed to have more evolved self-reflections and visions, while a layperson or laborer who used peyote traditionally was thought to lack the ability to think deeply about their life. Even in this earliest case of psychedelic drug use, there were inclinations of racism and classism that persist today. Today, members of the NAC report using Peyote anywhere from once per year to two tothree times per week (Dasgupta,2019).

Peyote ceremonies often last 10 hours and involve drumming, singing, dancing, social interactions, praying, and processing of deep traumas and personal issues. In traditional and ritualistic practices of Indigenous communities, mescaline is derived from fast-growing San Pedro cacti and slow-growing peyote cacti. Peyote cacti were first introduced to Western culture when Spanish people arrived in Mexico in the early sixteenth century.

Mescaline and mental health

In fact, peyote rituals eventually spread to Native Americans of the US plains, such as the Osage Nation, after they were forced into reservations. Mescaline and peyote are now banned under US drug laws, but such ceremonial use is exempted. Many people find benefit in journaling during their microdose protocol, which should not last for more than a few months. Considering that there is no research on the long-term impact of microdosing, there is no reason to assume that long-term microdosing is safe, and most people limit an initial protocol to 30 days. Ultimately, we have no idea whether microdosing works because of the drug itself or because of the human psyche’s receptiveness to suggestion and persuasion.

Following WWII, mescaline was used in psychedelic research and therapy studies in the 1950s. But, once mescaline was regulated through the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, clinical trials and research were prohibited aside from small-scale studies that investigated abuse potential — as opposed to the therapeutic use of mescaline in psychotherapy. As the use of mescaline and the culture of inspired drug use made its way to Berlin, where psychiatry was beginning to take on a substantial role in medicine, the scientists who were studying mescaline became more interested in its effects on those suffering from mental illnesses.

A Beginner’s Guide To Mescaline

One was Frederick Smith, who in 1914 became head of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, now the Community of Christ. Smith promoted the use of peyote during services, to induce the religious ecstasy he said he had experienced at ceremonies of various Native American nations. More recently, a study was published comparing the placebo effect with microdosing and found that placebo doses had the same positive effects as the group that was given psychedelic microdoses.

Radiocarbon dating of peyote found in a cave above the Rio Grande in Texas suggests its use dates back to at least 5,700 years, making it the oldest known psychedelic agent in North America9. It has a rich history of use in various Indigenous tribes in South America, Mexico, Texas, and other parts of the United States (described in detail below). Lophophora williamsii contains about 0.4% of mescaline by weight (fresh, undried) and up to 3-6% dried4.