Mescaline
Learn more about mescaline, the active chemical in peyote and other species of cacti.
Overview
Common Nicknames
Peyote, peyote buttons, San Pedro
Drug Class
Psychedelic
Drug Form
Button shaped seeds that come from the peyote or San Pedro cactus, dried or mixed with water to form a hallucinogenic drink, a synthetic form of mescaline can also be formulated
Route of Administration
Ingestion via either mixing with water into a drink; dried and crushed to put into capsules which are swallowed; or chewed in the button form. Like other psychedelics it can be microdosed
What is the science of Mescaline?
Mescaline is one of the eight psychoactive compounds in peyote, or in the San Pedro cactus. Like other psychedelics it is a partial agonist at the serotonergic 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B receptors but is a full agonist at 5-HT2C. This means it promotes the release of serotonin in the brain. It is chemically related to amphetamine and produces a strong psychedelic experience where users come up for a few hours and it is reported to last for up to 14.
What are the risks?
Due to the nature of how mescaline is consumed, one can never be sure on the dose being taken. If taken in its natural form and chewed, the climate and age of the cactus plant can affect the potency of the drug, so therefore there is the risk of a more intense experience than anticipated.
Anyone with a history of mental illness should be more cautious when taking mescaline. When psychedelics are taken, the brain goes into a neuroplastic state. This means that lots of new connections are made by neurons and regions of the brain are more inter-connected. Therefore, surrounding yourself with the right people and taking the drug in the right place may change your general mood and outlook on life. The feelings and thoughts you have will feel more intense, which is why people who suffer from mental illness could be at risk. Even after the experience is over, people with mental illness may feel paranoia, anxiety, psychosis, and delusions.
There have been conflicting reports of mescaline having negative effects on foetal development, so it is ill-advised to take this drug if you are pregnant, even though some indigenous people do consume peyote during pregnancy. As with other psychedelics and in particular those that produce strong hallucinogenic effects, there is the risk of hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD).
How might the drug make you feel?
Broadly, all psychedelics produce similar symptoms - a general state of mind-altering perception and a dream-like reality. Additionally, mescaline also has quite physical effects, due to increased blood pressure, body temperature, and heart rate. You might experience both visual and auditory hallucinations, thought to derive from the action on the 5-HT2A receptors. This might feel like sounds are warped or at a higher pitch. 3D objects may be subject to geometrisation, and your perception of time and other senses such as smell and touch may change. Mescaline also quite commonly causes headaches, nausea, and vomiting.
Is Mescaline addictive, and what are the long-term effects?
You are unlikely to develop a physical dependence on mescaline, but quite likely to develop tolerance. This means that you will require more of the drug to reach the same level of psychedelic experience and transcendence. This can become dangerous because of the physical effects of mescaline such as the effects on your heart, blood pressure and temperature regulation.
There is little evidence that mescaline will negatively affect brain function. However, as stated earlier there is the risk of HPPD and a negative effect on mental state in users with a history of mental illness.
Harm Reduction and Drug-Drug Interactions
Mescaline is not often cut with other drugs and has a different market to street drugs, such as cocaine, which are often cut to increase their volume. Most users will seek out the natural cactus form of the drug. This being said, mescaline is a powerful drug, and users should always plan out ‘set and setting’ before using. ‘Set and setting’ refers to both the state of mind of the user (mind-set) where all thoughts, perceptions, and feelings should try to remain positive before ingesting; and also, the setting in which the drug will be taken. Having a ‘trip sitter’ refers to another person who is not consuming the psychedelic being present and helping to create a calm atmosphere and offer reassurance to the drug takers, who will be in a highly suggestible state. The ‘trip’ could last longer than 12 hours and so users should take precautions around when they take the drug, because the effects are likely to last a long time.
Mixing drugs of abuse is never advisable, and all users may react differently. There have been studies which have shown interactions between mescaline and antipsychotics and antidepressants, in which they attenuate the symptoms. There is also a synergistic effect of 2C-O, a substance which may potentiate the effects of mescaline. User reports have also found that cannabis can potentiate the effects of psychedelic experiences.
Medical Uses
In the Indigenous communities of America and Mexico, traditional use of mescaline was seen as a spiritual ritual or ceremony which could have healing or protective qualities. Psychiatrists and scientists have also tried to harness these properties of psychedelics, and research is fast growing on whether there is a use of them as an adjunct to psychotherapy. The neuroplastic state in which the brain enters can harness the benefits of therapy, and particularly for conditions such as alcohol use disorder and PTSD where early life trauma may be a cause, harmful memories can be re-processed under the influence of the drug, and negative cycles of thinking can be broken. However, these trials are still in early stages, and more pre-clinical evidence for the action of the drugs is needed before they continue.
Myths and Misconceptions
Bad trips can’t be ended
The concept of a bad trip is when a psychedelic experience can make you feel anxious, paranoid, and delusional due to the mind-altering properties of the drug. This is what makes ‘set and setting’ so important. Having a trip sitter can help to guide your experience and regulate your emotions, especially if you are in a calm environment.
Mescaline will cause flashbacks
HPPD is always a risk, but the concept of suddenly having an intense trip randomly months or even years after taking psychedelics is highly unlikely.
Mescaline will cause brain damage
Claims that mescaline will cause life changing irreversible brain damage have never been substantiated. Some users do report an altered state of mind or a changed outlook on life but ultimately the effects of mescaline, although intense, are entirely transient.
Mescaline will make you go crazy
Mescaline is considered low risk for most people. It is true that it can trigger psychosis in those pre-disposed to mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, but most users do not experience psychosis after taking the drug.
History
To fully understand the history of mescaline we must consider its past from both an indigenous and a western perspective, as they propose competing narratives. Mescaline is often referred to as the first psychedelic, used for years in the desert of the Andes, parts of Mexico, and the southwestern United States of America. The use of mescaline in indigenous religious ceremonies led to the compound being isolated by German chemist and physician Arthur Heffter and in the 1950s the drug started to be studied in western medicine and research. It grew in popularity and fame when Aldous Huxley described his own psychedelic experiment with it in his book: The Doors of Perception. However, in 1970 as with other classic psychedelics its use was halted under the Controlled Substances Act, and any medical research and recreational use was abruptly stopped. It is only recently that research has been permitted into the use of these drugs once again, despite use still being common in the indigenous communities of America, the recreational use of mescaline is still prohibited.
