Mescaline
From dKosopedia
Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a hallucinogenic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class.
It occurs naturally in the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii), the San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi), in the Peruvian Torch cactus (Echinopsis peruviana), and it is also found in a number of other members of the Cactaceae. It can be extracted from these sources. Mescaline was first isolated and identified in 1897 by the German Arthur Heffter and first synthesized in 1919 by Ernst Späth.
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Usage and history
The use of extract from peyote in Native American religious ceremonies has been noted since the earliest European contact, notably by the Huichols in Mexico.
Legal status
In 1970 the U.S. Controlled Substances Act or Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act made possession of mescaline illegal. It was also prohibited internationally by the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances[1] and is categorised as a Schedule I hallucinogen by the CSA.
Chemistry
A common synthetical approach starts from 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde (PiHKAL entry).
Side effects
One or more of the following side effects may or may not accompany any individual experience with mescaline.
Positive Side Effects
- Open eye visuals
- Closed-eye visuals
- New thought processes
- Dream-like scenarios
- Euphoria
- Mystical experience
Neutral Side Effects
- Pupil dilation
- Sensations of warm and cold
- Temporary splitting/destruction of ego
Negative Side Effects
- Dizziness
- Vomiting
- Tachycardia
- Diarrhea
- Headaches
- Anxiety
- Feeling of dying or annihilation
- Fear of not being able to return to normal consciousness
- Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD)
- Irrationality of the thought-process
Famous Users
- Aldous Huxley
- Ernst Jünger [2]
- Leo Kenney [3]
- Henri Michaux [4]
- Jim Morrison
- Carlos Santana
- Hunter S. Thompson
- Robert Del Naja
- Timothy Leary
- Christopher Mayhew, reporter for BBC Panorama, took Mescaline Hydrochloride while being filmed in 1955 in a suppressed report
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Antonin Artaud
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