Mescaline

What is mescaline?

Mescaline is a psychedelic drug which means it can affect all the senses, altering a person’s thinking, sense of time and emotions. Psychedelics can cause a person to hallucinate, seeing or hearing things that do not exist or are distorted.

Other names

Buttons, cactus, mesc, and peyoto.

What does mescaline look like?

Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychedelic that comes from the Mexican peyote cactus (Lophohora williamsii) and the San Pedro cactus found in Peru and Ecuador.

Mescaline can be a powder, tablet, capsule or liquid. Peyote buttons can be chewed to gain the desired effects.

How is mescaline used?

The fresh or dried buttons are chewed or soaked in water to produce a liquid. Peyote buttons can also be ground into a white powder that can be placed inside capsules to be swallowed or smoked with cannabis or tobacco. Mescaline has a bitter taste, so it is put into capsules to avoid the taste.

Effects of mescaline

Use of any drug can have risks. It’s important to be careful when taking any type of drug.

Psychedelics affect everyone differently, based on:

• size, weight and health
• whether the person is used to taking it
• whether other drugs are taken around the same time
• the amount taken
• the strength of the drug (varies from batch to batch)
• the environment (where the drug is taken).

Mescaline affects everyone differently, but effects may include:

• euphoria
• increased energy
• perceptual distortions, such as bright lights or geometric patterns
• space and time distortion
• difficulty concentrating, thinking and maintaining attention
• increased blood pressure and heart rate
• intense nausea and vomiting
• reduced appetite
• increased body temperature and sweating.

According to anecdotal reports, the effects of mescaline take approximately 45-90 minutes to commence and can last between 9-14 hours.