|
|
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
|
| |
| <table style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
| |
|
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="50%"><strong>Other Names</strong>
| |
|
| |
| Mescalin, meskalin, mezcalin, mezkalin, 3,4,5-trimethoxy-
| |
|
| |
| benzolmethanamine, 3,4,S-trimethoxyf3-
| |
|
| |
| phenethylamine, 3,4,5-trimethoxyethyl- phenylamine,
| |
|
| |
| TMPFA, 2-(3,4,S-trimethoxy-phenyl)ethylamine
| |
|
| |
| Empirical formula: CllH17N03
| |
|
| |
| Substance type: lophophora alkaloid, f3-phenethylamine
| |
|
| |
| Mescaline was first isolated in 1886 from "mescal
| |
|
| |
| buttons;' the aboveground parts of the peyote
| |
|
| |
| cactus (Lophophora williamsii), and was named
| |
|
| |
| after them. Mescaline is the most thoroughly
| |
|
| |
| studied of all psychoactive plant constituents. In
| |
|
| |
| the period between 1886 and 1950, more than one
| |
|
| |
| hundred mescaline research studies were published
| |
|
| |
| in the German language alone (Passie
| |
|
| |
| 1994). This alkaloid was found to be a component
| |
|
| |
| of numerous cacti (see the table on page 847). And
| |
|
| |
| it is possible that mescaline is produced from
| |
|
| |
| dopamine in vitro (Paul et al. 1969; Rosenberg et
| |
|
| |
| al. 1969).
| |
|
| |
| Arthur Heffter was the first person to initially
| |
|
| |
| test an isolated plant constituent on himself (Heffter
| |
|
| |
| 1894). The classic Heffter dosage consisted of 150
| |
|
| |
| mg mescaline hydrochloride (HCL). A psychedelic
| |
|
| |
| dosage is now considered to be 178 to 256 mg of
| |
|
| |
| mescaline HCL or 200 to 400 mg of mescaline
| |
|
| |
| sulfate. The highest measured dosage reported in
| |
|
| |
| the literature was 1,500 mg. Taken orally,S mg/kg
| |
|
| |
| of pure mescaline is regarded as a hallucinogenic
| |
|
| |
| dosage. In the toxicological literature, there is no
| |
|
| |
| known lethal dosage of mescaline when it is
| |
|
| |
| ingested orally (Brown and Malone 1978, 14).
| |
|
| |
| Western psychiatry has been aware of
| |
|
| |
| consciousness-altering drugs since the nineteenth
| |
|
| |
| century. Mescaline was the first substance to be
| |
|
| |
| tested and applied in psychiatry. At the time,
| |
|
| |
| researchers regarded the effects of mescaline on a healthy subject as inducing a state that was otherwise
| |
|
| |
| known only in psychopathic patients. This
| |
|
| |
| led to the idea of pharmacologically induced
| |
|
| |
| "model psychoses" (Leuner 1962*). The effects of
| |
|
| |
| mescaline (and also of psilocybin) were described
| |
|
| |
| as "intoxication, toxic ecstasy, clouding of consciousness,
| |
|
| |
| hallucinosis, model psychosis, drug
| |
|
| |
| intoxication, emphasis, daydream;' et cetera
| |
|
| |
| (Passie 1994). Only in recent years has there been a
| |
|
| |
| shift in thinking away from the model psychosis
| |
|
| |
| concept and a recognition that psychedelic states
| |
|
| |
| and psychoses do not have a common origin
| |
|
| |
| (HermIe et al. 1988*, 1992*, 1993*).
| |
|
| |
| The predominant effects of mescaline are a
| |
|
| |
| "reveling of the individual senses and primarily
| |
|
| |
| visual orgies" (Ellis 1971, 21). The mescaline
| |
|
| |
| inebriation was first systematically described by
| |
|
| |
| Kurt Beringer in 1927. To date, there have been
| |
|
| |
| many encounters with the substance, and the most
| |
|
| |
| commonly reported experiences are ecstatic and
| |
|
| |
| visionary in nature:
| |
|
| |
| My awareness of subject and object
| |
|
| |
| disappeared, and I felt dissolved, rising in an
| |
|
| |
| orchestra of sounds. This ecstatic state was
| |
|
| |
| accompanied by an indescribable sensation of
| |
|
| |
| happiness. (Ammon and Gotte 1971,32)
| |
|
| |
| It has often been suggested that pure mescaline
| |
|
| |
| can be taken in place of Lophophora williamsii.
| |
|
| |
| "However, most peyote users are of the opinion
| |
|
| |
| that synthetic mescaline cannot be compared with
| |
|
| |
| the effects of peyote" (Harp 1996, 16).
| |
|
| |
| <strong>On the Cultural History of Mescaline</strong>
| |
|
| |
| Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) made the psychedelic
| |
|
| |
| effects of mescaline famous in his two essays "The
| |
|
| |
| Doors of Perception" and "Heaven and Hell:'
| |
|
| |
| Usually the person taking mescaline will
| |
|
| |
| discover an inner world that is so obviously
| |
|
| |
| something given, so enlighteningly eternal
| |
|
| |
| and sacred, as the transformed outer world
| |
|
| |
| that I had perceived with my eyes open.
| |
|
| |
| (Huxley 1970,32*)
| |
|
| |
| It is very likely that Hermann Hesse also had
| |
|
| |
| contact with mescaline, and that it may have
| |
|
| |
| inspired his novel SteppenwolJ, one of the cult
| |
|
| |
| books of the hippie generation. The psychedelic
| |
|
| |
| rock band Steppenwolf took its name from the
| |
|
| |
| book, and the novel also became a motion picture
| |
|
| |
| starring Max von Sydow (USA 1974).
| |
|
| |
| Nationalgalerie, a German New Wave band,
| |
|
| |
| sings on its album Mescaline, "To be transformed by a trickster fairy. My lawyer advised me to take
| |
|
| |
| some mescaline" (Sony Records, 1995).
| |
|
| |
| The French novelist and artist Henri Michaux
| |
|
| |
| (1899-1984) studied mescaline during the 1960s
| |
|
| |
| and ingested it to see what effects it might have
| |
|
| |
| upon his creativity. Like many other FrenchJmen,
| |
|
| |
| however, he summarized his experience as an
| |
|
| |
| "accursed miracle" and scribbled his experiences of inner turmoil on paper (Michaux 1986). Today,
| |
|
| |
| these "drawings" are still reproduced in publications
| |
|
| |
| as an example of the "psychosis-like"
| |
|
| |
| effects of mescaline.
| |
|
| |
| </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="53%"><strong>Cacti Containing Mescaline</strong>
| |
|
| |
| (from Doetsch et al. 1980; La Barre 1979; Mata and McLaughlin 1982*; Shulgin 1995*; Lundstrom
| |
|
| |
| 1971; Pardanini et al. 1978; Ott 1993*; Turner and Heyman 1960)
| |
| <table style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
| |
|
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><strong>Species</strong></td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><strong>Occurrence</strong></td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><strong>Use</strong></td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Gymnocalycium gibbosum </em>(Haw.) Pfeiffer</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Argentina</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Gymnocalycium leeanum </em>(Hook.) Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Argentina, Uruguay</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Islaya minor </em>Backeb.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">southern Peru</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Lophophora diffusa </em>(Croizat) Bravo</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Mexico</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">peyote substitute</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">[syn. <em>Lophophora echinata]</em></td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Lophophora jourdaniana </em>[nom. nud.]</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Lophophora williamsii </em>(Lem.) Coult.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Mexico</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">entheogen</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">[syn. <em>Lophophora fricii </em>Habermann]</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Myrtillocactus geometrizans </em>(Mart.) Cons.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Mexico</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Opuntia acanthocarpa </em>Engelm. et Bigel.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Opuntia basilaria </em>Engelm. et Bigel.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Opuntia cylindrica </em>(Lam.) S.-D.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Chile</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">inebriant502</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Opuntia echinocarpa </em>Engelm. et Bigel.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Opuntia ficus-indica </em>(L.) Mill.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Mexico, Egypt503</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">food</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Opuntia imbricata </em>(Haw.) DC.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Arizona</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Opuntia spinosior </em>(Engelm.) Tourney</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Arizona</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Pelecyphora aselliformis </em>Ehrenb.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Mexico</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">peyote substitute</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Pereskia corrugata </em>Cutak</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Florida</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Pereskia tampicana </em>Web.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Mexico</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Pereskiopsis scandens </em>Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Yucatan</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Polaskia chende </em>(Gossel.) Gibs.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Polaskia </em>sp.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Pterocereus gaumeri </em>(Br. et R.) Mac-Doug. et Mir.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Pterocereus </em>sp.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Stenocereus beneckei </em>(Ehrenb.) Buxbaum</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Stenocereus eruca </em>(Brand.) Gibs. et Horak</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Baja California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Stenocereus stellatus </em>(Pfeiffer) Rice</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Stenocereus treleasei </em>(Br. et R.) Backeb.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">California</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Stenocereus </em>sp.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Stetsonia coryne </em>(SD.) Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Argentina</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus bridgesii </em>(SD.) Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru, Bolivia</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">entheogen</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus cuscoensis </em>Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus fulvinanus </em>Ritt.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Chile</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus macrogonus </em>(SD.) Ricc.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus pachanoi </em>Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru, Ecuador</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">entheogen</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus peruvianus </em>Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">entheogen</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus spachianus </em>(Lem.) Rice.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Indiana (cultivated)</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus strigosus </em>(SD.) Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Argentina</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus taquimbalensis </em>Card.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus terscheckii </em>(Parm.) Br. et R.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru, northwestern</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus validus </em>(Monv.) Backbg.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Argentina</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
| <tr>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"><em>Trichocereus werdermannianus </em>Backbg.</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213">Peru, Bolivia</td>
| |
| <td valign="top" width="213"> </td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
|
| |
| </table>
| |
| <strong>Commercial Forms and Regulations
| |
|
| |
| </strong>Mescaline is available primarily as a hydrochloride
| |
|
| |
| or sulfate. In Germany, it is considered a "narcotic in which trafficking is prohibited." In the United
| |
|
| |
| States, the Controlled Substances Act lists mescaline
| |
|
| |
| as a Schedule I substance (Korner 1994,38*).
| |
|
| |
| <strong>
| |
|
| |
| Literature</strong>
| |
|
| |
| See also the entries for Lophophora williamsii,
| |
|
| |
| Trichocereus pachanoi, Trichocereus spp., and ~phenethylamines.
| |
|
| |
| Ammon, Gunter, and Jurgen Gotte. 1971. Ergebnisse
| |
|
| |
| fruher Meskalin-Forschung. In
| |
|
| |
| BewuBtseinserweiternde Drogen aus
| |
|
| |
| psychoanalytischer Sicht, special issue,
| |
|
| |
| Dynamische Psychiatrie, 23-45.
| |
|
| |
| Beringer, Kurt. 1927. Der Meskalinrausch. Berlin:
| |
|
| |
| Springer. Repr. 1969.
| |
|
| |
| Blofeld, John. 1966. A high yogic experience achieved
| |
|
| |
| with meskalin. Psychedelic Review 7:27-32.
| |
|
| |
| Doetsch, P. W., J. M. Cassidy, and J. L. McLaughlin.
| |
|
| |
| 1980. Cactus alkaloids. XL: Identification of
| |
|
| |
| mescaline and other phenethylamines in Pereskia,
| |
|
| |
| Pereskiopsis and Islaya by use of fluorescamine
| |
|
| |
| conjugates. Journal ofChromotography 189:79.
| |
|
| |
| Ellis, Havelock. 1971. Zum Phanomen der MeskalinIntoxikation,
| |
|
| |
| Bemerkungen zum Problem der
| |
|
| |
| Meskalin-Intoxikation. In
| |
|
| |
| BewuBtseinserweiternde Drogen aus
| |
|
| |
| psychoanalytischer Sicht, special issue,
| |
|
| |
| Dynamische Psychiatrie, 17-22.
| |
|
| |
| Frederking, W. 1954. Meskalin in der Psychotherapie.
| |
|
| |
| Medizinischer Monatsspiegel, 3:5-7.
| |
|
| |
| Harf, Jurgen C. 1996. Meskalin und Peyote. Grow!
| |
|
| |
| 6/96: 15-16.
| |
|
| |
| Heffter, Arthur. 1894. aber zwei Kakteenalkaloide.
| |
|
| |
| Berichte der deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft
| |
|
| |
| 27:2975.
| |
|
| |
| Kluver) Heinrich. 1926. Mescal vision and eidetic
| |
|
| |
| vision. American Journal ofPsych0 logy 37:502-15.
| |
|
| |
| ---. 1969. Mescal and mechanisms of
| |
|
| |
| hallucinations. Chicago: The University of
| |
|
| |
| Chicago Press.
| |
|
| |
| La Barre, Weston. 1979. Peyotl and mescaline.
| |
|
| |
| Journal ofPsychedelic Drugs 11 (1-2): 33-39.
| |
|
| |
| Lundstrom, Jan. 1971. Biosynthetic studies on
| |
|
| |
| mescaline and related cactus alkaloids. Acta
| |
|
| |
| Pharm. Suecica 8:275-302.
| |
|
| |
| Michaux, Henri. 1986. Unseliges Wunder: Das
| |
|
| |
| Meskalin. Munich and Vienna: Carl Hanser.
| |
|
| |
| Pardanani, J. H., B. N. Meyer, and J. L. McLaughlin.
| |
|
| |
| 1978. Cactus alkaloids. XXXVII. Mescaline and
| |
|
| |
| related compounds from Opuntia spinosior.
| |
|
| |
| Lloydia 41 (3): 286-88.
| |
|
| |
| Passie, Torsten. 1994. Ausrichtungen, Methoden und
| |
|
| |
| Ergebnisse fruher Meskalinforschungen im
| |
|
| |
| deutschsprachigen Raum (bis 1950). In Jahrbuch
| |
|
| |
| des Europiiischen Collegiums fur
| |
|
| |
| Bewufltseinsstudien (1993/1994), 103-11. Berlin:
| |
|
| |
| VWB.
| |
|
| |
| Paul., A.G., H. Rosenberg, and K. L. Khanna. 1969.
| |
|
| |
| The roles of 3,4,5-trihydroxy-~-phenethylamine
| |
|
| |
| and 3,4-dimethoxy-~-phenethylaminein their
| |
|
| |
| biosynthesis of mescaline. Lloydia 32 (1): 36-39.
| |
|
| |
| Rosenberg, H., K. L. Khanna, M. Takido, and A. G.
| |
|
| |
| Paul. 1969. The biosynthesis of mescaline in
| |
|
| |
| Lophophora williamsii. Lloydia 32 (3): 334-38.
| |
|
| |
| Turner, W. J., and J. J. Heyman. 1960. The presence of
| |
|
| |
| mescaline in Opuntia cylindrica. Journal of
| |
|
| |
| Organic Chemistry 25:2250.
| |
|
| |
| Wallraff, Gunter. 1968. Meskalin-Ein Selbstversuch.
| |
|
| |
| Berlin: Verlag Peter-Paul Zahl.</td>
| |
| </tr>
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| [[Category:Drugs]] | | [[Category:Drugs]] |
| [[Category:Psychedelic]] | | [[Category:Psychedelic]] |