Peyote and Mescaline PDF

Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 1 1/3/2025 Faculty of Pharmacy Peyote and Mescaline  Made with Xodo PDF R...

Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 1 1/3/2025 Faculty of Pharmacy Peyote and Mescaline  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 2 Introduction  Peyote is the top of a small cactus that grows in Texas and Mexico. It contains mescaline, a hallucinogen.  Peyote has been used for thousands of years as a medicine and as a religious sacrament. It continues to be used legally by the Native American Church.  Mescaline was synthesized in 1919, but its manufacture is quite complex. It may be extracted from peyote. Pure mescaline has a translucent white color and a very bitter taste. It is rarely seen on the illicit market. Synthetic mescaline is relatively difficult to make, however, and it was overtaken by other, more readily available hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin. Mescaline now has a very minor role as a popular hallucinogen. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 3 Introduction  The Mescal bean is psychoactive but also very poisonous. It does not contain mescaline.  Mescal beans contain cytisine and not mescaline. The bean probably got its name from confusion with peyote after reports of southwest Indians using a hallucinogenic button. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 4 Which drugs cause similar effects?  Other hallucinogens like LSD, psilocybin (mushrooms), and PCP  What is its effect on the mind?  Abuse of peyote and mescaline will cause varying degrees of: Illusions, hallucinations, altered perception of space and time, and altered body image Users may also experience euphoria, which is sometimes followed by feelings of anxiety. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 5 What are common street names?  Common street names include: Buttons, Cactus, Mesc, and Peyoto Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 6 What is its legal status in the United States?  Peyote and mescaline are Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning that they have a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 7 How they take Peyote  Peyote buttons are eaten fresh or are dried for later use. Most peyote is distributed as the hard, dried buttons. These may be steeped as a tea, ground into a powder, or simply chewed and swallowed.  The buttons have an extremely noxious and bitter taste. Most users become nauseated and vomit if they take more than a small amount.  To avoid the disagreeable taste, some users grind the buttons into a fine powder and take it encased in gelatin capsules.  For those who are unable to swallow the material, peyote tea may be used as an enema by using a small bulb syringe to infuse it into the rectum.  There are also reports of users smoking the powder, mixed with herbs or marijuana. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 8 Chemical Characteristics  Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxy-phenethylamine) is an indole hallucinogen resembling the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. It has about 1/2000th the potency of LSD, and 1/20th the potency of psilocybin.  Mescaline can be extracted from peyote, but almost all available mescaline is produced synthetically. A 500 mg dose of mescaline is equivalent to about a dozen peyote buttons. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 9 PEYOTE AS ANTI ADDICTED  Alcoholism and other drug abuse are common among Native Americans, and peyote appears to be remarkably effective in resolving these addictions.  The U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Clinton, Oklahoma, has reported some success in a program at its alcoholism rehabilitation center using peyote in group sessions that resemble Alcoholics Anonymous.  The beneficial action of peyote in relieving alcohol or other addictions is poorly understood. It is possible that certain biochemical alkaloids found in the peyote cactus, and not just mescaline, are pharmacologically similar to the neuroamine-derived alkaloids formed in the brain during alcohol intoxication.  By replacing the neurologic effects of alcohol, the alcoholic can more easily abstain. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 10 Withdrawal Signs The principal aftereffect of the use of peyote or mescaline is fatigue. Anxiety or mental depression have also been reported. Withdrawal is otherwise uneventful. A single dose of mescaline will cause tolerance within a day and diminish the effects of further doses for several days. Physical dependence does not occur. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025  Made with Xodo PDF Reader and Editor 11 What to Do If There Is an Overdose  It is almost impossible to overdose on peyote because the drug causes extreme nausea. Any excess will simply be vomited. Peyote is used by hundreds of thousands of members of the Native American Church, yet reports of bad experiences or health problems are very rare. A single death was reported of a man who had severe alcoholic liver disease and died from bleeding into the stomach when he vomited.  Very high doses of mescaline have been known to cause respiratory depression, low blood pressure, and a low heart rate. There is no record of fatalities, however.  Like other hallucinogens, mescaline can cause anxiety or panic in an unprepared user. A sedative medication such as Valium may be of value in this situation.  Overdose is not physically dangerous, and symptoms will resolve spontaneously within hours with comfort and reassurance. Faculty of Pharmacy 1/3/2025