Mescaline is illegal in the United States, this review is for informational purposes only.

Mescaline is a natural hallucinogenic substance that comes from a small spineless cactus called the Peyote, or Lophophora williamsi; the San Pedro Cactus, or Echinopsis pachanoi; and the Peruvian Torch cactus, or the Echinopsis peruviana. Aside from the cactus family, Mescaline can also be found in Fabaceae which is the bean family.

The Peyote cactus was used by the Native Americans, especially the Huichol Indians from Mexico, for religious practices and rituals while the other cacti including the San Pedro and the Peruvian Torch were used in other Latin American regions including Peru and Ecuador. Westerners such as Aldous Huxley, Havelock Ellis and Alesiter Crowley were among the first to experiment with mescaline. People have associated Mescaline with the Cubist movement begun by Pablo Picasso and George Braque. The geometrical forms and flattening of three dimensional objects in Cubist art are similar to the visual experiences of Mescaline users.

Mescaline is extracted by preparing the cactus beginning with cutting the cactus from the very bottom, just above the ground. The top of the cactus that is left, or the crown, has disc-shaped forms that have been cut from the roots. After the cactus is cut, new heads can grow from the roots. These disc-shaped pieces are then dried and made into 3 inch buttons, ready for consumption. There are various methods of ingestion including chewing the buttons or soaking them in water as methods for obtaining Mescaline effects. Hallucinations can begin when 300-600 mg or about 9-20 buttons of the Mescaline are consumed. These hallucinogenic occurrences have been important aspect of rituals for the Natives, but have made Mescaline a popular type of recreational drug.

Users of Mescaline experience altered states of consciousness as well as anxiety at time. The most common effects of this substance are hallucinations which can be actual experiences or just certain properties of objects and sounds becoming exaggerated. For example, people can experience intense and bright colors along with other visual effects provoked by lights. Patters such as stripes, checkerboards, spikes, dots and fractals are intensified. Mescaline effects are similar to LSD in that certain forms are distorted and 3D objects become highly geometrical. Some compare these form distortions to the Cubist art. These effects and others have been reported to have lasted for up to twelve hours.

This substance is not addictive but side effects may include nausea and vomiting. This vomiting was traditionally considered a form of cleansing for the Native Americans. Mescaline is illegal in the United States and prohibited in other regions across the world. Certain Native American groups, however, have legal access to this substance for ritualistic ceremonies but their use is also regulated by the states in which they live in. Generally speaking, Mescaline has been widely popular for its euphoric effects, visualizations and an overall psychedelic experience. These effects have been used for transcendental purposes, meditation, creativity, and psychotherapy as well.