Mescaline (C₁₁H₁₇NO₃, 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine hydrochloride is also effective)) is a hallucinogenic drug and entheogen. It is either extracted from the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii or Anhalonium lewinii), the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi), the Peruvian Torch (Trichocereus peruvianus) or created synthetically (from 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde, nitromethane, cyclohexylamine and acetic acid, initially) forming white crystals. Effective dosage is 200-400mg (3.75 mg/kg) with the effects lasting for up to twelve hours.

Extract from peyote was used in religious ceremonies from the earliest human contact, notably by the Huichol s in Mexico. Because of this mescaline has become the standard against which other compounds are compared. There are four natural analogues of mescaline which are also used. It was first isolated and identified in 1897 by the German Arthur Heffter and first synthesized in 1919. In the US it was made illegal in 1970 by the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. It is not physically addictive.

Chemical Structure of Mescaline

Famous Users

• Syd Barrett
• Carlos Castaneda
• Aldous Huxley
• Hunter S. Thompson

See also

• The Doors of Perception
• MKULTRA
• Phenethylamines
• Psilocybin
• Peyote
• Native American Church

External link

• Molecule of the Month
• Mescaline at Erowid