Editing Mescaline (section)

==History==
{{See also|Psychedelic drug#The phenethylamine psychedelic mescaline}}

[[Peyote]] has been used for at least 5,700 years by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] in Mexico.<ref name="Dinis-OliveiraPereiradaSilva2019" /><ref name=prehistoric>{{cite journal | vauthors = El-Seedi HR, De Smet PA, Beck O, Possnert G, Bruhn JG | title = Prehistoric peyote use: alkaloid analysis and radiocarbon dating of archaeological specimens of Lophophora from Texas | journal = Journal of Ethnopharmacology | volume = 101 | issue = 1–3 | pages = 238–242 | date = October 2005 | pmid = 15990261 | doi = 10.1016/j.jep.2005.04.022 }}</ref> Europeans recorded use of peyote in Native American religious ceremonies upon early contact with the [[Huichol people]] in Mexico.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Ruiz de Alarcón H |title= Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions that Today Live Among the Indians Native to this New Spain, 1629 |date=1984 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0806120317}}</ref> Other mescaline-containing cacti such as the San Pedro have a long history of use in South America, from Peru to Ecuador.<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Socha DM, Sykutera M, Orefici G |date=2022-12-01 |title=Use of psychoactive and stimulant plants on the south coast of Peru from the Early Intermediate to Late Intermediate Period |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=148 |pages=105688 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2022.105688 |bibcode=2022JArSc.148j5688S |s2cid=252954052 |issn=0305-4403|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bussmann RW, Sharon D | title = Traditional medicinal plant use in Northern Peru: tracking two thousand years of healing culture | journal = Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine | volume = 2 | pages = 47 | date = November 2006 | pmid = 17090303 | pmc = 1637095 | doi = 10.1186/1746-4269-2-47 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Armijos_2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Armijos C, Cota I, González S | title = Traditional medicine applied by the Saraguro yachakkuna: a preliminary approach to the use of sacred and psychoactive plant species in the southern region of Ecuador | journal = Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine | volume = 10 | pages = 26 | date = February 2014 | pmid = 24565054 | pmc = 3975971 | doi = 10.1186/1746-4269-10-26 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Samorini G |date=2019-06-01 |title=The oldest archeological data evidencing the relationship of Homo sapiens with psychoactive plants: A worldwide overview |journal=Journal of Psychedelic Studies |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=63–80 |doi=10.1556/2054.2019.008|s2cid=135116632 |doi-access=free }}</ref> While religious and ceremonial peyote use was widespread in the [[Aztec Empire]] and northern Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest, religious persecution confined it to areas near the Pacific coast and up to southwest Texas. However, by 1880, peyote use began to spread north of South-Central America with "a new kind of peyote ceremony" inaugurated by the Kiowa and Comanche people. These religious practices, incorporated legally in the United States in 1920 as the Native American Church, have since spread as far as Saskatchewan, Canada.<ref name=prehistoric/>

In traditional peyote preparations, the top of the cactus is cut off, leaving the large tap root along with a ring of green photosynthesizing area to grow new heads. These heads are then dried to make disc-shaped buttons. Buttons are chewed to produce the effects or soaked in water to drink. However, the taste of the cactus is bitter, so modern users will often grind it into a powder and pour it into capsules to avoid having to taste it. The typical dosage is 200–400 milligrams of mescaline sulfate or 178–356 milligrams of mescaline hydrochloride.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal096.shtml |title=#96 M – Mescaline (3,4,5-Trimethoxyphenethylamine) |work=PIHKAL |publisher=Erowid.org |access-date=7 September 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Uthaug MV, Davis AK, Haas TF, Davis D, Dolan SB, Lancelotta R, Timmermann C, Ramaekers JG | title = The epidemiology of mescaline use: Pattern of use, motivations for consumption, and perceived consequences, benefits, and acute and enduring subjective effects | journal = Journal of Psychopharmacology | volume = 36 | issue = 3 | pages = 309–320 | date = March 2022 | pmid = 33949246 | pmc = 8902264 | doi = 10.1177/02698811211013583 }}</ref> The average {{convert|76|mm|in|abbr=on}} peyote button contains about 25{{nbsp}}mg mescaline.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Handbook of Overdose and Detoxification Emergencies |location=New Hyde Park, NY. |publisher=Medical Examination Publishing Company |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-87488-182-0 | vauthors = Giannini AJ, Slaby AE, Giannini MC }}</ref> Some analyses of traditional preparations of San Pedro cactus have found doses ranging from 34{{nbsp}}mg to 159{{nbsp}}mg of total alkaloids, a relatively low and barely psychoactive amount. It appears that patients who receive traditional treatments with San Pedro ingest sub-psychoactive doses and do not experience psychedelic effects.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-20 |title=San Pedro: Basic Info |url=https://www.iceers.org/san-pedro-basic-info/ |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=ICEERS |language=en-US}}</ref>

Botanical studies of peyote began in the 1840s and the drug was listed in the Mexican [[pharmacopeia]].<ref name="Doesburg-vanKleffensZimmermann-KlemdGründemann2023" /> The first use of mescal buttons was published by John Raleigh Briggs in 1887.<ref name="Doesburg-vanKleffensZimmermann-KlemdGründemann2023" /> In 1887, the German pharmacologist [[Louis Lewin]] received his first sample of the peyote cactus, found numerous new alkaloids and later published the first methodical analysis of it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Botany of Peyote |url=https://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/pbotany.htm |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=www.druglibrary.org}}</ref> Mescaline was first isolated and identified in 1897 by the German chemist [[Arthur Heffter]].<ref name="Doesburg-vanKleffensZimmermann-KlemdGründemann2023" /><ref name="Dinis-OliveiraPereiradaSilva2019" /><ref name="Erowid-Heffter">{{Cite web |url=http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/heffter_arthur/heffter_arthur.shtml |title=Arthur Heffter |work=Character Vaults |publisher=Erowid.org |access-date=9 January 2013 }}</ref> He showed that mescaline was exclusively responsible for the psychoactive or hallucinogenic effects of peyote.<ref name="Doesburg-vanKleffensZimmermann-KlemdGründemann2023" /> However, other components of peyote, such as [[hordenine]], [[pellotine]], and [[anhalinine]], are also [[pharmacological activity|active]].<ref name="Doesburg-vanKleffensZimmermann-KlemdGründemann2023" /> Mescaline was first [[chemical synthesis|synthesized]] in 1919 by [[Ernst Späth]].<ref name="Dinis-OliveiraPereiradaSilva2019" /><ref name = "Späth_1919">{{cite journal| vauthors = Späth E |title=Über dieAnhalonium-Alkaloide I. Anhalin und Mezcalin|journal=Monatshefte für Chemie und Verwandte Teile Anderer Wissenschaften|date=February 1919|volume=40|issue=2|pages=129–154|doi=10.1007/BF01524590|s2cid=104408477|language=de|issn=0343-7329}}</ref>

In 1955, English politician [[Christopher Mayhew]] took part in an experiment for [[BBC]]'s ''[[Panorama (TV series)|Panorama]]'', in which he ingested 400{{nbsp}}mg of mescaline under the supervision of psychiatrist [[Humphry Osmond]]. Though the recording was deemed too controversial and ultimately omitted from the show, Mayhew praised the experience, calling it "the most interesting thing I ever did".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sotcaa.net/hiddenarchive/mayhew01.html |title=Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment |date=February 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726183523/http://sotcaa.net/hiddenarchive/mayhew01.html |archive-date=26 July 2012 }}</ref>

Studies of the potential therapeutic effects of mescaline started in the 1950s.<ref name="Doesburg-vanKleffensZimmermann-KlemdGründemann2023" />

The mechanism of action of mescaline, activation of the [[serotonin]] [[5-HT2A receptor|5-HT<sub>2A</sub> receptor]]s, became known in the 1990s.<ref name="Doesburg-vanKleffensZimmermann-KlemdGründemann2023" />