Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians-Mescaline.
Burton J. Tabaac, Kenneth Shinozuka, Mahdi Fadel, Greg Jones, Jared Worchel, Owen S. Muir
American Journal of Therapeutics DOI: 10.1097/mjt.0000000000002160 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Randomized Placebo-controlled Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Healthy volunteers |
| Topics | Mescaline Serotonin Psychedelic-assisted therapy |
| Keywords | Psychedelics |
| Key findings | Mescaline shows preliminary safety in healthy humans but remains understudied in clinical populations. |
Abstract
Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a classic serotonergic psychedelic with a history of indigenous ceremonial use. There is renewed scientific interest in mescaline because of the potential psychiatric benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Mescaline primarily exerts its psychoactive effects through serotonin-2A (5-HT 2A ) receptor agonism. There is a lack of controlled clinical trials evaluating mescaline in patient populations, and most modern safety data are derived from healthy volunteers. Consequently, its safety in individuals with cardiovascular, metabolic, or psychiatric comorbidities remains unclear. Additional uncertainty exists regarding its psychological risks, long duration of action, and long-term safety in therapeutic settings. Randomized, placebo-controlled studies in healthy participants demonstrate that mescaline produces dose-dependent subjective effects with moderate, transient autonomic stimulation and no serious medical complications under controlled conditions. Adverse effects are generally self-limited, and pooled safety analyses and observational data support an overall favorable safety profile in screened human populations. Mescaline shows preliminary safety in healthy humans but remains understudied in clinical populations. Controlled clinical trials are needed to establish its safety and therapeutic potential.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on mescaline, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study of a New Schizophrenomimetic Drug—Sernyl | 1959 | Review | |
| Hallucinogens and Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor-Mediated Signaling Pathways | 2017 | Review | |
| Hallucinogens in Mental Health: Preclinical and Clinical Studies on LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA, and Ketamine | 2020 | Review | |
| Legal highs: staying on top of the flood of novel psychoactive substances | 2015 | Review | |
| Psychedelic Drugs in Biomedicine | 2017 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cites 41
- The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2014
- Receptor interaction profiles of novel psychoactive tryptamines compared with classic hallucinogens. European Neuropsychopharmacology May 20, 2016
- Psilocybin-Induced Deficits in Automatic and Controlled Inhibition are Attenuated by Ketanserin in Healthy Human Volunteers Neuropsychopharmacology September 28, 2011
- Psychological and cognitive effects of long-term peyote use among Native Americans. Biological Psychiatry October 15, 2005
- Mescaline-induced psychopathological, neuropsychological, and neurometabolic effects in normal subjects: experimental psychosis as a tool for psychiatric research. Biological Psychiatry December 1, 1992
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