medRxiv
July 19, 2026
Naama Levy‐Cooperman, Edward M. Sellers, Paul Glue et al.
Psilocybin shows therapeutic promise for several psychiatric disorders, but the acute perceptual and cognitive alterations produced by conventional doses (10-25 mg) require in-clinic supervision, which limits scalability. Whether the therapeutically relevant pharmacology of psilocybin can be separated from its hallucinogenic activity remains unresolved. To address this gap, we conducted a Phase...
Revista de Arqueología Americana
July 10, 2026
Stacy B. Schaefer
El peyote (Lophophora williamsii) es un cactus psicoactivo con una larga historia en el centro de las creencias religiosas, las prácticas curativas y el significado transformador que experimentan diversos pueblos indígenas de México y América del Norte. Los wixárika (indios huicholes) tienen la historia más larga conocida de uso continuo del peyote, mientras que las prácticas relacionadas con...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
July 1, 2026
Schüller Thomas
Der gezüchtete psychoaktive Pilz als Fall der Zugangs-Reorganisation — mit dem komparativen Fall des Peyote.** Transdisziplinäre Monografie (Ausbaustufe). Zweisprachig **DE + EN**. Thomas Schüller · Syntagma Forschung Wien · ORCID [0009-0003-9799-6747](https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9799-6747) · privat finanziert · **CC BY 4.0**
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
July 1, 2026
Schüller Thomas
# FORSCH-0351 — Meskalin / Mescaline Eigenständiges bilinguales Vollwerk (DE+EN). Transdisziplinäre wissenschaftliche Übersicht zu Meskalin entlang acht Disziplinen, mit expliziter Geltungsstufen-Kennzeichnung (gesichert / wahrscheinlich / offen). **Schwesterwerke (gleiche Struktur):** FORSCH-0291 (LSD) · FORSCH-0350 (Psilocybin) **Theorieanker:** FORSCH-0083 (ρ/δ) · **Dach:** FORSCH-0328...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
June 25, 2026
Pavan S Brar, Rebecca B Price, Stephen Ross et al.
In the past decade, interest in studying psychedelic compounds as potential therapeutic agents has resurged. These studies carefully exclude individuals at risk for developing psychotic symptoms in response to psychedelic use. Given the potential for psychedelics to be established as treatments in psychiatry, it is important to more robustly understand their link with psychosis and...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
June 24, 2026
Yibo Wang, H Wang, C T Lin et al.
Natural hallucinogenic compounds have arisen independently across plants, fungi, and animals, evolving into a diverse chemical arsenal that includes phenethylamines, indolealkylamines, and terpenoid scaffolds. Beyond clinical and cultural frameworks, their ecological origins and evolutionary trajectories may help explain why such potent modulators of perception, emotion, and cognition persist...
Addictive behaviors
June 1, 2026
Sebastian Ehmann, Nathan M. Hager, Paul S. Regier et al.
Opioid use disorder (OUD) remains a major public health crisis in the United States, with mental health disorders substantially increasing risk severity. Emerging evidence suggests psychedelics may relate to reduced OUD risk. This exploratory study examined associations between lifetime psychedelic use and OUD severity and tested whether these associations varied by mental health impairment....
Bulletin of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Assiut University
May 26, 2026
R. Shafik, N. Eshba, M. El-Semary et al.
The possible involvement of the synclinal conformation of mescaline with phencyclidine (PCP)-receptors has promoted the synthesis of certain novel structural hybrids of mescaline with PCP-analogs. The effect of mescaline and the potential antagonisticactivity of the newly proposed derivatives at central PCP-receptors of albino rat brains will await investigation. The suggested compounds were...
Neuroscience Bulletin
May 21, 2026
Noah Cavallaro, Priya Rai, David Akins et al.
Mescaline, a 5-HT2A agonist psychedelic used ceremonially for millennia, lacks neuroimaging characterization due to its Schedule 1 status. Using pharmacological and resting-state fMRI in awake rats, we report mescaline's first comprehensive neurobiological profile. Acutely, mescaline produced cerebellar-selective BOLD suppression, suggesting functional disconnection from forebrain structures....
Fa yi xue za zhi
April 25, 2026
Ruidi Shen, Zhenhua Qian
The abuse of new psychoactive substances is severe globally. Among phenethylamine compounds, mescaline and its analogues are a class of substances that are often overlooked, yet their abuse has shown a gradual increase in recent years. This paper reviews mescaline and its analogues from three aspects: their basic information, pharmacological and toxicological properties, and detection methods....
Journal of Neuroscience
November 30, 2020
Danilo de Gregorio, Argel Aguilar-Valles, Katrin H. Preller et al.
258 citations
A revamped interest in the study of hallucinogens has recently emerged, especially with regard to their potential application in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. In the last decade, a plethora of preclinical and clinical studies have confirmed the efficacy of ketamine in the treatment of depression. More recently, emerging evidence has pointed out the potential therapeutic properties of...
Neuropharmacology
May 1, 2020
Adam L. Halberstadt, Muhammad Chatha, Adam K. Klein et al.
274 citations
Serotonergic hallucinogens such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) induce head twitches in rodents via 5-HT2A receptor activation. The goal of the present investigation was to determine whether a correlation exists between the potency of hallucinogens in the mouse head-twitch response (HTR) paradigm and their reported potencies in other species, specifically rats and humans. Dose-response...
Psychopharmacology
September 16, 2017
Yasmin Schmid, Matthias E. Liechti
234 citations
RATIONALE: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and other serotonergic hallucinogens can induce profound alterations of consciousness and mystical-type experiences, with reportedly long-lasting effects on subjective well-being and personality. METHODS: We investigated the lasting effects of a single dose of LSD (200 μg) that was administered in a laboratory setting in 16 healthy participants. The...
Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences
2017
Juan F López-Giménez, Javier González-Maeso
302 citations
The neuropsychological effects of naturally occurring psychoactive chemicals have been recognized for millennia. Hallucinogens, which include naturally occurring chemicals such as mescaline and psilocybin, as well as synthetic compounds, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), induce profound alterations of human consciousness, emotion, and cognition. The discovery of the hallucinogenic...
Psychological Medicine
February 5, 2016
Robin Carhart-Harris, Mendel Kaelen, Mark Bolstridge et al.
301 citations
Background Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a potent serotonergic hallucinogen or psychedelic that modulates consciousness in a marked and novel way. This study sought to examine the acute and mid-term psychological effects of LSD in a controlled study. Method A total of 20 healthy volunteers participated in this within-subjects study. Participants received LSD (75 µ g, intravenously) on one...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
March 1, 2015
Pål-ørjan Johansen, Teri Suzanne Krebs
300 citations
A recent large population study of 130,000 adults in the United States failed to find evidence for a link between psychedelic use (lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin or mescaline) and mental health problems. Using a new data set consisting of 135,095 randomly selected United States adults, including 19,299 psychedelic users, we examine the associations between psychedelic use and mental...
PLoS One
August 19, 2013
Teri Suzanne Krebs, Pål-ørjan Johansen
338 citations
BACKGROUND: The classical serotonergic psychedelics LSD, psilocybin, mescaline are not known to cause brain damage and are regarded as non-addictive. Clinical studies do not suggest that psychedelics cause long-term mental health problems. Psychedelics have been used in the Americas for thousands of years. Over 30 million people currently living in the US have used LSD, psilocybin, or...
Addiction
December 20, 2006
Robert S. Gable
240 citations
ABSTRACT Aim To extend previous reviews by assessing the acute systemic toxicity and psychological hazards of a dimethyltryptamine and β‐carboline brew (ayahuasca/hoasca) used in religious ceremonies. Method A systematic literature search, supplemented by interviews with ceremony participants. Results No laboratory animal models were located that tested the acute toxicity or the abuse potential...
Biological Psychiatry
October 15, 2005
John H. Halpern, Andrea R Sherwood, James I. Hudson et al.
186 citations
Hallucinogens are widely used, both by drug abusers and by peoples of traditional cultures who ingest these substances for religious or healing purposes. However, the long-term residual psychological and cognitive effects of hallucinogens remain poorly understood. We recruited three groups of Navajo Native Americans, age 18-45: 1) 61 Native American Church members who regularly ingested peyote,...
Behavioural Brain Research
December 1, 1995
Rick J. Strassman
257 citations
We generated dose-response data for the endogenous and ultra-short-acting hallucinogen, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), in a cohort of experienced hallucinogen users, measuring multiple biological and psychological outcome measures. Subjective responses were quantified with a new rating scale, the HRS, which provided better resolution of dose effects than did the biological variables. A tolerance...
Biological Psychiatry
December 1, 1992
L. Hermle, M. Fünfgeld, G. Oepen et al.
185 citations
The psychological, neuropsychological, and neurometabolic effects of the hallucinogenic agent mescaline were investigated in 12 normal men who were volunteers. Mescaline produced an acute psychotic state 3 1/2-4 hr after drug intake, as measured by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Paranoid Depression Scale (PDS). The Assessment of Altered States of Consciousness (APZ) questionnaire...
Science
August 4, 1961
Julius Axelrod
183 citations
An enzyme has been found that N-methylates serotonin and tryptamine to psychotomimetic metabolites, bufotenine and N,N-dimethyltryptamine. This enzyme is highly localized in the rabbit lung and also N-methylates phenylethylamine derivatives such as tyramine, phenylethylamine, mescaline, and dopamine.
Archives of Neurology And Psychiatry
March 1, 1959
Elliot D. Luby
920 citations
Introduction The production of model psychoses has been employed as a technique for testing hypotheses relevant to the causes, correlates, and treatment of schizophrenia since 1921, when De Jong demonstrated experimental catatonia by giving bulbocapnine to animals.5This method of study has received considerable impetus with the discovery of the hallucinogenic properties of lysergic acid...
Journal of Mental Science
October 1, 1958
Frances R. Ames
184 citations
This paper describes an inquiry into the effects of giving oral doses of the narcotic drug variously known as hashish, marihuana and, in South Africa, dagga. The drug is a preparation from the plant Cannabis sativa whose narcotic effect has been known for centuries. The writer's interest in it was inspired by the work in recent years on the mental disturbances produced by the active principles...