The artists of the avant-garde experienced numerous psychotropic drugs in order to stimulate their creativity. Between the two world wars, physicians, especially neurologists and psychiatrists, performed several studies on visual artists. The aim of this paper is to present a French medical journal, where the famous Romanian neurologist Gheorghe Marinescu published some of his studies on the...
Mescaline is a classic serotonergic psychedelic with a long history of human use. The present study analyzed the pharmacokinetics, pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationship, and urinary recovery of oral mescaline hydrochloride. Data from 105 single-dose administrations (100-800 mg) in 49 participants from two phase I trials were analyzed with compartmental pharmacokinetics and...
June 16, 2025Fanny Charrasse, Alfredo Narváez1 citation
We describe the curanderos of the Túcume district, a land of farmers and territory of the Pyramids of Túcume, one of the most important archaeological monuments on the north coast of Peru. The use of the San Pedro cactus (Equinopsis species) as an entheogenic agent is guided by a specialist, a curandero or “master healer”, who directs a complex ritual around a healing “altar”. This “altar” is...
Commencements of clinical trials of psychedelic therapies for intractable forms of mental illnesses have drawn increased public attention to plants containing psychedelic substances. Whilst the psychoactive alkaloid mescaline has limited clinical trials, the San Pedro ( Trichocereus spp.) cacti from which it is found have a long history of Indigenous medical and spiritual use. Traditional use...
Lophophora williamsii, known for mescaline synthesis, has raised legal and ethical considerations. However, L. williamsii specimens that do not contain mescaline have been recently identified, necessitating the development of techniques to differentiate between mescaline-positive and mescaline-negative groups. Genetic markers have been explored to differentiate these specimens, complementing...
ABSTRACT The concept of cultural appropriation has drawn increasing attention from academic disciplines and nonacademic circles. Yet, there is no consensus on what constitutes cultural appropriation nor whether it is harmful. The contested nature of the concept suggests that it is important to understand how people respond to such accusations. Indeed, understanding how people resist accusations...
Using autoethnography, this article considers conflict surrounding the psychedelic, mescaline cacti, San Pedro, and Peyote. We reflect on themes emergent in the lead authors’ lived experiences with growing, researching and working with mescaline cacti; Indigenous culture, psychopharmacotherapy research, psychedelic markets and ecology. These themes are considered relative to varied San Pedro...
January 23, 2025Talha Imtiaz, Ehsan Ali, Muhammad Farooq Azhar
San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi), also known as (Trichocereus pachanoi) belongs to the family Cactaceae it is identified by its tall, columnar, blue-green stems with 6–8 columns and spaced areoles that produce up to seven spines of yellowish to brown color. It can grow up to 6 m tall with multiple branches, producing highly fragrant, white nocturnal flowers. This fast-growing cactus is...
Psychedelic plant medicines such as Ayahuasca and Huachuma (San Pedro cactus) are gaining scientific attention for their potential to improve mental health. However, the interplay between these traditional medicines, the gut microbiome, and mental health outcomes remains underexplored. The main objectives of this study are to investigate the effects of Ayahuasca and Huachuma ceremonies on the...
Mescaline is a classical psychedelic compound with a phenylethylamine structure that primarily acts on serotonin 5-HT2A/C receptors, but also binds to 5-HT1A and 5-HT2B receptors. Despite being the first psychedelic ever isolated and synthesized, the precise role of different serotonin receptor subtypes in its behavioral pharmacology is not fully understood. In this study, we aimed to...