Peyote

Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) is a small, spineless, slow-growing cactus native to south Texas and northern Mexico. Its crown is harvested as "buttons" that are eaten fresh or dried, or brewed into a tea. It contains mescaline, a psychedelic phenethylamine, along with dozens of related alkaloids. Peyote has been used for centuries — likely millennia — as a sacred sacrament in the ceremonies of Indigenous peoples of the region, and it remains central to the religious practice of the Native American Church, whose members use it ceremonially today. It is both a psychoactive plant and, for many communities, a religious and cultural cornerstone.

Peyote's psychoactive effects come from mescaline, its principal active alkaloid, which is present in the dried cactus at roughly 1 to 6 percent by weight. Mescaline is a classic serotonergic psychedelic that acts as an agonist at serotonin 5-HT2A receptors — the same mechanism underlying LSD, psilocybin, and the 2C compounds. Peyote also contains many other minor alkaloids, but mescaline is responsible for the characteristic psychedelic experience.

Peyote produces a long psychedelic experience — commonly on the order of 10 to 12 hours — including visual changes and enhancement, altered perception of time, emotional and introspective shifts, and, in ceremonial contexts, experiences described as spiritual. A very characteristic physical effect is pronounced nausea and vomiting, especially early in the experience, along with dilated pupils, raised heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, and sometimes headache or muscle weakness.

Peyote is not associated with physical dependence, and mescaline has low physiological toxicity, but it carries real risks. The intense and long-lasting psychological experience can be frightening or destabilizing, particularly for people with a personal or family history of psychosis or serious mental illness. The cardiovascular effects — raised heart rate and blood pressure — are a concern for people with heart conditions or high blood pressure. The strong nausea and vomiting are near-universal. As a serotonergic psychedelic, mescaline can interact with serotonergic medications. There is also a conservation dimension to harm: peyote is slow-growing and increasingly threatened by over-harvesting, which raises sustainability and cultural-preservation concerns distinct from personal health risk.

illusions, hallucinations, altered perception of space/time, altered body image, euphoria

0.5–0.9 hr

6–14 hr (dose-dependent)

intense nausea, vomiting, pupil dilation, raised HR/BP, raised body temp + heavy perspiration, headache, muscle weakness, impaired coordination

none approved

peyote used in religious rites by natives of N Mexico/SW US since earliest recorded time; mescaline isolated late 19th c.