Feb 20, 2023 05:03 PM
https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/02...-drug.html
EXCERPTS: . . . Elliott has done “nearly every psychedelic” one can think of, and proclaims that mescaline has a uniquely gentle touch among its peers. It also saved his life.
“I’ve been hooked on heroin, meth, fentanyl, alcohol, all of it,” he said. “If it wasn’t for mescaline;', I’d most likely still be drinking all day, every day, and smoking fent. I love my cooking job now. It sparked my love of music again. I think the mescaline changed something in my brain. I want to be a better person now.”
[...] Even today, with modern life inspiring a psychedelic “renaissance” that’s catapulted once-demonized compounds into the Western mainstream, mescaline remains a fringe curiosity, not a protagonist. Instead, the power of mescaline has been largely cultivated and preserved by Indigenous communities and amateur herbalists, who share common ground in their love of plant medicine despite having vastly different beliefs and approaches.
[...] Access to peyote remains the crux, as it always was. The Native American Church fought hard for the right to peyote as a bonafide religious sacrament, despite repeated efforts by the U.S. to ban harvesting of the cacti in the 1880s, 1930s, and 1970s—it was only in 1994 that the federal government formally recognized the right for members to buy, transport, and consume the plant. This an achievement that 52-year-old Sandor Iron Rope does not take for granted.
[...] Getting the peyote, however, still relies on a miniscule network of peyoteros, or peyote dealers, who have special licensing from the Drug Enforcement Administration to harvest and sell the cacti to Native people. It’s been this way for more than 100 years, with Native American Church communities around the country depending on peyoteros as caretakers, not just vendors.
[..] The last few decades, however, have scarred the environment with human development. Bulldozing the chaparral is great if you’re a rancher in need of new cattle-grazing lands, or perhaps a developer trying to raise a Wal-Mart. But when it comes to peyote, such change to the habitat has been an existential crisis complicated by the fact that the vast majority of peyote territory is currently owned by private ranchers. This forces peyoteros to negotiate pricey short-term leases for access, and spurs the presence of illegal poachers, who jump fences at night.
[...] Again and again, people who experiment with mescaline cacti say that they conjure uniquely gentle, long-lasting psychedelic breakthroughs full of reverence. While some psychonauts seek synthetic or otherwise highly purified forms of mescaline, Thomas is now a budding expert on cacti, intrigued as much by the plant as the promise of a powerful trip.
[...] Nonetheless, to my knowledge, there are zero active clinical trials for human use of mescaline in the U.S. today—a somewhat unusual situation given the rapidly rising interest (and corporate investment) into psychedelics as mental health treatments. One problem is that, despite its longstanding use by humans, there’s very little existing clinical research on mescaline, said Albert Garcia-Romeu, a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who studies the effects of psychedelics on the human body.
“And because mescaline is a natural product that is not owned by any pharma company, there are few people willing to pony up the money and spend all the time necessary to make it and subject it to all the requisite safety testing. It costs a lot, with little hope for [return on investment],” Garcia-Romeu added.
[...] Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that one can sense a similar energy in the subculture of DIY mescaline lovers, even with the lack of religiosity. Elliott, for one, spoke of mescaline with awe and appreciation, and bluntly rejected the notion that he could make money by evangelizing on his growing knowledge and methods.
“Honestly, that’s a disgusting idea. I’m not doing this for profit,” Elliott declared, scrunching his face on our video call for effect. “I’m doing it for one reason: so more people can hopefully experience this immensely beautiful thing... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: . . . Elliott has done “nearly every psychedelic” one can think of, and proclaims that mescaline has a uniquely gentle touch among its peers. It also saved his life.
“I’ve been hooked on heroin, meth, fentanyl, alcohol, all of it,” he said. “If it wasn’t for mescaline;', I’d most likely still be drinking all day, every day, and smoking fent. I love my cooking job now. It sparked my love of music again. I think the mescaline changed something in my brain. I want to be a better person now.”
[...] Even today, with modern life inspiring a psychedelic “renaissance” that’s catapulted once-demonized compounds into the Western mainstream, mescaline remains a fringe curiosity, not a protagonist. Instead, the power of mescaline has been largely cultivated and preserved by Indigenous communities and amateur herbalists, who share common ground in their love of plant medicine despite having vastly different beliefs and approaches.
[...] Access to peyote remains the crux, as it always was. The Native American Church fought hard for the right to peyote as a bonafide religious sacrament, despite repeated efforts by the U.S. to ban harvesting of the cacti in the 1880s, 1930s, and 1970s—it was only in 1994 that the federal government formally recognized the right for members to buy, transport, and consume the plant. This an achievement that 52-year-old Sandor Iron Rope does not take for granted.
[...] Getting the peyote, however, still relies on a miniscule network of peyoteros, or peyote dealers, who have special licensing from the Drug Enforcement Administration to harvest and sell the cacti to Native people. It’s been this way for more than 100 years, with Native American Church communities around the country depending on peyoteros as caretakers, not just vendors.
[..] The last few decades, however, have scarred the environment with human development. Bulldozing the chaparral is great if you’re a rancher in need of new cattle-grazing lands, or perhaps a developer trying to raise a Wal-Mart. But when it comes to peyote, such change to the habitat has been an existential crisis complicated by the fact that the vast majority of peyote territory is currently owned by private ranchers. This forces peyoteros to negotiate pricey short-term leases for access, and spurs the presence of illegal poachers, who jump fences at night.
[...] Again and again, people who experiment with mescaline cacti say that they conjure uniquely gentle, long-lasting psychedelic breakthroughs full of reverence. While some psychonauts seek synthetic or otherwise highly purified forms of mescaline, Thomas is now a budding expert on cacti, intrigued as much by the plant as the promise of a powerful trip.
[...] Nonetheless, to my knowledge, there are zero active clinical trials for human use of mescaline in the U.S. today—a somewhat unusual situation given the rapidly rising interest (and corporate investment) into psychedelics as mental health treatments. One problem is that, despite its longstanding use by humans, there’s very little existing clinical research on mescaline, said Albert Garcia-Romeu, a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who studies the effects of psychedelics on the human body.
“And because mescaline is a natural product that is not owned by any pharma company, there are few people willing to pony up the money and spend all the time necessary to make it and subject it to all the requisite safety testing. It costs a lot, with little hope for [return on investment],” Garcia-Romeu added.
[...] Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that one can sense a similar energy in the subculture of DIY mescaline lovers, even with the lack of religiosity. Elliott, for one, spoke of mescaline with awe and appreciation, and bluntly rejected the notion that he could make money by evangelizing on his growing knowledge and methods.
“Honestly, that’s a disgusting idea. I’m not doing this for profit,” Elliott declared, scrunching his face on our video call for effect. “I’m doing it for one reason: so more people can hopefully experience this immensely beautiful thing... (MORE - missing details)
