Peyote Use
Peyote is a spineless cactus with small protrusions called “buttons”. The buttons are what is used for hallucinogenic purposes. Peyote is used for its hallucinogenic properties. Mescaline, an amphetamine is the primary active psychedelic in peyote. The peyote plant can be found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. The limited growing area of the peyote cactus makes it hard to find which is why PCP and LSD are so much more common than mescaline. Peyote use and mescaline use are listed as Schedule 1 hallucinogens except in the rare exception of the Native American Church and its members.
Peyote use is one of the oldest drugs used ever known. Aztecs used peyote and considered it magical and divine. Peyote use then spread from the Aztecs to North American and to other Native American groups who used peyote to communicate with spirits and for religious ceremonies.
Peyote can be used by obtaining the “buttons” that can be cut from the root and dried. The “buttons” that contain the mescaline can either be chewed or soaked in water to produce a hallucinogenic liquid. Peyote buttons can also be used by grinding them up into a powder and then smoking it. The mescaline part of peyote use is most normally given orally in the form of a powder, tablet, capsule or liquid. In pure liquid form mescaline can be ingested even though it’s not recommended. The normal dose for someone using peyote or mescaline is around 300-500 milligrams. In peyote buttons, 300-500 milligrams is usually 3-6 buttons. The effects of peyote use generally appear within 1-2 hours and are gone within 10-12 hours. So peyote use lasts a fairly long time.
Peyote use and its active ingredient mescaline belongs to a family known as phenethylamine. This is what makes peyote use different from other psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. The structure of mescaline is very similar to neurotransmitters in the brain known as norepinephrine. Peyote use or mescaline can produce perceptual, cognitive, and emotional experiences. The intensity of these experiences depends upon the user and how much they peyote they use. The main long-term effects of peyote use is a prolonged psychotic state that is very similar to paranoid schizophrenia.
Peyote use can cause:
- Numbness
- Tension
- Anxiety
- Rapid reflexes
- Muscle twitching
- Weakness
- Increased blood pressure and heart rate
- Appetite suppression
- Elevated body temperature and sweating
- Chills and sweating
Peyote use also has multiple psychological effects such as:
- Vivid mental images and distorted vision
- Altered space and time perception
- Joy, exhilaration, panic, anxiety, and terror
- Distorted sense of body
- Difficulty focusing
- Loss of sense of reality
- Preoccupation with trivial thoughts, experiences or objects
- Heightened sensory experience aka brighter colors, sharper vision, increased hearing, and more distinguished taste.
- Feeling weighed down or extra light
- Highly adverse reactions known as a bad trip. This includes fear, confusion, disorientation, paranoia, agitation, depression and panic
Some of the slang terms for peyote use are:
- Bad seed
- Britton
- Hikori
- Hikuli
- Half moon
- Hyatari
- P
- Nubs
- Seni
- Tops
- Cactus
- Cactus buttons
- Cactus joint
- Mesc
- Mescal
Those who use peyote are often referred to as cactus heads or love trips.
There is currently no proof that physical dependence on peyote has happened physical or psychological. It has not been reported but it could happen. A tolerance to peyote use does happen fairly rapidly but it is not common for peyote users to become addicted.