Mescaline (idea)

Preparing mescaline from San Pedro cactus using household implements

_{This is a writeup about making a potentially harmful drug from a commonly available plant. Following the instructions in this writeup may involve breaking the law, depending on where you live, and endangering yourself and anyone who takes your mescaline preparation. I have extensively researched the risks involved in making and taking a san pedro mescaline preparation, and believe that (for myself) they are outweighed by the benefits, so long as the normal precautions for taking psychedelic drugs are observed. You must make your own decision. The strength of this preparation can vary wildly due to the variable concentrations of mescaline found in san pedro cacti, and so this preparation should not be taken by anyone without extensive experience at taking psychedelic drugs. Do not attempt this preparation unless you can be absolutely sure which species of cactus you have. I cannot stress this point enough. Preparing mescaline containing cacti is illegal to most people in many countries, including America. To determine whether this includes you, you will have to research the drug laws in your country.}

San pedro cactus or Trichocereus Pachanoi is a large, fast growing cactus which contains between 0.3 and 2 percent (dry weight) of the potent psychedelic drug mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxy-ß-phenethylamine). Rarely is the concentration greater than 0.5%. This is a much lower concentration than is found in peyote, and so it is difficult to ingest enough san pedro to experience a full trip. The preparations found in this node are a refinement of methods I and my accomplices have found from various sources, and makes it easier to ingest the recommended dose of around 250 - 350 mg. Note that when I say "easier", that ingesting raw san pedro plant matter triggers the gag reflex, and that preparations that I have tried from other sources which involve concentrating the product have produced a thick, stinking gunk which tastes worse than the worst thing you can imagine. This is not an exaggeration.

This preparation does not require any knowledge of chemistry or lab gear, and requires the partakers to ingest around 300 mls of unpleasant green phlegm. This is only for dedicated psychedelic explorers, people. I find it a lot easier to ingest than the required amount of a solid preparation.

We developed this preparation because extracting it from san pedro is the only means we have of obtaining mescaline. I also prefer to make my drugs from natural sources as opposed to buying them because then I am in control of the contents of the drugs. My "300 mls of phlegm" preparation may be a lot less pleasant than ingesting a nice little capsule, but at least I know that the preparation contains mescaline, and no other drugs except for other alkaloids found in san pedro.

Materials: 50 cm of san pedro per person, 1 large pot, some form of stove, a large knife, a blender, some water, a cloth straining instrument such as a tea-towel, a large bowl.

You may first wish to remove the spines. This should be done by cutting them out at their base, taking care to remove as little of the green skin and flesh as possible. Most or all of the mescaline is in and around the outer green skin, so your next task is to remove the outer 1 cm of the cactus. This can be done by cutting the cactus into slices, and then slicing the edges off of the star shaped sections, or by inserting the blade parallel to an edge and slicing big long strips of skin off. The former method is far more time consuming, but the latter tends to collect more of the white inner goop, which adds to the phlegm like consistency of the preparation dramatically. I tend to prefer the latter method, but I have an obedient stomach. With either method, bits of white flesh which are collected should be removed from the bits you cut off, and bits of green flesh which are left behind should be collected.

Next, if you cut the cactus into strips, cut them into squares. Put some squares into the blender and blend them. This is kind of tricky, and you will need to use an implement of some kind to push uncooperative cactus pieces into the blades. If you used the strip method, the white core of the cactus works well for this. Don't push while the blades are turning. A heavy duty juice extractor works much better than a blender for this, but it can't be good for the juice extractor. Never try to blend more than a handful of cactus at once, or you'll just clog up the blender so that the blades are not contacting any cactus. You won't be able to actually puree the cactus, so you're just trying to badly traumatise it. Occasionally add a little water to the blender to improve the flow. Once all of the pieces in the blender are fairly mangled, put them into the pot, and repeat until all of the cactus is blended.

Shake the pot so that the mangled cactus is sitting fairly level. Push it down to reduce the amount of empty space below the cactus level. Then add water slowly until the water level is just above the level of the cactus. Now turn the stove on a medium setting and stir the pot. If stirring isn't really an option, add a bit more water, but remember, with this preparation, the more water you add, the more gunk you're going to have to drink. Bring the pot to the boil, and simmer it for 45 minutes, stirring regularly.

Allow to cool for an hour. Place the tea towel over the bowl. Pour the contents of the pot into the bowl, through the tea towel. For this step, either tape the tea towel to the bowl or get someone to hold it, so that the contents of the pot don't overflow into the bowl without being strained by the tea towel. This step should be done slowly. When the pot is empty or the tea towel is too full to continue, grab the edges of the tea towel and lift them up so you can grab them in one hand. Twist the dripping green ball of goop-in-a-tea-towel, and squeeze the juice out of it. Be careful not to break the tea towel. The process of squeezing most of the juice from the tea towel into the bowl will take a while. When you're too bored to continue, or the tea towel is barely dripping any more, assess the liquidity of the stuff in the bowl. If it has lots of solid matter in it and you can't see the bottom of the bowl, you may want to strain it again. Otherwise, refrigerate, since warm green goop is harder to drink than cold green goop.

And there you have it. This method was developed from methods found on the web and in books, and produces a larger quantity of weaker liquid which is merely revolting, as opposed to half a glass of repugnant slime which smells and tastes worse than the worst thing you can imagine. To drink, prepare a chaser of some kind (orange juice is not too bad, cola works well too) and drink it as fast as you can. The goal is to get it down before your throat and stomach realise what you're doing. Around 300 mls per person should do it. Mescaline concentration in san pedro is generally around 0.02% (fresh) but can apparently get as high as 0.14% (fresh. Dry weight: between 0.3% and 2%).