Mescaline
MESCALINE
OFFICIAL NAMES: Mescaline, peyote
STREET NAMES: Buttons, cactus buttons, cactus head, Aztec, chief, big chief, mesc, mescal, mezc, moon, topi, blue cap
DRUG CLASSIFICATIONS: Schedule I, hallucinogen
OVERVIEW
Mescaline is said to be the oldest known hallucinogenic drug. Before drugs were manufactured in a lab, cooked up in someone's basement, or stolen from a medicine cabinet for illegal and abusive use, they were found in plants. Often, drugs in plants were discovered quite accidentally.
Foraging for food, early humans used trial and error to determine which plants were edible and, unfortunately, which were deadly. However, some plants that were neither food nor poison had another entirely surprising effect. These plants produced an intoxicated, or drunken, state or caused the user to have visions or hear voices of people who were not there. To the ancients, these waking dreams (which are called hallucinations—distortions of perception that seem real but are not) were voices from their gods or the spirit world.
Such plants—now classified as psychoactive or hallucinogenic—became a centerpiece for sacred rituals, a means to explain the unexplainable, and a mainstay of medicine bags. How a primitive people or another culture might use a drug as part of their worship rituals differs greatly from its use as a recreational or street drug where very often it is misused and abused.
Mescaline (peyote) is one such drug that has a cultural history dating from before the time of Christ as well as a separate history as a street drug. It is derived mainly from two members of the Cactaceae family—the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) and the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi).
L. williamsii is a gray-green or blue-green cactus that grows close to the ground. It looks like a small, segmented cushion. These cushion-like segments are called podarea and they surround a wooly center of tufted hairs called trichomes. L. williamsii does not have prickly spines as do other cacti. (Other genus and species names of the peyote cactus are Lophophora echinata var. diffusa and Echinocactus williamsii.) The peyote cactus is indigenous (grows naturally) to the area ranging from southern Texas to San Luis Potosi in southern Mexico. Another Lophophora species is Lophophora difusa. This yellow-green cactus is fleshier, without a well-defined podarea. It grows only in the dry, central area of Queretaro, Mexico.
The San Pedro cactus (T. pachanoi), unlike L. williamsii, has spines and grows in a large column, sometimes as high as 20 ft (12.5 m). This common cactus is often used as an ornamental plant, and originated in the mountains of Ecuador and Peru. Other cacti of the Trichocereus family also contain hallucinogenic compounds. The San Pedro cactus is also known as Echinopsis pachanoi, Cereus pachanoi, Cereus rosei, Echinopsis peruvianus, and T. peruvianus.
The derivation of the name peyote is uncertain. The Nahuatl word, pi-youtl, means "silk cocoon" or "caterpillar cocoon," due to the plant's appearance. The Mexican word, piule, has a more simple meaning of "hallucinogenic plant." Both are generally regarded as its possible predecessor.
Today though, in academic literature as well as street usage, the drug is referred to as both mescaline and peyote (regardless from which cactus it is actually extracted), often with both words having the same meaning. However, in the strictest sense, mescaline refers to the hallucinogenic crystalline extract of the peyote cactus, a form that is rare.
Mescaline is one of 40–60 alkaloids (nitrogen-containing organic compounds) that are found in these psychoactive cacti. Depending on its maturity, the typical peyote cactus has about a 4% mescaline content. Extremely slow growing, a cactus can take more than four years to grow a dime-sized top section, or "button," the part that is cut off and eaten. A plant is not considered mature until it is 13 years old. A cactus that is the size of a baseball is estimated to be about 30 years old. Native American and Mexican Indians call these plants "Father or Grandfather Peyote," and they are highly revered.
History
Found only in the New World, there is evidence that peyote was used before the time of Christ. Some of the most solid archeological data suggest that the drug was taken by the Aztecs 3,000 years ago. An archeological find in Coahuila, Mexico, of a skeleton with a beaded necklace of dried peyote buttons is 1,000 years old. In Peru, a carving of a San Pedro cactus on a stone tablet dates back to 1300 b.c. Dried peyote buttons found in the Shumla Cave in Texas are said to date from 5000 b.c.
The writings of Fray Bernardino Sahagun (1499–1590), a Spanish missionary who lived with and studied the Indians of Mexico, provide the earliest documented information about peyote. He writes that the Chichimecas and the Toltec Indians probably used peyote as early as 300 b.c.
Dr. Francisco Hernandez, King Philip II's personal physician, gave the first physical description of the cactus plant. Along with describing its psychoactive qualities, he also wrote about its medicinal uses, namely, to relive painful joints.
However, the newcomers to the New World were not accepting of the well-established peyote cults. Campaigns were quickly undertaken to make peyote illegal. When Mexico outlawed it in 1720, the ritual was so entrenched that the practice continued in secret. In fact, the Huichol Indians of Mexico still perform a peyote ritual that is probably very similar to that performed in the days before colonization.
In the same century, there is evidence of peyote use in the United States. The first recorded use of peyote is1760. By the time of the Civil War (1860–1864), Native Americans were familiar with the plant and had a strong ritual surrounding its use. It was about 1880 that the peyote ceremony of the Kiowa and Comanche tribes first drew public attention. These Plains Indian tribes incorporated aspects of the Mexican peyote worship into their vision-quest ritual. The Plains Indians probably learned about the hallucinogenic cactus when they crossed the border into northern Mexico during various raids on the Mescalero Indians.
Experts suggest that the peyote ritual was embraced by the Native Americans because they saw it as a way to preserve their cultural heritage at a time when their way of life was slipping away. It was during this time that they were relocated to reservations. Tribal missionaries spread word of the beneficial effects of the peyote ritual on moral. In 1918, the Native American Church (NAC) was founded and further formalized the ritual use of peyote. It also set off a long history of debate over First Amendment rights and the use of a controlled substance by members of a church. In 1920, the church had more than 13,000 members comprising 30 tribes. By 2002, there were more than 250,000 members.
But there is another side to peyote—its use as a recreational or street drug. In 1897, Arthur Heffter, a German chemist, was the first to identify mescaline as the chemical responsible for peyote's hallucinogenic effects. It was the first hallucinogenic compound synthesized. At the time, the science community wanted to know what chemical would cause hallucinations in otherwise normal individuals who were not suffering from a psychosis or brain disorder.
In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, hallucinogenic substances were viewed as possible tools for understanding and treating psychiatric and other mental disorders. Tribal medicine men, or shamans, have always maintained it was an effective medicine to treat a number of ailments including alcoholism. However, peyote did not really catch on as a drug to be explored in the recreational arena until 1953 when the English novelist Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) wrote The Doors of Perception where he recounted his experiences with the peyote.
In the 1960s and 1970s, serious research involving mescaline and LSD continued and it was hoped that their use in psychotherapy would be established. Timothy Leary (1920–96), a Harvard professor best known for his lifelong experiments with LSD, also studied mescaline. He is best known for giving the motto "Turn on, tune in, and drop out," to the hippie generation of the 1960s.
As academic interest in psychedelics flourished, street use became common, especially on college campuses. Opponents of psychedelic research said it failed to show that it had a viable use in psychotherapy, and growing street use demonstrated that the drugs had the potential for abuse and were dangerous. Users began reporting that some of their "trips," as the experience under the influence of the drug is called, were bad trips, causing them and the medical community concern. Flashbacks—recurrences of the trip even without the drug—were also reported. Organizations such as the National Clearinghouse or Alcohol and Drug Information cautions that using hallucinogens, including mescaline, in large quantities may cause convulsions, blood vessel damage in the brain, or even irreversible brain damage.
In 1929, New Mexico was the first state to outlaw peyote, and in 1967 the federal government banned it all together. In 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act made peyote, mescaline, and every other hallucinogen a Schedule I drug, defined as having no known medical use. Money for research dried up and the tide turned against hallucinogens' popularity as a street drug. Street use of peyote and mescaline was virtually nonexistent at the close of the twentieth century.
The federal government exempted the NAC from the ban on peyote if it is used as part of a bona fide religious ceremony. This point remains a center of legal controversy in states that want to limit its use or outlaw it completely.
CHEMICAL/ORGANIC COMPOSITION
Of the alkaloids so far identified in just L. williamsii alone, 15 are Beta-phenethylamine and simple isoquinoline alkaloids. Mescaline, N-methylmescaline, N-acetylemescaline, anhalamine, anhalonine, anhalidine, anhalinine, anhalonidine, lophophorine, O-methylanhalondedine, and pellotine have all been identified as the principal components of the plant. However, only mescaline has so far been determined to cause hallucinations.
Mescaline is chemically classified as a phenethylamine. Some of its identified chemical compounds are 3,4,5–trimethoxy-beta-phenethylamine, 3,4,5–trimeth-oxybenzeneethanamine, 3,4,5–trimethoxyphene-thylamine, and mescaline. This chemical classification makes the drug different from the other hallucinogens, specifically the more popular LSD, which is classified as an indole. Its chemical formula is C11H17NO3.
Some designer drugs are mescaline analogs, meaning they are similar in chemical structure. The most popular mescaline analog is 3,4–methylenediozy-methamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy). Other analogs of mescaline include amphetamines and methamphetamines.
INGESTION METHODS
Dried peyote cactus buttons are chewed and swallowed or made into a powder and swallowed in tablet form. Peyote can also be brewed and drunk as a tea.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the usual dose of mescaline that will produce hallucinations is about 0.3–0.5 g, which is the equivalent of about 5 g of dried peyote. The effect of the drug lasts about 12 hours. Mescaline can be extracted from peyote or produced synthetically.
Synthetic mescaline, however, is extremely rare. It is very expensive to produce and is therefore not in demand on the underground drug market. It takes about a half-gram of mescaline sulfate to produce a psychedelic trip. Synthetic mescaline is pricey at about $100 to $200 per gram.
Dried peyote buttons ground into a powdered form and made into tablets can be dangerous as the tablets can be adulterated, or mixed with other substances or drugs. In the United States, it has been reported that street samples of what are believed to be pure synthetic mescaline often have another substance added.
In Canada, Health Canada Online reports that 90% of what is supposed to be mescaline is actually phencyclidine (PCP), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), or another drug or substance. This can be dangerous
because some of these drugs can be much more harmful than mescaline or peyote. For instance, PCP or "Angel Dust" may cause severe paranoia or even convulsions and coma. These sorts of side effects are not usually associated with mescaline alone.
THERAPEUTIC USE
There is no recognized therapeutic use for peyote or mescaline. However, interest in mescaline as a medicine appeared almost as soon as it was discovered. A look through bibliographic citations and literature shows publications on peyote or mescaline dating from 1894 through nearly every decade to present day.
In the 1960s, interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics was at its height. The experimental psychiatric community and others were looking at mescaline and other hallucinogens as possible ways to treat a wide array of psychiatric disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive behavior and autism. Once the drugs became illegal, legitimate study for all intents and purposes was halted. However, personal exploration and research continued illegally in some sectors.
In the 1990s there was a resurgence in interest in studying the effects of peyote, especially among the Native American population who have used it for so long. Testimony before the Congress of the United States and elsewhere that the use of peyote in the spiritual practices of the NAC has helped Native Americans combat the problems of alcoholism and that it appears relatively safe has revived the interest of the research community.
Outside of clinical research, use of peyote as a means to self-discovery is of great interest to both members of the NAC and lay people alike. A group in the San Francisco Bay area, the Council on Spiritual Practices (CSP), refers to peyote and other hallucinogenic plants as "entheogens" instead of hallucinogens. Entheogen comes from a Greek base meaning "God-facilitating substance."
Those who seek what they call a responsible religious use of entheogens are also trying to answer the questions about their inherent dangers. Researchers at Duke University are studying the PET scans of mescaline users to see what happens during spiritual use.
USAGE TRENDS
It is extremely difficult to determine the extent of peyote and mescaline use. After 1998, it seemed to disappear from the various governmental indicators for drug use. If it shows up at all, it is usually lumped under the heading of "other hallucinogens," not including LSD, which usually has its own category.
According to the DEA, as of October 2001, of the approximate 14 million Americans over age 12 who used illicit drugs, 22.3% used LSD. There is no mention of mescaline use in that survey.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse in September 2000, did list mescaline use as being "common among adolescents and young adults in Boston. Peyote is readily available in Phoenix." However, there was no indication how many people this might involve or their ages or usage trends.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) suggests that local DEA offices may have statistical breakdowns for mescaline and peyote use separate from other hallucinogens and LSD.
Scope and severity
Mescaline is not a very popular street drug as exemplified by a DEA report that shows that from 1980 to 1987, 19.4 lbs (9 kg) of peyote were confiscated in drug raids compared to more than 15 million lbs (7 million kg) of marijuana confiscated during the same time period. They report no trafficking of peyote.
In Texas, where the peyote cactus grows, its distribution to members of the NAC throughout the United States is controlled by Texas laws and regulations.
Age, ethnic, and gender trends
Again, there is no breakdown for mescaline use. A few interesting statistics from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) show that about one-third of college campuses reported an increase in hallucinogen use in the mid-1990s—mostly LSD and psilocybin. According to the NIJ, "Campus sources identified hallucinogen users today as mainstream students, not the more marginal hippie students of the 1960s. Private and public campuses are equally likely to report hallucinogen use; religious schools are most likely to report little or no use. Larger campuses and institutions in urban areas report the widest range of drug use."
While use of hallucinogens appeared to increase during the early to mid-1990s, possibly due to the growth of "raves," NIDA reported a slight decline in their use among eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders from 1998 to 2000.
MENTAL EFFECTS
Most of what is known about the effects of hallucinogens is known from the widespread use and study of LSD during the 1960s and 1970s. According to NIDA, LSD is the most widely used drug of all the psychedelics and its affects are seen as typical of all drugs in this class. The way LSD works applies to other hallucinogens such as mescaline, psilocybin, and ibogaine.
Hallucinogens chemically affect the user's brain. Psychedelic drugs like mescaline have an emotional and sensory impact on the user. The user experiences rapid mood swings—feeling happy one minute and instantly fearful and paranoid in the next. This emotional up and down can be so rapid that the user may experience several emotions at the same time or in rapid-fire fashion one after the other.
Users report a heightened awareness and intensity of color, sound, smells, and taste. Sometimes these sensations can appear mixed up and users report "hearing colors" or "seeing sounds." This blending of the sensual experience is a neurological phenomenon known as synesthesia.
The psychedelic drug-induced state of an hallucinogen is called a "trip." Trips can be good or bad. Many people say that under the influence of a hallucinogen, they feel very happy and interpret the experience as men tally stimulating or even enlightening in a spiritual sense. Some people say the experience helps them to better understand themselves, which is why throughout history the interest in using psychedelics as a therapeutic aid waxes and wanes in clinical interest.
However, the bad trips can be as equally terrifying as the good trips are stimulating. When a person has a bad trip, the individual often compares it to the most frightening nightmare. Often, those having a bad trip will be anxious, feel they are going insane, experience profound depression, and think they may be dying. Bad trips are also accompanied by a feeling of being out of control.
PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Most people who take peyote report that their first reaction is to the taste; the buttons taste bad. Sometimes, the initial effects of eating them are nausea and vomiting, especially if many buttons are consumed. Some people report taking as many as 30 at a time. If taken in tablet form, more of the drug might be ingested at once and all of the drug's effects, good and bad, could be heightened.
About 30 minutes to over an hour after the buttons are eaten the drug's effects are felt. While the hallucinations may be two hours long, the drug's concentration in the brain and its other effects might last 10 to 12 hours.
As a result of the initial symptoms, it is rare for users to overdose on mescaline. However, this does not mean that mescaline is without other potentially dangerous physical effects. Mescaline can cause dilated pupils, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, dizziness, loss of appetite, dry mouth, sweating, numbness, anxiety, sleeplessness, uterine contractions, nausea, and tremors.
According to NIDA's Research Report Series on Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs, most likely the drug works by disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Serotonin helps to regulate the areas in the brain that control behavior, perception, and the systems of the body that regulate such functions as hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control, and the senses.
Not much is known about hallucinogens in general and mescaline in particular. While much of the research has pointed to the close ties with serotonin, others are now looking at the similarity between mescaline and amphetamine, with which it shares an even closer similar structure. This is especially evident in the mescaline analogs such as ecstasy, which has an extreme amphetamine-like effect on users. Amphetamines affect the adrenal system.
Harmful side effects
Because of peyote's bad taste, overdoses are rare. However, some of the drug's side effects such as nausea, sweating, and tremors are experienced when doses of 300–500 mg are taken. Other adverse side effects may include slowing heartbeat and breathing, and contractions of the intestines and the uterus, which could be dangerous for pregnant women taking the drug.
Another concern is the user's mental state. If a psychological disorder is already present, the user's condition could be worsened. Some people, even those without existing psychoses, report panic reactions when taking the drug.
Unlike other drugs, when a frequent user stops taking mescaline, there are no withdrawal symptoms. In other words, peyote does not cause an addiction, or physical dependence on a drug. However, while using mescaline, a tolerance to psychedelics in general will develop, meaning it will take a larger dose for the user to get the same effects. This tolerance carries over if the user switches to other psychedelics such as LSD or psilocybin, but does not last if mescaline use is discontinued.
Purity of the drug is always a concern. If mescaline is taken in its dried button form, users are fairly assured it is the real thing. In tablet form, there is always the possibility of adulteration. Possible harmful side effects from the unknown drug or additive always pose a danger.
Long-term health effects
Mescaline is not considered addictive the way drugs such as heroin or methamphetamines are. Nevertheless, this does not mean it is without possible health consequences. When the drug is discontinued, and there is a dip in serotonin activity, a condition called dysphoria may result. Dysphoria is an overall feeling of anxiety, depression, restlessness, and general dissatisfaction, for which fluoxetine (Prozac) is sometimes prescribed for three to six months.
Psychedelic use can carry with it two long-term mental health problems that can be quite disturbing. These conditions are hallucinogen-persisting perception disorder (HPPD), also known as flashbacks. HPPD may persist for years, long after a person stops taking mescaline. According the NIDA, "these episodes are spontaneous, repeated, sometimes continuous recurrences of some of the sensory distortions originally produced by LSD." This holds true for mescaline, the organization says, as well as other hallucinogens.
Another long-term health effect of psychedelic use is persistent or drug-induced psychosis, in which former users can fall into a "long-lasting psychotic-like state." They can appear severely depressed, have mood swings, and have hallucinations and visual disturbances. Like HPPD, persistent psychosis can last for years. Often it occurs in people who have no previous history of psychological problems.
REACTIONS WITH OTHER DRUGS OR SUBSTANCES
Often drug users combine drugs. "Love flipping," or "love trip," is the practice of taking mescaline at the same time as ecstasy. Because MDMA is a mescaline analog, and given the dangerous side effects known about MDMA, the addition of mescaline might further increase the overall harmful side effects of both drugs.
TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION
While there is no formal treatment for HPPD and drug-induced psychosis, those who have trouble coping with the symptoms are often treated with antidepressants to help reduce the symptoms. Former users who experience flashbacks are often fearful and confused by the inexplicable hallucinations, and it is reported that they think they may have suffered brain damage or are going insane. Psychotherapy may help them cope.
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
Because mescaline is so closely tied to its psychological effects, it can have profound effects on the user. The side effects of anxiety and depression after taking it can make social functioning difficult; flashbacks and drug-induced psychosis may require long-term care and can affect job performance and personal relationships. People with existing psychological problems might have them worsened. Functioning while under the influence of mescaline can lead to poor judgment or dangerous acts that could hurt the user or others.
LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
The DEA defines peyote as a Schedule I, hallucinogen, meaning that it has a "high potential for abuse, has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substances under medical supervision."
Use of peyote or mescaline carries the same fines and punishments as any other Schedule I substance, which can include imprisonment. NAC members who use peyote outside the religious ceremony are not exempt from the consequences for illegal use. The federal guidelines refer specifically to the peyote cactus, L. williamsii. However, any other psychoactive cactus bought and used with the express intent of extracting the mescaline content will carry the same consequences under the law as using the more common form of the peyote cactus.
Traveling to other countries where peyote might be grown could result in legal consequences. Buying, selling, carrying, or using drugs, including mescaline, outside of the United States can result in interrogation and imprisonment for weeks, months, or life. Each country has its own legal guidelines and punishments for drug use and trafficking. Some countries make no distinctions for a person who has a small quantity of peyote for personal use; such a person could be tried with the same consequences as a full-fledged trafficker. Countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, and Turkey use the death penalty for even the most minor drug offense.
Legal history
The legal history surrounding peyote use is ambivalent. On one hand, there is the straightforward ban on street usage and its consequences as a Schedule I, hallucinogen. On the other hand, there is the problematic usage by the federally recognized religion of the Native American Church that pits federal drug laws against First Amendment rights.
The legality-illegality considerations of peyote use by Native Americans has been on-again, off-again since the Civil War years. In 1920, New Mexico became the first state to outlaw its use. In 1959, the law was amended to allow Native Americans to use it during religious ceremonies.
In the 1950s and 1960s, peyote was legal throughout most of the United States. During the peak of the psychedelic era, dried peyote cactus buttons were readily available through mail-order catalogues.
When the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (Public Law 91-513) made mescaline and peyote a Schedule I, hallucinogen, the free-flowing use of the cactus as a street drug slowed dramatically.
The law did allow an exemption for members of the NAC.
Nevertheless, states interpreted the law in their own way. A religion that used a controlled substance in its ceremony caused a lot of debate among lawyers and civil libertarians alike. It was the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the right to worship without interference from federal or state governments, versus a church's right to use an illegal substance as part of its ceremony.
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, adopted August 1978, protected the religious traditions of Native Americans, but this law was challenged almost from its inception.
The 1990 Supreme Court decision in Employment Division v. Smith said that the religious use of peyote by Native Americans is not protected by the First Amendment. This decision was met with the outcry of many religious and civil liberties groups, which led to two legislative acts: the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments (AIRFA). Amended again in 1996, AIRFA allowed for the same protection for the traditional, ceremonial use of peyote by American Indians in all 50 states.
The law allows for the "use, possession, or transportation of peyote by an Indian for bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes in connection with the practice of a traditional Indian religion is lawful, and shall not be prohibited by the United States or any State." The law also protects peyoteros, those who harvest peyote.
Discretion, though, is left to the states to decide if the transportation, possession, or use of peyote is harmful to anyone and therefore allows states to make their own laws regulating use.
Federal guidelines, regulations, and penalties
Using, possessing, manufacturing, or distributing peyote could result in a prison sentence of not more than 15 years, a fine of not more than $25,000, or both.
In Canada, mescaline or peyote is a restricted drug, regulated by the Food and Drugs Act (FDA). A first offense is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Subsequent offenses are punishable by one year and up to $2,000; if convicted by indictment, individuals may be fined up to $4,000 and earn three years in jail. Penalties for trafficking and/or possession for the purpose of trafficking are punishable by up to 18 months in jail for summary conviction, and up to 10 years upon conviction by indictment.
See also Ecstasy (MDMA); LSD; PCP (phencyclidine); Psilocybin
RESOURCES
Books
Anderson, Edward F. "Botany of Peyote." In Peyote, The Divine Cactus. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1980.
Huxley, Aldous. The Doors of Perception. London: Chatto & Windus, 1954.
Jesse, Robert. "Testimony of the Council on Spiritual Practices." In Entheogeons and the Future of Religion. San Francisco: Council on Spiritual Practices, 1997.
Schultes, Richard Evans, and Albert Hoffmann. "The Tracks of the Little Deer." In Plants of the Gods—Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucenogenic Powers. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press,1992.
Turner, D. M. The Essential Pyschedelic Guide. Ohio: Panther Press, 1994.
Periodicals
Patchelder, Tim. "Drug Addictions, Hallucinogens, and Shamanisms: The View from Anthropology." Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients (July 2001).
Other
Bierma, Paige. "Hallucinogens (Psychedelics)." Health Topics A-Z. February 1, 2001 (July 8, 2002). http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/topic100586899;$sessionid$V3JQT1QAAABZFWCYSYTDEMQ#2.
Council on Spiritual Practices. <http://www.csp.org/>.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. <http://www.maps.org/>.
U.S. Department of Justice. Drug Enforcement Administration. <http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/>.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Drug Abuse. <http://www.nida.nih.gov/>.
Organizations
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, 6001 Executive Blvd., Bethesda, MD, USA, 20892-9561,(301) 443-1124, (888) 644-6432.
Candace A. Hoffmann