San Pedro

San Pedro cuttings laid side by side

Description:

San Pedro cactus contains the psychedelic Mescaline. Mescaline is famous for its strong effects which produce a trip similar to LSD or Psilocybin Mushrooms.

Legality:

San Pedro is not specifically scheduled, however it contains large amounts of Mescaline which is a Schedule 1 substance under US law. Although common sense would dictate that this makes San Pedro illegal, it is found in almost every nursery that sells cactus across the U.S. and is for all intents and purposes legal. Below are the laws concerning San Pedro in the US, followed by the laws concerning other countries.

South Dakota: Although there is nothing specific in Dakota state law about San Pedro, this report was found via a reliable source:

“I have a friend who had his residence searched; the police siezed around 30g of dried Peruvian Torch cactus flesh, 4oz of dried Amanita muscaria mushrooms, and a very small amount of cannabis seeds and stems. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance (a class 4 felony in South Dakota) because the cacti contained a scheduled substance (mescaline). He gave no information to the police with regard to ingesting the cacti or mushrooms. […] Apparently, the prosecutors and the judge found that posession of dried cacti flesh (in combination with posession of other “drugs”) is a viable means of prosecuting somebody for posession of a controlled substance.”

Other Countries:

Brazil: Although mescaline and peyote are illegal in Brazil, Peruvian Torch and San Pedro are not.
Canada: It appears that possession and sales of San Pedro and related cacti are not prosecuted in Canada. If they are dried or otherwise prepared for use, they would likely be considered mescaline-containers and would be prosecuted under the 2001 Controlled Drugs and Substance act. (which replaced the older Narcotics Control Act) in which mescaline is listed as a schedule III drug.
Germany: We are told it is legal to possess a living mescaline-containing cacti, but that intent to process into a psychoactive preparation is illegal.
Ireland: While mescaline is scheduled in Ireland, we are told that fresh and dried mescaline-containing cacti are sold openly and that dried San Pedro is sold in headshops. There have reportedly been raids but no successful prosecutions, just confiscation.
Switzerland: San Pedro and Peruvian Torch cacti are listed as prohibited substances in Switzerland.
United Kingdom: A 2007 court case in the U.K. resulted in a decision that left dried mescaline-containing cacti legal to sell and possess. The case was thrown out by the judge on the grounds that the law did not clearly make dried chips or powder illegal. This certainly indicates that fresh growing cacti are also not controlled at this time. Note that peyote is also not controlled in the United Kingdom.

Effects:

Mescaline induces a psychedelic state similar to those produced by LSD and pscilocybin but with unique characteristics. Subjective effects may include altered thinking processes, an altered sense of time and self-awareness, and closed and open-eye visual phenomena.

Prominence of color is distinctive, appearing brilliant and intense. Recurring visual patterns observed during the mescaline experience include stripes, checkerboards, angular spikes, multicolored dots, and very simple fractals which turn very complex. Aldous Huxley described these self transforming amorphous shapes as like animated stained glass illuminated from light coming through the eyelids. Like LSD, mescaline induces distortions of form and kaleidoscope experiences but which manifest more clearly with eyes closed and under low lighting conditions; however, all of these visual descriptions are purely subjective.

As with LSD, synesthesia can occur especially with the help of music. An unusual but unique characteristic of mescaline use is the “geometricization” of three-dimensional objects. The object can appear flattened and distorted, similar to the presentation of a Cuban painting.

Mescaline elicits a pattern of sympathetic arousal, with the peripheral nervous system being a major target for this substance. Effects typically begin 1–2 hours after ingestion, and may last 12–18 hours depending on dosage.

Doseage:

A standard dose for oral mescaline use ranges from 200-500 mg. One of the more common myths around its use is that it can come in the form of tiny microdot pills. Even 200 mg of material fills a medium size capsule, so obviously microdots are not mescaline.Mescaline concentration in cacti varies from one species to the next. Peyote is traditionally eaten in pairs of buttons, with anwhere from a single pair (2 buttons) to dozens of pairs of buttons (24 or more) being consumed over the course of an evening/night. Dosages of columnar cacti like San pedro and Peruvianus are generally measured by the number of inches of cacti consumed. One rule of thumb for a relatively potent variety is one foot of cacti (approx 4 inches in diameter) per dose, another says a piece of cacti the length from your elbow to your fingertips. Cactus cuttings and seeds can be found at Bouncing Bear Botanicals.