Mescaline the skills necessary to handle them safely. Special regulations restricting their availability, possession, storage or use may apply." The peyote cacti and other mescaline-containing plants such as San Pedro are illegal in Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory, whilst in other states such as Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, they are legal for ornamental and gardening purposes. In Canada, France, The Netherlands and Germany, mescaline in raw form and dried mescaline-containing cacti are considered an illegal drug. However, anyone may grow and use peyote, or "Lophophora williamsii", as well as "Echinopsis pachanoi" and "Echinopsis peruviana" without restriction, as
Mescaline and activates the serotonin 5-HT receptor with a high affinity. How activating the 5-HT receptor leads to psychedelia is still unknown, but it is likely that somehow it involves excitation of neurons in the prefrontal cortex. Mescaline is also known to bind to and activate the serotonin 5-HT receptor. Difluoromescaline and trifluoromescaline are more potent than mescaline, as is its amphetamine homologue trimethoxyamphetamine. In the United States, mescaline was made illegal in 1970 by the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, categorized as a Schedule I hallucinogen. The drug was prohibited internationally by the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.