Mescaline Mescaline Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class, known for its hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin. It occurs naturally in the peyote cactus ("Lophophora williamsii"), the San Pedro cactus ("Echinopsis pachanoi"), the Peruvian torch ("Echinopsis peruviana"), and other members of the Cactaceae plant family. It is also found in small amounts in certain members of the Fabaceae (bean) family, including "Acacia berlandieri". However those claims concerning Acacia species have been challenged and have been unsupported in additional analysis. Peyote has been used for at least 5,700 years by Native Americans in
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.