Mescaline - Usage Trends

Usage Trends

The use of peyote was well established among the Aztecs and other native peoples in the New World long before the arrival of the first Europeans. Spanish authorities in Mexico outlawed peyote in 1720, but its use continued to be widespread, although the rituals were conducted in secret. Use of peyote extended northward during the 1800s. It increased dramatically when Native Americans were being removed from their traditional lands and resettled on government reservations. Shortly after the start of the twentieth century, the NAC was founded, which incorporated peyote use with Christian and other religious beliefs. It remains active to this day. In modern times, the Huichol and Tarahumara Indians in Mexico still use peyote in traditional ceremonies.

Experimentation and Research on Mescaline

Outside of Native American religious ceremonies, there was little use of mescaline by anyone for many years, except for those involved in research. However, that situation changed during the mid-twentieth century. The writings of novelist Aldous Huxley, Harvard professor Timothy Leary, and anthropologist Carlos Castaneda (c. 1925–1998), all of whom experimented with peyote and related substances, sparked a wider interest in these drugs and the vivid visions they cause. Castaneda wrote several books supposedly describing his experiences with a Mexican medicine man, who introduced him to an otherworldly being called "Mescalito." Mescalito was said to give insight to those seeking his guidance through peyote. Castaneda detailed many strange and terrifying visions, but in his later works, he downplayed the importance of using hallucinogens to gain greater spiritual awareness.

At the height of the drug subculture of the 1960s and 1970s, there was some street use of peyote and other forms of mescaline. However, much of what was sold as mescaline was probably something else since the natural and artificial forms of the drug have always been difficult to obtain and are quite expensive when they are available. Peyote is one of the slowest-growing plants. Plus, its natural habitat is being threatened due to continued development of land for building and cattle grazing. Therefore, it is unlikely to become more plentiful. In Texas, it is cultivated legally and protected under the supervision of Texas legal authorities for use within the NAC.

A report by the DEA revealed how little peyote and mescaline are used as street drugs. From 1980 to 1987, about 19.4 pounds (9 kilograms) of peyote were taken in drug raids. In contrast, 15 million pounds (7 million kilograms) of marijuana were confiscated during the same timeframe. Furthermore, no illegal trafficking of peyote was reported at all. After 1998, mescaline showed up infrequently on government reports, usually being included in a category such as "other hallucinogens," which refers to hallucinogens other than LSD. The "2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)" reported that overall hallucinogen use dropped from 4.7 million users in 2002 to 3.9 million users in 2003. The study showed that 1 percent of youths between the ages of twelve and seventeen abused hallucinogens, with .8 percent of adults above the age of twenty-six abusing them.