The History of Drugs #3 - Peyote & Other Psychedelic Cacti

Peyote (Peyotl) is not an ordinary cactus. It’s scientific name is Lophophora williamsii. Peyote is native to Mexico and South Western Texas, where it to this can be found in arid areas rich with limestone.
There are three properties that makes these cacti unique.
Two of them rather trivial, the other one very important. They are spineless, they are edible, and they contain the psychoactive compound mescaline, which can also be found in numerous other cacti and even some beans.
It was first identified in 1897 by the German chemist Arthur Heffter. But long before 1897, people already knew that they had psychedelic and entheogenic effects on the consumer, comparable to those of the modern LSD and Psilocybin, which can be found in so called magic mushrooms.

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