Science paper Comparison of Mescaline with Psilocybin and LSD

I wasn't sure where to share this paper. It is about mescaline, as well as psilocybin and LSD, it is a scientific paper but also fits into the category of a trip report.

The paper is entitled: Comparative acute effects of mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide, and psilocybin in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study in healthy participants

Paper attached to post

excerpt from abstract:

The present study used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design to compare the acute subjective effects, autonomic effects, and pharmacokinetics of typically used, moderate to high doses of mescaline (300 and 500 mg), LSD (100 μg), and psilocybin (20 mg) in 32 healthy participants. A mescaline dose of 300 mg was used in the first 16 participants and 500 mg was used in the subsequent 16 participants. Acute subjective effects of 500 mg mescaline, LSD, and psilocybin were comparable across various psychometric scales

At the right dose levels the subjective psychedelic effects of all three molecules were indistinct.
That is not to say there were not differences in terms of the effects of the molecules in relation to blood pressure, heart rate, onset and duration.

Here is the most interesting section of the paper:

Overall,
the participants did not unequivocally distinguish mescaline, LSD,
and psilocybin during the experience nor after the study. The high
mescaline 500 mg dose was correctly identified by 53.3% of the
participants during the session and by 81.2% after the study, and
was most commonly mistaken for LSD (33.3%) at t = 3 h. The low
300 mg mescaline dose was correctly identified by 50% of the
participants during the session and by 68.7% after the study, and
was most commonly mistaken for either LSD or placebo (both
18.7%) at t = 3 h. LSD was correctly identified by 58.1% of the
participants during the session and by 68.7% after the study, and
was most commonly mistaken for either psilocybin or the 300 mg
mescaline dose (both 16.1%) at t = 3 h. Psilocybin was correctly
identified by 48.4% of the participants during the session and by
78.1% after the study, and was most commonly mistaken for LSD
(25.8%) at t = 3 h. Placebo was correctly identified by 96.7% of
participants during the session and by 96.8% after the study.

The participants were, generally speaking, unable to identify which psychedelic they were experiencing while experiencing it and were only able to make better guesses after the experience was over and even then still had difficulty identifying what they had taken!

 

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To discuss this paper slightly more; it is worth noting that the mescaline group had the highest reported number of unpleasant effects with some of that group experiencing significant headaches. Interestingly as well, mescaline was commonly confused with LSD, in that people who had taken mescaline often thought they had been given LSD! The experience itself and the duration of it likely contributed to this perception.

I am also reminded of reading at the Ayahuasca forum, which is now largely inactive and doesn't accept new members evidently, about someone used to ayahuasca taking San Pedro brews ceremonially and during the experience forgetting that it was San Pedro and not ayahuasca! This appears to be because psychedelic experiences all involve the same receptors, despite other distinctions in terms of the molecules and their pharmacological aspects.

It is also interesting that absorption rates appear related to the duration of the experiences and mescaline, which has the slowest absorption and rate of metabolism of the group; has the longest duration. Though DMT was not involved in the study it is known to have a rapid absorption and be rapidly metabolized and it has a rather short duration in terms of experience.