Mescaline 269mescaline could relieve pain. In a human experiment mescaline promoted
growth hormone levels. In rats appetite may increase.
Drawbacks.Individuals with a personal or family history of serious mental
illness may be particularly vulnerable to lengthy psychosis from mescaline,
although a study of former and current users of mescaline, LSD, or psilocybin
found that they scored normally on psychological tests—with the exception
that persons who engaged in current hallucinogen use were more depressed
and nervous and prone to risk-taking.
Visual hallucinations during a mescaline dose are common; auditory ones
less so. Aside from visual hallucinations, users not only may have trouble
recognizing faces but may see startling transformations of their own faces in
a mirror, viewing the image as not only something apart from themselves but
as something ominous. People may feel like their bodies are changing in shape
and be unable to detect portions of their bodies. Perceptions of time and space
may also change. The drug intoxication typically begins with euphoria, but in
a laboratory setting, the euphoria often converts to nervousness and suspicion,
possibly ending in depression. Subjects have been known to say and do things
they did not want to but were unable to stop themselves. Persons under the
drug’s influence may be very open to suggestions, a state that could be ex-
ploited by unscrupulous persons.
Research shows that the drug can cause headache, perspiration, hot or cold
sensations, feelings of prickling or burning, dizziness, cramps, nausea, and
vomiting accompanied by small increases in pulse rate and blood pressure. In
a sufficient dose mescaline can impair breathing, increase body temperature,
and lower pulse rate and blood pressure. Hearing may become so sensitive
that ordinary noises are painful. Other senses may have abnormal reactions
also.
Tests of reasoning and mental focus produce low scores while people use
the drug. Mescaline-related deaths are usually not caused by the chemical
itself but by things people did while their judgment was impaired. After rats
receive mescaline they appear to forget how to navigate a maze and also take
longer to solve problems (figuring out how to get past obstacles). The drug
promotes fighting among rats; one group of researchers described the aggres-
sion as “robust.” Debate exists about whether the drug makes rats fiercer or
simply reduces inhibitions in stressful situations. Aggression and wild behav-
ior are not seen as consequences of the drug among human users, and in some
circumstances mescaline makes rats lethargic.
Dogs assume odd body stances after receiving the drug and act so lethargic
as to be almost insensible. Monkeys seem fascinated as they look at ordinary
objects, a reaction that may indicate visual hallucinations. Monkeys first act
excitable after dosage, then lethargic. Rats, dogs, and monkeys all exhibit re-
petitive convulsivelike movements at high doses. In monkeys a fatal dose may
not kill them until three or four days have passed.
Abuse factors.A rat experiment found evidence of tolerance, but investi-
gators surmised that the rats might simply have been learning how to com-
pensate for drug effects on performance as the experiment continued. Rather
than dosage effectiveness declining, the effects may have been unchanging as
rats pushed through them by strength of will. Investigators running a rabbit