DOSE:

300 g

oral

Cacti - T. peruvianus

(plant material)

BODY WEIGHT:

70 kg

This was the second time I had tried psychoactive cacti of the Trichocereus family. My first experience had been with an unknown Trichocereus species I obtained while working in Spain. Even though I was quite convinced this cactus was T. peruvianus - from descriptions and pictures I had researched on-line - it turned out to be completely inactive even though large quantities were consumed by a number of people. To make absolutely sure I was getting the right kind this time, I ordered 2 T. peruvianus from a large commercial cactus nursery. To my surprise they were also selling peyote (Lophophora williamsii) but I thought that was being a little bit too obvious. I would recommend only buying cacti sold by scientific name and familiarizing yourself with their appearance beforehand to make sure you're getting psychoactive cacti.

I prepared myself thoroughly before consuming the cacti, by researching experiences and dosage discussions. This was to be my first real entheogenic experience (even though I have smoked my fair share of weed) besides taking E once a couple of years ago. I did not want anything unexpected to happen. From looking up mescaline content on the net, I decided not to eat more than 300g (FRESH!) of T. peruvianus as this amount will contain less than the maximum safe dosage (1000mg)of mescaline even if this should have been extremely potent material. I knew this was going to be very unlikely, but I figured I'd rather be on the safe side for my first time.

I used a little over 300g of fresh material (including skin, spines, core, everything). I wanted to peel and despine the cacti and then cook it, but that turned out to be way too much work. I was also scared of loosing too much of the green outer material (which contains the most mescaline) just under the waxy skin when I peeled it it. I gave up after removing all the spines with a nail clipper and just cut the cactus in slices about 1-2 cm thick. I froze the whole batch for a couple of hours. The next day I ate the whole cactus by first removing most of the woody core from each slice, cutting the slices in two and then eating everthing besides the skin. I made sure to get as much of the green material as I could, by scraping it off with my teeth as suggested by D.M. Turner.

I consumed the cactus on the shore of some large lake close by my house. It was 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Two of my friends were with me, but not really partaking. I had about another 100g of cactus left over besides my own dose, and they split this amount. All of us had not eaten 6 hours prior to the experience. It took me over an hour and a half to eat my 300g, not really because it tasted so bad (all of us could quite easily handle the taste), but because I was overly cautious not to waste any green material at all. After I had consumed almost my entire amount, however, I got nauseous and threw away the last three slices I had left over. I was convinced that the cactus had been too weak anyway, as I was not feeling any effects - YET!

One of my friends - who had only had about 50g worth of fresh cactus - insisted he was feeling different. I could also feel first effects after more than two hours, my body felt weird and as the sun was setting and the moon was coming up, for a second I couldn't figure out the difference between the two. Then some the rocks at the shore started looking like small and large peyote buttons. I was pleasantly surprised. We decided to go to my friend's house who lives by himself and watch a movie. My body started feeling more and more warm and fuzzy and I was literally balling cause I was laughing so hard at my one friend's jokes. At times I felt like I wanted to throw up, but decided not to.

The videostore was a little bit overwhelming. We quickly opted to rent 'Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger' and went to watch it. Throughout the movie I felt absolutely great - almost like on E but with less energy. My body was warm, heavy and very comfortable - I felt almost electrically charged but at the same time had little desire to move. Mentally I felt totally relaxed and mellow, really good. My thought processes were pretty much normal, I could easily understand the plot of the movie and carry on normal conversations. However, I had little interest in communicating. When I touched my face, it felt like wax.

As the movie progressed, I got slight visuals - things were melting down, flowing and breathing, like actors' faces and the wooden ceiling in the room we were in. After the movie was over, I felt like I had hit the peak (about 7 hours after first starting to eat the cactus). I walked around the house to get a drink, and everything was soft and flowing, my body as well as my sorroundings. Everything I touched felt different than it normally would have, there seemed to be no hard edges to anything, everything was soft and wax-like. Visuals were alright but not very strong. Pictures looked like 3-D, things I stared at for a little while were flowing and breathing. My face in the mirror seemed to melt down as well. My pupils were LARGE! My friends later agreed that the blue part of my eyes was almost entirely gone, I looked like I was tweaking! (This would be a dead give-away to anyone you're tripping - watch out)

After two more hours visuals had subsided and we all went to sleep. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep right away, but was not prepared to stay awake literally all night! I felt like I had consumed countless cans of Red Bull or something. Laying under a sheet felt great however, like I was floating around in a cloud. Slight residual effects (kinda like an after-glow on E)lasted till 11 AM the next day - 19 hours after first starting to eat the cactus!!!!

All in all a worthwhile experience. Very strong body high, few visuals, little mental distortions. The high felt very much 'earth- like', coming from and connected to the Earth. This is kinda hard to explain. I felt really up-lifted, nothing seemed to be wrong, nothing could have fazed me. This is were I see somewhat of a parallel to Ecstasy, even though I did not get too talkative and there were few emphatic feelings. At the peak of the high my brain somehow decided that the effects were not from mescaline after all, but had to come from residual, poisonous pesticides that were used on the catci while they were still in the nursery. This should have been a source of concern, but I felt so GOOD I didn't care what had caused it and what adverse effects it might have on my body. Mescaline is some cool stuff, just keep it on the downlow when you do these cacti, it would be a shame if they got illegal to buy like peyote. I will sure keep experimenting with Trichocereus sp. and am looking forward to a much stronger trip next time.

In retrospect I REALLY would have enjoyed smoking some weed to intensify the experience, but had decided not to bring any. Don't make the same mistake, but don't become disappointed by your trip too soon, as it takes a really long time to come on! PEACE!

Exp Year: 2001	ExpID: 9168
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Mar 26, 2002	Views: 17,464
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Cacti - T. peruvianus (69) : Alone (16), General (1)