Thanks for sharing! The news isn't always bad haha.

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The mescaline exclusion is silly. As we all know, mescaline does not only come from peyote. And most of us who work with this magic medicine have never obtained mescaline from peyote.
Edit: Mescaline would be legal. Only mescaline derived from peyote would be illegal.

Making "mescaline from peyote" illegal means peyote will stay endangered because it's more difficult to obtain and thus cultivate.

Yeah, peyote should be protected with endangered wild species laws. That could encourage some poachers to become cultivators. Seems sloppy lawmaking to try to protect it with nonsense drug prohibition.

Best to read the actual bill. So mescaline derived from sources other than peyote would be legal.


Still silly as peyote would be more widely cultivated and thus not endangered if it were legal. Imagine being able to purchase and gift a cute little peyote button to a friend or loved one.

And does this Native American exception appear racist to anyone? That only a certain race is allowed to benefit from the spiritual healing of peyote?

How exactly would it be determined that mescaline originated from peyote? Isotope ratio studies? It makes me wonder whether any of these senators have Trichocereus farms on the go. Supporting peyote conservation efforts by legalising cultivation of peyote would do far more to address the apparent concerns about peyote conservation, indeed. Table that amendment now!

If Hamilton's Pharmacopeia is accurate, we can just rely on Thai culture since these special cacti are collected by cactophiles there (and apparently they are largely unaware of the psychoactive effects). Lol

I'm not sure I see it as racist, but maybe racial. It's actually kind of odd since in the history of this country, Native Americans have been treated with disdain and contempt that there is a bias in favor of their culture. It seems more of a nod to Native peoples and their traditions. It's still an unnecessary distinction they're making by not allowing that plant and its endogenous compounds to the general public (over the age of 21)smh.

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Yeh, that's interesting that they have included the peyote issue & mescaline sources - clearly they had some well-informed consultation on the whole issue- but as downwardsfromzero pointed out; how the hell is anyone going to know-given that people don't often even extract 'mescaline' per se. Trichocereus is also easy to grow there and therefore produces alkaloids faster, people just need to know more about it... I bet a lot of newbies or even older people interested in psychedelics again, just associate mescaline with peyote and might not even know about San Pedro/Huachuma.

Peyote has been legal for members of the Native American Church since 1918 which was established primarily for the purposes of enshrining peyote into law for Native Americans (also I think, the first instance of the word 'native' being used for Indigenous people in the United States). With the classification of peyote as Schedule 1 by the U.S. Congress in 1970, an exemption was made for NAC members and then expanded to all Native Americans in the 1990s- but laws still differ State by State.

There's a bunch of reasons the plant is under threat and psychedelic-seekers is probably low on the list. Land-clearing for strip malls and warehouses seems to be a big factor. There's a really good analysis here:

* Muneta, James D. (2020) "PEYOTE CRISIS CONFRONTING MODERN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: THE
DECLINING PEYOTE POPULATION AND A DEMAND FOR CONSERVATION," American Indian Law Journal:
Vol. 9 : Iss. 1 , Article 6.https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1228&context=ailj

Also the race issues are complex and implicitly entwined with the war on drugs:

Terry, M & Trout, K 2017 https://chacruna.net/peyote-united-states-prisoner-war/

Luckily, peyote is not the only cactus with mescaline in it. Most people who want to extract mescaline will probably use some torchcactus rather then peyote.

I personally also like the effects of san pedro or torches much more than the effects of peyote.

Peyote is strong, but it can be a bit foggy imo.
It's probably because of the pellotine in it, wich is a sedative.

Good point. I've never had the pleasure of partaking in peyote, but have had a fair amount of experience with san pedro and bridgesii, with bridgesii being consistently reliable in terms of strength and trip quality.

https://blog.tenthamendm...e-federal-prohibition-2/
(link annoyingly behind a captcha)

Amazing. This news needs to be spread far and wide so as to encourage other states to do the same.

It passed the Senate vote yesterday. Heading to appropriations next.

https://fox40.com/news/l...alize-psychedelic-drugs/

at a glance legalization looks great, but i cant help but wonder where it will lead as far as capitalism goes. it seems to me that once the legal side (governments and money greedy corporations) gets a hold of a drug they use it in a corrupt manner to make as much money as possible.
weed is the latest example of that in USA. there has been a lot of work put into creating the strongest weed, or the most novelty version, or whatever they think will get the most money. the medicinal benefits have been lost in favour of novelty strains and formats.
nothing can go well when it comes from a place of greed.

on the flip side, the law allows people to grow their own, where they have full control and can create a final product far cleaner than they can get from a street dealer or a corporation. the same could be said for DMT, mescaline etc, but when it comes to chemicals such as LSD that i cannot yet make for myself at home i would be much more cautious.
it also means you can be in possession of these chemicals without having your life taken away from you (in the name of not taking your life away. go figure).

maybe i am paranoid but it is hard to ignore the legal misuse of drugs in the history of man, particularly when it comes to psychedelics. remember what the US government did with LSD? i cant help but wonder if that would be moved to a larger scale.

we should be excited that there is less chance of us being thrown in prison for a crime that did not happen, but i think it is important for people to remember who the enemy was this whole time and do not think for one moment that they have changed their ways.

Great post. That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter as well.

There's the question of how matters of control of access will come to be dealt with, or are Californians simply looking forward to being able to pick up some acid at the gas station?

(Somewhat ironically, at this point in composing the reply I was interrupted by a phone call and informed that a friend of mine had died of alcohol-related issues so the matter of relative harms is thrown into stark relief.)

Returning to my train of thought, will there be full restitution for all those whose lives were ruined by their conviction for victimless drug-war crimes?

Do not trust the gas station sushi... or the LSD. ;-). Strange times indeed.

i am sorry to hear about your friend such sad news to hear another brother and sister lost to the grip of alcohol. how curious that timing was with the phone call. i think it goes without saying that harm reduction is not on the minds of lawmakers.

control of access does not seem to cross peoples minds. florida has shown that with its opium crisis, among other things and other places too. i agree it is an extremely important factor people need to think about. people are too keen to put all their trust into somebody they have not met based purely on a perceived authority.

your final point is one that upsets me a lot. i am not up to date on the situation in USA regarding the freedom of people in prison for crimes such as possession of weed, but i know that when the laws started to change over there i was asking the same thing and last i checked all those people were still in prison.
i have no hope for them being freed legally any time soon. it is no secret that there are thousands of people lost in the american prison system for life due to minor crimes. yet another example of what happens when there is a money reward for controlling an aspect of peoples lives.

it is for these reasons that i live by the laws of nature, not the laws of man. a lawmaker will tell you this makes me a murderer or something, but i have no desire to negatively affect anybodies life.

i hope everything goes as smoothly as possible for you and your friends family. it is a sad time, but your friends life will be remembered and celebrated. i believe their energy is dispersed into the everything and they live on in everything, forever.

Good news today 🙂

The noble fight for good over fear, arrogance, and ignorance continues.

Awwwwww yeah! Next stops are the Public Health and Appropriations committees. Then full Assembly vote.

https://www.marijuanamom...possession-in-committee/

congratulations to you all in CA. i am very happy to hear that less innocent people will be locked in a cell for years.