Fellow explorers of human consciousness,

I have been a lurker on the Nexus for quite some time, but I've decided that I have some knowledge to share/update on here.

So what first? I guess I should start with why psychedelics play a major role in my life. I have always been an avid bookworm, so my first real knowledge of the nature of psychedelic states came from books. Huxley and Shulgin mainly. I started growing my own peyote (it's legal where I live) after reading about the mind expansion capabilities of mescaline. I was sold. I could not die before having experienced it myself. I soon became impatient with my incredibly slow-growing cacti. So I ordered some Pedro and tried it alone in the woods. What an awakening it was! I took Shulginesque notes throughout the journey. In summary: I really felt the universe. I felt like the tiny part I am, but Oh so complex and creative and all-loving. It was the most powerful experience I had ever lived, filled with deep understandings of my own person and insights about how I should live my life. It truly opened my mind.

Fast-forward to the present, I've had numerous experiences like this one, DMT being the most profound, the most frequent and the most life-changing of them all. I feel limitless, like I can achieve anything I decide to put my mind to. I read scientific articles about psychedelics all the time and I know I will conduct my own neuropsychopharmacological research on those awe-inspiring substances one day. It is just a matter of time.

Like the title says, I am currently studying pharmacology. I'm nowhere near the end of what I want to achieve in academia, but I already am very passionate about it. I have excellent grades and I feel like my understanding of the human body and the delicate chemistry that underlies its functioning is, although still rudimentary, rapidly growing.

I hope I can be a good member of this community, contributing where I can and learning elsewhere.

Let's end this brief introduction with my favourite thought of the moment: "The 21st century will be the century of the Mind".

WELCOME

I would like to discuss with a (to be) pharmacologist who actually has taken some unusual meds himself

Sadly your only other post was your last one as well. Please don't give up with trying to integrate your talents, your knowledge and yourself into this community. While you blew it for sure for the usual reader, I would love to go deep on some aspects.

I believe there is much to unravel in the speres of Pharmacologie.

Hi there,

Actually I did not give up, I had just forgotten about my posts here as I tend to be quite a distracted person. I don't know if you'll see this as it will probably be buried somewhere (unless you get some sort of notification when someone replies to your post), but I am certainly willing to share the little knowledge I have with this community.

You're probably right my last post was a bit too much... I'll try to find more appropriate places for these kinds of posts, like the more scientific parts of the forum.

Thanks for the reply!

Ahhhh finally,
Thought you have lost this place. But you know what they say "They never stay gone long"
You can follow Topics and get noticed when there is a new post in them. It wasn't too much for me. Well, you have to go to this voting system to become a full member and post and reply everywhere. When you come back here from time to time this will work out.. You can already Chat.

Looking forward to reading from you

Fellow traveler G, greetings brother.

Having had no experience with Mescaline, you really got me intrigued.
Have plenty of experience with psilocybin ... have you also tried this medicine.

Brother have a couple questions for you as it sounds you really have travelled the Mescaline path.
I have an unopened bag of freeze-dried powdered San Pedro skin.
How would you suggest for intake of the first experience?
Some people place it in between a banana and eat it ?

I have also heard of synthetic Mescaline.
Is it also good or better than the San Pedro powder?

Also is it user-friendly to do it in a clean, dark ceremony room, rather than outside?
It's freezing cold outside where i live :-)

Thanks mate

Welcome to the Nexus Gregor!

Seems you slipped under the radar before. It is a sad truth that a lot of Intro essays go unread for a while, and if no one posts on the thread, they can and do get buried.

I don't think there was anything wrong with your intro... if anything, you are exactly the kind of guy that tends to do well around here.

Hehehe.

You may want to pop into chat and make some friends or see if you can't get some full members to vote for your promotion. Don't give up on the Nexus. It is a very worthwhile place to be.

All the best,
HF

!Xabbu: I was referring to another very long post I made, just to clarify. Not to the introduction essay. It was in response to a user who has a major depressive disorder and wanted to know about possible interactions between her medications and the spirit molecule.

explorer7: Dried San Pedro can vary greatly in potency, as can fresh Pedro too. The mescaline content usually is between 0.3% and 2.0% of the dry weight. The treshold dose being reported generally as 100mg, you would need 33g of dried cactus to feel effects if you have the least potent, and 5g to feel effects if you have the most potent. If you took 33g of the most potent, your mescaline dose would be 660mg and that would be a very strong trip, although not dangerous for your health. My suggestion would be to determine what is the maximum dose of mescaline you are ready to handle (Erowid has the dosage information), and make the calculations assuming you have the 2.0% potency.

As for synthetic mescaline, from what I understand it is very rare on the streets as it is far from the most profitable substance to synthesize. What is referred to as "mescaline" on the streets is often reported to be cut PCP. Not something I would recommend. So I think the safest way, unless you know a chemist, is either the dried cactus or some mescaline or alkaloids mix extracted from cactus.

Regarding methods of ingestion, cactus really has a foul taste and will upset your stomach. The best way to minimize these effects is to boil it into a tea and take it on an empty stomach. Boil it for two hours in at least one liter of water with added lemon juice (this will make the alkaloids more soluble in water), then filter, keep the liquid and repeat for one more hour in one liter this time, still with lemon juice. Reduce the combined liquids to a drinkable amount and it's ready to enjoy. You can keep this tea in the fridge for a few days without problems, or you can freeze it for later use.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I'll be glad to help.

Be safe and enlightened, everyone!

yes, Gregor I was refering to the other one too.. thought this was obvious..

!Xabbu: Sorry, I meant this for Hyperspace Fool and for general clarification. I just mixed your usernames...

Hello gregor_patof,

Welcome to the Nexus, . Always great to have another longtime lurker make it official, .

I really enjoyed reading your Introduction Essay. You sound like a wonderful essay to our ever-growing family. I see you have already been voted for promotion - good call that. Congratulations, .

Exciting to have another pharmacology student join us. I don't know how many are here - more chemistry and computer students, but everyone is welcome to participate.

Before her death my mother was a pharmacist. She made better $ than my father, loved her work and loved her patients/customers. They loved her too - would give her homemade gifts, etc. I think it's a wonderful area to study and put one's efforts. It's like it embraces the best of the worlds of chemistry and medicine.

That was a great quote you ended with there - seems to me there's a lot of truth in there . . . at least I hope so.

Again, welcome to the Nexus.

..willing that it may also be a century with heart.
Another addition to the learning community. I'm curious to see your trip report if you do get around to writing one. Welcome.

Hi there Gregor,

Love the note taking! I have a journal I started due to wanting to remember thoroughly my powerful experiences, something I would never have done if not for the sacred cacti

I am curious, as a fellow scientist and scholar, how are you personally planning to become involved in pharmacological research on entheogens? In the United States these substances are heavily regulated and research seems far and few between. Dave Nichols seems to do some good research on novel compounds, but this is miles away from natural, plant derived medicines.

Maybe the restrictions are lesser in other places, or I am simply not looking hard enough.

Peace and love.

-MFTS

mirrorforthesun: Illegal compounds are heavily regulated mostly when human ingestion is involved. Otherwise, it is not that hard to obtain them for research purposes, for example investigation into their molecular mechanism of action.

There is also an increase in research involving therapeutic use of psychedelics and entactogens, even in the US (look up MAPS if you want to know more).

The last avenue is research in humans and animals involving endogenous DMT. For example, Rick Strassman published the first analysis of rat pineal gland microdiasylate using a technique he developed last summer. It tests for 26 different endogenous psychoactive compounds/trace neurotransmitters. Hope this answers your question!

Pandora: Yeah I see there are a lot of chemists around, but I don't think I've seen a pharmacologist yet. There should be a pharmacology section in the forums

thymamai: I feel you on this one. For me, with (exponentially) growing access to information and (also exponentially) growing computing power, we will reach a point where we will surpass in terms of consciousness anything we can imagine (some call this the Singularity). I am confident that past this, there will be much less suffering. The question for me is how much harm will we cause getting there...

Gregor,

I do sporadically follow MAPS and I remember there was recently a major study that came through on LSD for PTSD treatment but did not follow up. I just was curious how widespread this has become, as I know things were restricted very heavily after the days of Tim Leary and the like.

The Rick Strassman new research sounds quite remarkable, I'll have to check that out! Thanks for your detailed response.

I'd love to get involved in these areas of research some day but we shall see where life takes me.


Peace