What Happened to Mescaline?

Mescaline faded from the modern psychedelic spotlight despite being central to the term “psychedelic” and to early breakthrough writing. In the 1950s, Aldous Huxley took mescaline provided by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond, and Huxley’s account in “The Doors of Perception” helped define psychedelia as a transcendent, non-psychotic state linked to a “Mind-at-Large.” The article situates mescaline’s scientific popularity in a broader history: it was isolated from peyote in 1897, synthesized in 1919, distributed as mescaline sulphate by the 1920s, and studied extensively in Europe, including in psychiatry and neurology. By the 1960s, LSD displaced mescaline in research and public attention due to potency and economics, accelerated by regulatory tightening after 1962 and the spread of illicit LSD. Mescaline persisted as a rare, somewhat legendary substance and remains tightly controlled today, while peyote- and San Pedro-based use continues through communities such as the Native American Church.