While there seems to be a recent influx of ladies trying psychedelics, self-medicating is nothing new for women. This could stem from frustrations with our existing health-care system, and how it has been historically geared toward treating men and either dismissing our issues or over-medicating us.  

As women – daughters, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, wives, friends – we have many struggles that we are often forced to face alone. Women are more likely to suffer from PTSD than men – particularly women of color, transgender, and gender-diverse individuals. Women also deal with depression and anxiety more often, and one in seven women have postpartum depression after childbirth.  

New studies have found that even a couple experiences with psychedelics, especially when combined with talk therapy, can lead to lifechanging, psychological developments. As a matter of fact, MDMA and psilocybin have been labeled as “breakthrough therapies” by the FDA, a designation given to “promising drugs proposed to fill an unmet need”. With so many pharmaceutical antidepressant and antianxiety drugs on the market, and the number of mental disorders still rising, we can clearly see that treating our troubled human minds is that unmet need.  

Is this the beginning of a brighter, more beautiful future for women’s healthcare? One where common mental illnesses, chronic pain, and hormonal conditions are treated successfully with psychedelic trips, rather than a lifetime of pharmaceutical medications? It seems quite promising.  

The new research on psilocybin and estrogen 

Although no clinical trials have been conducted, researchers from John Hopkins University have been looking over case files and anecdotal reports on women and psychedelics, and how estrogen can change the effects of psilocybin specifically. We know that estrogen can impact binding at serotonin receptor sites, and because most hallucinogens interact with serotonin receptors as well, experts believe that our cycles can influence how psilocybin works in our bodies, and vice versa, the psilocybin itself can have an impact on our hormones.  

Based on the aforementioned case studies, researchers discovered that psilocybin seemed to help regulate menstrual cycles. One of the women studied had premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which is a very severe form of PMS, and she used psilocybin to help regulate it. In another case, a woman suffered from polycystic ovarian syndrome and was having irregular periods. At one point, menstruation completely stopped for a while, but after taking psilocybin, it came back.  

“Our menstrual cycles occur along the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, so as one hormone kicks off, it tells another hormone what to do in this feedback loop and that’s the trajectory of our menstrual cycles,” says Jennifer Chesak, author of The Psilocybin Handbook for Women. “We also have the axis that manages our stress response, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. These two axes sort of overlap, and so they each impact one another. When we use psilocybin, we are at doing something along that stress response along the HPA axis.” 

Chesak added: “We already know from research outside of psychedelics, that these two axes do impact each other: our stress response can impact our cycle, and our cycles can impact our stress response. So, it’s not a stretch to think that when we are using psilocybin, that something is going on with our stress response that then impacts the menstrual cycle” 

Although we only have these few case studies and anecdotal reports at the moment, the results are telling. And it begs the question of when we can see a real clinical trial on this topic, so we can better understand the mechanisms of how it works from a scientific perspective. 

Aside from medical benefits, do women experience psychedelics differently than men? 

Honestly, who really knows? Obviously, no studies have been done on whether women trip differently than men. But it’s possible that because women tend to be more emotional, empathetic, and receptive to spiritual experiences – this could be beneficial to producing better and more positive, even more therapeutic highs.  

Historically, statistics indicate that men use more drugs than women – and this across the board, from illicit drugs to legal substances like tobacco and alcohol. And since most research is still conducted on male subjects, female drug use patterns and their subsequent experiences remain somewhat of an enigma.  

However, we do know that in general, psychotropic drugs impact women differently than men, but sex-based responses to medications are often overlooked. It wasn’t until the 1990s that women were even allowed to participate in clinical trials in the United States, and many studies are still done using a larger number of male participants.  

Despite this, women are twice as likely as men to be prescribed psychotropic medication (back to that overmedicating issue), and recent research shows that factors like different hormones, body composition, and metabolism can cause different drug-reactions. For example, the sleep medication Ambien was found to be twice as potent for women.  

Additionally, experts claim that women are “between 50 and 75 percent more likely to experience side effects”. An analysis of existing clinical trials published June 5, 2020, in the journal Biology of Sex Differences, authored by Prendergast and Irving Zucker of UC Berkley, they noted 86 drugs which presented “clear evidence of sex differences in how the body broke down the drug.” They found that “For nearly all of these drugs, women metabolized them more slowly than men, leading to higher levels of exposure to the drug; in 96% of cases, this resulted in significantly higher rates of adverse side effects in women.” 

Final thoughts 

To reiterate, because the foundation of modern medicine is structured around research performed almost exclusively on men, most of what science tells us about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness may not be applicable to women. With so much of our population feeling like they are not understood by healthcare professionals, it’s no surprise that a growing number of women are self-medicating with cannabis, psychedelics, and other natural, alternative solutions.

As we learn more about how psilocybin and other hallucinogens interact with female hormones, we can better understand how to use these incredible products to improve our health, and our lives.  

Welcome cannabis aficionados! Thanks for making your way to Cannadelics.com, an independent news site going deep into the worlds of cannabis, psychedelics, and well beyond. We’re big on updates, so come by regularly. And get yourself signed up to the Cannadelics Weekly Newsletter, for the best in related product offerings, as well.

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Mescaline-producing cacti 

Many cacti are known to be psychoactive, containing phenethylamine alkaloids such as mescaline, or other mind-altering compounds. Cacti that produce mescaline specifically, can be found growing throughout North and South America, with more prominence in certain areas such as most of Mexico and the Andes region which stretches throughout Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.  

The two genera that are most often used for spiritual and ritualistic purposes are Echinopsis, which contains the San Pedro cactus group; and Lophophora, which has peyote. Several other species contain mescaline and are just as potent, but do not have the same historical background.  

Peyote  

Peyote (Lophophora williamsii), or “the sacred one”, is by far the most well-known of the mescaline cactus types. It’s been talked about in movies, literature, and music, and also depicted in many types of visual artwork such as paintings and photographs. It’s a very slow-growing, spinless, flowering, button cactus that is greenish-blue in color, sometimes with hints of grey.  

The Peyote cactus grows among thorny shrubs in the high desert regions of Central Mexico to Southwestern Texas, mainly between 330 and 4,920 ft, although in some rare circumstances, it has been found at elevations as high as 6,200 feet.  

It’s a very hardy plant that can grow in many different types of increment weather conditions. Mainly, it just needs that dry desert air. It’s common to find it growing on or near limestone hills. It flowers in between March and May, and the flowers are pink and white with thigmotactic anthers. It grows in the wild from central Mexico to Southern Texas.  

In traditional peyote preparations, the top of the cactus is cut off, leaving the large tap root along with a small, green photosynthesizing area where new heads can grow. These heads are then dried to make disc-shaped buttons. The buttons are chewed or soaked in water to make a beverage. An average dried button weighs about 2 grams, and it would take 6-10 buttons to produce psychedelic effects. Peyote is extremely bitter though, so more contemporary users will usually grind the dried buttons into a powder and pour into capsules to consume. 

San Pedro  

San Pedro (Trichocereus/Echinopsis pachanoi) is a tall, thin flowering columnar cactus that grows in clumps. Each column has 7-9 ridges with small clusters of spines along the edges. The clump can grow up to 14 feet tall and contain a substantial amount of mescaline. It hails from the Andes Mountain region of South America. It also grows well in the Southwestern US, as far north as Colorado, although it truly thrives in California and Arizona, where it can be seen with regularity in residential areas and shopping centers. 

Their fast growing nature has seen San Pedro cacti become very popular in the last decade, although it too steeped in history. Use of San Pedro can be traced back to the pre-Columbian Chavin culture that developed in Peru between 1300 to 200 BCE. This is evidenced by numerous stone carvings depicting mythical beings holding San Pedro cacti, the oldest of which was discovered in an old temple at Chavin de Huantar in the northern highlands of Peru. Numerous other artifacts from the region bore San Pedro symbolism as well, and perhaps the most concrete proof of its use are the 3,000-year-old cactus cigars found in the same cave as the carvings. 

Even today, San Pedro is sold at numerous markets in the country and in 2022, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture declared the traditional use of San Pedro cactus in northern Peru as part of their cultural heritage. Traditionally, San Pedro can be consumed either on its own or mixed with other plants in a psychedelic, ceremonial brew called cimora. 

It can also be bought online or at gardening stores in the US with relative ease because it’s federally legal. And because there are now laws against possession of San Pedro, it’s one of the longest-studied psychedelics, as well as the first cactus to be labeled with the term (psychedelic). Dosing can be challenging as potency varies considerably. There are San Pedro that are completely inactive and won’t do anything, and there are some that are strong enough that you only need a couple inches of fresh plant to feel a good high – so there is a certain level of trial and error involved to figure out what is best for each person.  

Peruvian Torch 

Peruvian Torch, or Trichocereus Peruvianis, is often confused for San Pedro but it’s slightly different. It’s distinguished by its blue shade and longer spines. Not only are the spines longer, but they’re also a different color – San Pedro spines are yellow, whereas the Peruvian Torch spines start off as a brownish-yellow and turn to bone white as they age. 

Additionally, Peruvian Torch is said to be much more potent than San Pedro, although honestly, it’s hard to find any reliable information on this other than word-of-mouth and reddit posts. It seems that, although some of the highest recorded concentrations of mescaline have been from San Pedro cactus varieties, so have some of the lowest. Peruvian torch seems to be more consistent on the higher end.

Bolivian Torch  

Bolivian Torch, or Echinopsis lageniforis, is another fast-growing columnar cactus that bears many similarities to San Pedro and Peruvian Torch. Origins of its use can be tracked back to the indigenous shamans of La Paz, Bolivia, who would refer to this cactus as “Achuma” or “Wachuma”.  

Bolivian Torch has much higher levels of mescaline than both Peruvian Torch and San Pedro with roughly 0.56 percent by dry weight, although concentrations did vary a bit based on the location of the cactus. All you need is about 0.3 to 0.4 grams to produce the desired effects, which is typically a noticeable psychedelic experience. They also get quite tall, up to 15 feet and some of the mature ones produce a big, blooming flower right on the top. 

Interestingly, they still are not as popular as one would expect, given the benefits of choosing this cactus over other mescaline producing varieties. One reason is because they simply are not very well known. Another reason is because people often use the names Bolivian Torch, Peruvian Torch, and San Pedro interchangeably, believing they are all different terms for the same cactus when in fact, they only look similar and all contain mescaline.  

Other psychedelic cacti 

There are roughly 300 cactus types that produce psychoactive compounds. It’s usually mescaline, but not always; although the other psychedelic cacti are even less researched than the mescaline ones, so very little is known about the potential of these agents. There could be several hallucinogens in these cacti that are yet to be discovered.  

Another species of cactus, the Echinocereus triglochidiatus, is suspected to contain a tryptamine-derivative that is similar to 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine), although again, there is not much literature on the subject.  

Some other fairly well-known psychoactive cacti (among psychonauts and botanists at least) are Ariocarpus species with numerous phenethylamines, which are often referred to as “maddening drugs”. However, the mechanisms of how these compounds work is still not very well understood. Additionally, some cacti contain stimulants, and others contain compounds that can be used for pain relief.  

Final thoughts 

Plants are fun, and while trying to research psychedelic cacti it becomes abundantly clear that there is so much in nature that we still know nothing about. A lot of cacti contain mescaline, and we’re now learning that several contain other psychoactive compounds, many of which have yet to be studied in any capacity. It’s exciting to think what the future of psychedelics holds.

Welcome cannabis aficionados! Thanks for making your way to Cannadelics.com, an independent news site going deep into the worlds of cannabis, psychedelics, and well beyond. We’re big on updates, so come by regularly. And get yourself signed up to the Cannadelics Weekly Newsletter, for the best in related product offerings, as well.