Jump to content
The Corroboree

fyzygy

Members2
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    935

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    125

Posts posted by fyzygy

  3. Posted

    The property has been sold. Maybe I could pay the new owners a visit, down the track. But it's a long way from where I live now. I wish my parents had kept me in the loop, I could've arranged a salvage operation. Lots of other amazing plants there too, I'd always imagined that would be my very own cactus farm and nursery ... my folks are adept at spending their kids' inheritance. 

  4. Posted

    If khat is self-sterile then I don't know how I got massive volumes of seed? My flowering "stand" of trees began as a single 6" cutting. It's located west of the Great Divide, quite arid until that year that it did flower and set seed, after receiving copious rainfall. Soil is reasonably poor, although grey-water has always been diverted to the general vicinity where that tree stands. Who knows, maybe my parents switched brands of laundry detergent, and that was the trigger ... 

     

    I've kept clones of that plant in a pot for 7 - 10 years, and never seen a flower. But that's in Melbourne, where foliage turns deep red (with seasonal variation). 

     

  5. Posted

    Like, 20+ years? This past year was the first time it flowered, to the best of my knowledge. Foliage was lush and green, as there'd been higher than usual rainfall -- maybe that sends a signal to set seed? I think its typical reproductive strategy is to produce offsets and runners. In areas where it's cultivated as a cash crop, growers tend to plant 12" cuttings of their favourite trees, rather than germinate from seed. Or so I have read. 

     

  8. Posted · Edited by fyzygy

    https://chacruna.net/synthetic_mescaline_protect_declining_peyote_populations/

    ^ Chacruna takes the idea seriously, and even uses the ecological issue to leverage support for the legalisation of mescaline. Makes sense, no? Fast-growing Trichocereus spp. (esp. peruvianus?) make for a potential whole-plant medicine that could (and possibly should, for conservation purposes) be substituted for slow-growing peyote. It will come to that anyway, if wild peyote populations are decimated by over-harvesting. Even so, the NAC won't automatically be permitted consumption of this other sacred cactus; legalisation of mescaline, then, could go a long way towards protecting wild peyote. If Mexican is as good as Texan peyote for ceremonial purposes in the USA (as some suggest), then why not San Pedro?

     

    Of course, it is up to the NAC members themselves to decide what is the best way to proceed with their ceremonial activities. (Cultural safety and justice for First Nations peoples are principles that inform the Chacruna Institute's advocacy of psychedelic medicine, and so presumably they have had Native American input on the peyote conservation issue). 

     

  9. Posted · Edited by fyzygy

    On 05/09/2023 at 4:24 PM, Ishmael Fleishman said:

    The Native American Church opposition to cultivation is driven by a faction of fundamentalist Christians that says that God made the medicine and  God and Jesus will always ensure that their will be enough medicine and since we are living in the end of days when Jesus returns he will click his fingers and all the problems will be fixed.

    I'm not sure. I have read (in Weston La Barre's earlier book on peyote cults) that Christianity was only ever a thin veneer, as is probably the case in other instances of religious syncretism under colonial influence. I don't see why Native Americans would be even more gung-ho and literal-minded about "end times" than white Christian fundamentalists are -- unless, of course, there were an Indigenous prophecy to that effect. Also worth noting, as La Barre points out, Protestantism (in Texas) and Catholicism (in Mexico) are not quite one and the same thing. 

     

    In the context of peyote conservation strategies, I keep thinking about María Sabina and her declaration that synthetic psilocybin was the spiritual equivalent of the magic mushroom. Couldn't the US government, in the interests of peyote conservation, simply provide a regulated supply of synthetic mescaline to the NAC? This wouldn't satisfy every NAC member, but maybe enough to make a difference. Hamilton Morris makes a similar case for the endangered Sonoran toad medicine -- even though that argument has plenty of well-meaning (crisis cultist?) detractors. 

  10. Posted

    A few mid-cut sections of this special scopulicola available, for anyone interested in propagating. I've never seen a scop with such pronounced horizontal strata, which definitely caught my eye (and I've already got quite a few scop varieties, including some real stunners). It's absolutely spineless to the touch, with deeply recessed aureoles. The mother is no longer, unfortunately. These chunks are fat and heavy (CD in last pic. for reference). 

    PM if interested. 

     

     

     

    IMG_3656 (1024x768).jpg

    IMG_2969.jpg

    • Like 3

  11. Posted

    It's appalling enough that drug manufacturers would submit not necessarily the safest, or most efficacious, but only the most lucrative products to the TGA for approval. It's doubly concerning that TGA operations are wholly contingent (i.e. financially dependent) on these (largely successful) industrial applications. It's triply concerning that this state of affairs (the full extent of the TGA's financial dependence) was disclosed only by means of a Freedom of Information request. 

     

    This is industry self-regulation at its worst, with public health -- the ostensible goal of the TGA -- subservient to private economic interests. A sign of the times, to be sure. ARPANSA (self-regulatory lackey for the giant telecommunications sector) would be another case in point: a captive government agency masquerading as trustworthy guardian of public health and environmental safety. 

     

    In an age of limitless profits, industrial self-regulation is a sick joke. But someone is laughing, all the way to the bank. 

     

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    I have a few varieties that exhibit (relatively) spineless growth when mature -- but emergent pups will usually have spines. Most tricho seedlings (even scopulicola) have spines when young. 

     

    The pups on one of my cultivars start off looking like a pineapple, there are so many ribs ... before settling down to the usual 5 or so.

     

    Short answer, you'll just have to wait and see. 

     

     

     

  18. Posted

    On 02/09/2023 at 12:43 AM, Mr. Bowser said:

    liquid kelp fertilizer as a foliar spray

    You spray it in the evening? As in SeaSol or "liquid kelp" products specifically? I've been wondering about heavy metals in seaweed, some of the food-grade kelp is harvested in specific (ahem) "pristine" locations, and/or tested for traces of things like mercury. 

  20. Posted · Edited by fyzygy

     

    Results of a longitudinal study of high-dose Vitamin D given to mental health patients (and staff!) with no adverse effects and improvements for a wide range of conditions, protection against cancers, etc. 

     

    I've heard that serotonin is manufactured chiefly in the gut, and without vitamin D there won't be much of it available to your system, during everyday or psychedelic experience...

  21. Posted · Edited by fyzygy

    Good questions. 

    I had to jog my memory -- I first heard in the 1980s a method like this: 

    https://www.marijuanapassion.com/threads/potent-vodka-marijuana-tincture.167/

    (as opposed to cannabis-infused vodka, a more common Internet recipe).

    I think diluting the vodka was not the best idea, in your friend's case. 

     

    The only time I've ever had a bottle of vodka, I drank it. Didn't much care to taste it ever again. 

  22. Posted · Edited by fyzygy

    $160 is nothing to a federal politician (who gets an allowance of several hundreds of dollars per night they have to stay in Canberra -- even if they already own a second home there). 

    $160 will hit an unemployed person pretty hard. 

     

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36252614/

    Abstract

    Introduction: Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is one of the oldest hallucinogens, with evidence of use dating back 5700 years. Mescaline is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in cacti, mainly in the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) and in the cacti of the Echinopsis genus. Since the prohibition of psychoactive substances in the early 70s, research on mescaline and other classical psychedelics has been limited.

    Objectives: This article aims to review the pharmacology and behavioural effects of mescaline, focusing on preclinical and clinical research.

    Findings: Mescaline is a serotonin 5HT2A/2C receptor agonist, with its main hallucinogenic effects being mediated via its 5HT2A receptor agonist action. It also exerts effects via agonist binding at α1A/2A noradrenaline and D1/2/3 dopamine receptors. Overall, mescaline has anxiolytic-like effects in animals and increases prosocial behaviour, locomotion, and response reactivity. In humans, mescaline can induce euphoria, hallucinations, improvements in well-being and mental health conditions, and psychotomimetic effects in a naturalistic or religious setting.

    Conclusion: The pharmacological mechanisms of mescaline are similar to those of other classical psychedelics, like psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Mescaline appears to be safe to consume, with most intoxications being mild and easily treatable. Improvement in mental well-being and its ability to overcome alcoholism render mescaline potentially beneficial in clinical settings. This article is part of the Special Issue on 'Psilocybin Research'.

    Keywords: Clinical research; Mescaline; Preclinical research; Psychedelics.

  25. Posted

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02698811211013583

    Abstract

    Background:

    Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychoactive phenethylamine found in several cacti and historically used ceremonially by Indigenous and Latin American populations. Broader recognition of its possible therapeutic value in Western science began in the 1950s; however, knowledge of the safety profile of mescaline and the extent of its use remains limited. The primary aim of this study is to examine the epidemiology of mescaline use among English-speaking adults.

    Methods:

    About 452 respondents completed a web-based survey designed to assess their previous experience with mescaline (subjective effects, outcome measures, and mescaline type used).

    Results:

    Most respondents reported that they had consumed mescaline infrequently (⩽once/year), for spiritual exploration or to connect with nature (74%). A small number of respondents reported drug craving/desire (9%), whereas very few reported legal (1%), or psychological problems (1%) related to its use, and none reported seeking any medical attention. Overall, respondents rated the acute mystical-type effects as “moderate,” ego-dissolution and psychological insight effects as “slight,” and challenging effects as “very slight.” Most respondents reported that they used Peyote and San Pedro in their most memorable mescaline experience. Overall, the intensity of acute mescaline effects did not differ between mescaline types. About 50% of the sample reported having a psychiatric condition (i.e. depression, anxiety, etc.), and most (>67%) reported improvements in these conditions following their most memorable experience with mescaline.

    Conclusion:

    Findings indicate that the mescaline in any form may produce a psychedelic experience that is associated with the spiritual significance and improvements in the mental health with low potential for abuse.
×