DIY Mescaline: How to Explore San Pedro Without a Guide

Note: see the very bottom of this article to learn more about a short film we shot in Ecuador about the use of wild-harvested San Pedro. Filmed under the influence of the cactus itself.

San Pedro (Echinopsis pachanoi) is a cactus native to the Andean slopes of Ecuador and Peru. It is the South American cousin to peyote, and most notably contains the psychoactive alkaloid known as mescaline. It’s a plant I’ve been working with for over eighteen years by now, strictly in-situ in Ecuador and almost always wild-harvested. No, I do not claim to be a shaman. I’m just someone who knows a very reliable way to prepare this cactus for consumption and who has a few insights to share about its usage.

In recent years, there has seen an explosion of interest in Ayahuasca and, to a lesser extent, San Pedro. Both of these plant medicines are found in Ecuador. In fact, wild San Pedro cactus grows only a few hundred kilometers from the native range of the Ayahuasca vine and its various DMT-containing companion plants such as Chakruna. Whereas Ayahuasca and Chakruna are lowland Amazon species, San Pedro prefers the mid-elevational valleys and slopes on both sides of the Andes Mountains. In Quechua, it’s called Huachuma (also Wachuma). San Pedro is the colonial name, which I use here because it’s more commonly recognized.