‘Brand new’ psychedelic discovered
Cactouasca
Sasha outlined the four basic types of one-compound psychedelics and then described ayahuasca which is a two-compound psychedelic--1) a DMT analogue plus 2) an MAO inhibitor to prevent the first from being destroyed. There are many varieties of ayahuasca that differ in the plant substances that provide these two components--that is, many different plants that carry DMT and many plants that carry MAO inhibitors. There is even something called 'pharmauasca' which is not derived from plants at all but which is simply synthetic DMT (in a capsule) and synthetic MAO-inhibitor in another capsule.
Earl's cactus was different from all of these--it contained a lot of MAO inhibitor but no DMT. (DMT, says, Shulgin is found everywhere in nature but never in cactuses). Instead in Earl's cactuses there were mescaline-like substances that have no psychoactive effects on humans--by themselves. Shulgin's guess is that the presence of the MAO-inhibitor in the cactus protects the mescaline-like molecule from degredation and hence permits it to act on the brain in a mescalin-like way. So Earl's cactus is indeed a 'brand new elixir'--a heretofore unexplored two-compound psychedelic for which Shulgin coined the term 'cactouasca'. CACTOUASCA--You heard it here first.
Blue lotus flower
Another interesting elixir presented at the conference is 'essence of water lily' or blue lotus which one expert presented as the prime psychoactive substance of the Egyptian dynasties. It was a nice pleasant scent with no noticeable psychoactive effects. One lady in the audience reported adding dried water lily powder to wine and achieving the greatest orgasm of her life. (There was a very brisk sale of dried lily powder after her testimonial). Water lily looks like it may have great potential as an accessible mind-altering substance not likely to be banned (it's major active ingredient seems to be some sort of opiate.)
