DOSE:

2 Tbsp

oral

Carnegiea gigantea

(fresh)

BODY WEIGHT:

195 lb

After reading the name of the substance I am writing about, many psychonauts will probably roll their eyes and palm their foreheads. Others will ask, 'What the Hell is C. Gigantea?' This, my friends, is the famous saguaro cactus of the Sonoran Desert. As a rebuttal for any skepticism or accusation of idiocy, I provide this quote from the wise Alexander Shulgin in reference to a similar cactus, P. pringlei: 'The establishment of its human pharmacology requires that it be consumed by man.'

Anyway, after seeing a video of Daniel Vitalis harvesting part of a saguaro rib, I decided to do so myself. (As an aside, I have no idea how trustworthy Daniel Vitalis is as an advertiser for psychedelic cacti.) My first attempt was in 2011, but it produced negligible results. I forgot about the experience until just two days ago. That day I came upon a San Pedro cactus and harvested about a foot of it. I went through the classic process of removing the spines and skin, blending the now naked cactus, and boiling the shit out of it. The goop was active and left me jonesin' for some more psychedelics. Having no access to any, I decided to experiment with saguaro.

Earlier yesterday, I wandered into the desert behind my dad's house (we live in Tucson, AZ, harvesting this cactus is illegal) and cut off an 8 inch piece of rib after removing the spines. I removed the skin and the inner white flesh, leaving only the darkest green flesh. I proceeded to freeze the remaining flesh in the freezer.

About 4 hours ago (1:00 a.m.) I ingested about half of the flesh (2 Tbsp) in the form of a fruit smoothie. It had the usual bitter cactus taste; had it been more palatable, I would have finished it off.

The first alert came over me (ha) about 15 minutes after ingestion. It seemingly slowly evolved into a quasi-psychedelic, ultra-paranoid, cannabis-like intoxication. Colors were not enhanced but simply changed; touch felt not pleasurable but alien. A fog came between my senses and reality, it seemed. After maybe an hour of this noticeable but unremarkable effect, a seemingly anti-cholinergic feel arrived, including bugs and spots in my periphery and simultaneous sedation and excitation, perhaps mimicking a combination of low dose mushrooms and diphenhydramine.

The stomach cramps and paranoia made it impossible to focus, so I showered in the dark until a very unreal bug bit me, causing me to turn on the light as quickly as possible. Visuals in the dark were mildly hypnogogic, but overall unremarkable as well. After about 4-ish hours, the effects waned, providing only insomnia and this report.

I may do this again, although it proved to be more hallucinogenic than entheogenic, which was not what I desired. I will try to stomach a larger dose and likely vomit and freak out. If there is anything to 'integrate' from this 'trip,' it is that the saguaro was indeed active and anyone who says otherwise has not eaten it.

I could have just said, 'I ate a bit of saguaro and felt like I was on benadryl and mushrooms at the same time'.

Exp Year: 2014	ExpID: 103464
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 20
Published: Dec 29, 2017	Views: 2,483
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Carnegiea gigantea (830) : First Times (2), Alone (16)