Trout's Notes on

Sacred Cacti

Botany, Chemistry, Cultivation & Utilization
(Including notes on some other succulents)
Second Edition. Revised & Illustrated

Written, compiled & edited by
Trout & friends
Trout's Notes. Volume One.
Second Revised Edition
©1999 Better Days Publishing

Important Notice to Readers

This work contains techniques and procedures that might place one in direct violation of state and federal laws if they were put into practice. The information contained within Sacred Cacti is presented strictly for informational and educational purposes and is not intended to induce, advocate, promote, stimulate or encourage either drug use/production or drug abuse.

Trout’s Notes has no control over its reader’s actions so it is therefore the responsibility of the reader to familiarize themselves with their state, local and federal laws and to be certain that they remain in compliance with them.

Any attempts to deliberately misuse or apply this information to violate the law can result in the ruination of a person’s life and probable loss of both freedom & property.

This is an unfortunate reality of the repressive Police State that America is fast becoming as the religious right steadily continues to purchase greater degrees of control over its legislative & executive bodies. This must be considered carefully by any person who wishes either to walk the PharmacoGnostic paths of the now forbidden religions or who simply wants to examine this fascinating area of science.

Use of the first person pronoun, whether singular or plural, is not intended to represent any particular single person or group of people. Use of a fictitious, composite narrator was considered the only feasible way to discuss this subject without openly identifying a lot of people who may have knowingly broken the law and then shared what they learned with us.

Neither the author nor Trout’s Notes advocates the use of any illicit —or for that matter, any— drugs by uninformed or underinformed individuals.

However, we also recognize that many people will choose to use drugs whether they are informed or not.

Trout’s Notes are intended to serve as educational material for those who have a need to know accurate details about the subjects that they discuss. They are also intended to enable informed discussions and hopefully a clear understanding of this commonly and often deliberately misunderstood area.

Trout’s Notes believes that those who are already determined to use these substances should do so in an informed, knowledgeable and thoroughly responsible manner. This is true regardless of their current legal status and whether their use is viewed as a sacrament, or if it is simply considered to be ‘recreational’ or experimental.

Our beliefs are that education and awareness can enable more informed choices to be made; thereby minimizing the risks often associated with substance use.

Trout’s Notes are dedicated towards understanding and awareness in the hopes that someday a sane public re-evaluation can begin again in what is presently a highly politicized and often emotionally prejudiced area.

Redress of unjust laws is strongly urged.
However, those attempting to do so should remain conscious that the present status and reality of the entheogenic faiths are analogous to the Civil Rights Movement circa 1957.

Please act accordingly and keep your safety constantly in mind during the ongoing activities in what is just another page in a tragically long line of attempted cultural/ideological purges & social cleansings in human history.

K.Trout

Some of the beings involved in the history of the revived relationships between plants & 'modern' humans

Our old friend, the peyote
Mexican-American
(Since before the time of our species-????)

Ancient and caring teacher of humans; now threatened by
habitat loss and mass consumption without cultivation.

Arthur Heffter
German
(1860 - 1925)

First to isolate & bioassay pure mescaline.
The discoverer of its activity.

Sasha Shulgin
American (US)
(17 June 1925 -)

Chemist & pharmacologist
Psychopharmacognostical pioneer

Mikhail S. Tswett
Russian
(14 May 1872 - 26 June 1919)

Inventor of chromatography

Trout's Notes
"More than you need to know?"