text: Mescaline is found in a range of cacti. It is the primary psychoactive alkaloid in these cacti, the most famous of which are San Pedro and Peyote. It can be given as a powder, capsules, or a brew.
  Mescaline has been used for millennia in Native American ceremonies. It is known to make the ordinary seem extraordinary and mystical. It may also lead to distortion of the environment and feelings from euphoria to increased connected thought and empathy.
  Legal usage in the US is limited to the form of peyote and is only available to certain Native Americans.
  
  My daughter Elizabeth is at Cygnet Hospital Stevenage under assessment and has been there several weeks. I have not challenged this as I felt that Elizabeth needed time to adjust and the environment although not therapeutic long term seems to be peaceful whenever I have visited and staff helpful. There is no pressure on Elizabeth to cope with since coming off the Clozapine. Whilst Elizabeth tells me this drug has been offered to her since her arrival she is adamant she did not wish to take it and apparently she has told a friend of mine that she is grateful that I took her off it. I had no problems in doing this until four days after stopping the final piece of the drug and she had developed a very nasty cough so I then contacted a luxury rehab centre. The waiting around to be assessed affected Elizabeth and she was rude to an ambulance driver who then called the police and things went from bad to worse but all the time in the ambulance whilst waiting to be transported to a hospital in Margate I was determined to find somewhere else for Elizabeth so she could get nursing care and peer support as she kept saying “you don’t know how I feel”. How can any of us know how it feels to come off these chemicals and I could not help so I went out of my way making phone call after phone call until I found somewhere else. I then told the police it would not be necessary for Elizabeth to go to another hospital as Margate could not help and we were destined for Maidstone by this time. They refused unfortunately to lift the section. Elizabeth just threw a drink in frustration at being kept waiting for ages which is understandable. Just to reflect I had little choice – when someone complains of not being able to control their tongue, the tongue going to the back of their throat and other serious symptoms and the fact that there was no one I could turn to in my local area. As I have said everything went smoothly until four days afterwards and she developed this awful cough.
  Anyway I am pleased to tell you all Elizabeth does not have a nasty cough any more. She looks slim and I was pleased with her appearance today. She is happy to stay on this assessment but this is not the place for Elizabeth long term.
  I have shown her some good alternatives where it is not a care home – Elizabeth has been either put on locked wards which is entirely unnecessary and the last one at Cambian was more than one year leading to disablement. This place at Cygnet has a gym, they have a music room and an exercise yard and garden downstairs. There is more one to one care and I cannot fault the staff. They have not treated me like I have been treated by local services and other previous places where Elizabeth has been sent. I even liked the Consultant Psychiatrist and that is saying something. He seemed to listen and respect the fact that Elizabeth did not want to be on huge quantities of drugs and he noted her behaviour was exemplary.