Hallucinogens and related dis... Health Article

Mescaline

Mescaline is a naturally occurring plant hallucinogen. Its primary source is the cactus Lophophora williamsii. This cactus is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. The light blue-green plant is spineless and has a crown called a peyote button. This button contains mescaline and can be eaten or made into a bitter tea. Mescaline is also the active ingredient of at least ten other cacti of the genus Trichocereusthat are native to parts of South America.

Mescaline was first isolated in 1897 by the German chemist Arthur Hefftner and first synthesized in the laboratory in 1919. Some experiments were done with the drug to determine if it was medically useful, but no medical uses were found. However, peyote is culturally significant. It has been used for centuries as part of religious celebrations and vision quests of Native Americans. The Native American Church, which fuses elements of Christianity with indigenous practices, has long used peyote as part of its religious practices.

In 1970 mescaline was listed as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. However, that same year the state of Texas legalized peyote for use in Native American religious ceremonies. In 1995, a federal law was passed making peyote legal only for this use in all 50 states.

Psilocybin

Psilocybin is the active ingredient in what are known on the street as magic mushrooms, shrooms, mushies, or Mexican mushrooms. There are several species of mushrooms that contain psilocybin, including Psilocybe mexicana, P. muscorumi,and Stropharia cubensis. These mushrooms grow in most moderate, moist climates.

Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are usually cooked and eaten (they have a bitter taste), or dried and boiled to make a tea. Although psilocybin can be made synthetically in the laboratory, there is no street market for synthetic psilocybin, and virtually all the drug comes from cultivated mushrooms. In the United States, it is legal to possess psilocybin-containing mushrooms, but it is illegal to traffic in them, and psilocybin and psilocyn (another psychoactive drug found in small quantities in these mushrooms) are both Schedule I drugs.

MDMA

MDMA, short for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and better known as ecstasy, TXC, E, X, or Adam, has become an increasingly popular club drug since the 1980s. MDMA was first synthesized in 1912 by a German pharmaceutical company looking for a new compound that would stop bleeding. The company patented the drug, but never did anything with it. A closely related drug, methylenedioxyamphetimine or MDA, was tested by a pharmaceutical company as an appetite suppressant in the 1950s, but its use was discontinued when it was discovered to have hallucinogenic properties. In the 1960s, MDA was a popular drug of abuse in some large cities such as San Francisco.

During the early 1980s therapists experimented with MDMA, which was legal at the time, as a way to help patients open up and become more empathetic. Recreational use soon followed. The drug was declared an illegal Schedule I drug in 1985. For about a year between 1987 and 1988, the drug was again legal as the result of court challenges, but it permanently joined other Schedule I hallucinogens in March 1988.

MDMA is a popular club drug and can be obtained at all-night raves or dance parties. The drug, sold in tablets, is attractive because it combines stimulant effects that allow ravers to dance for hours with a feeling of empathy, reduced anxiety, and reduced inhibitions, and euphoria. Some authorities consider MDA and MDMA stimulant-hallucinogens and do not group them with classic hallucinogens such as LSD, but research indicates that MDA and MDMA affect the brain in the same way as classic hallucinogens. The American Psychiatric Association considers MDMA as a drug that can cause hallucinogen-related disorders.