Psychoactive Drugs That Are Not Illegal

[pharmapsyche]

Here is a glimpse into a few psychoactive drugs that are not illegal...

Alcohol
Next to Tocacco and caffeine, alcohol is the world's most popular drug, and by far the most common cause of disabling intoxication. Alcohol has been produced by the fermentation of fruits and vegestables since the beginning of recorded history. Even animals reconginize alcohol, and some apperar to get purposefully drunk of fermented berries. Fermentation allows a maxium alcohol concentration of about 14 perecent, after which the alcohol kills the yests and produce it. The process of distillation was discovered by Arabs around 800 AD and brought to medievil Europe by 1250. It allowed an increase in the concertration of alcohol to about 50 percent. Because of general familiarity with it's effects and a long tradition of use, alcohol has spread around the world and is now one of the most widely accepted recreation drugs. Also, the impact of Alcohol on public health is far worse than all illegal drugs combined. In the United States, it is estimated that alcohol causes atleast 200,000 deaths per year, (compared to a total of about 8,000 deaths for all illegal drugs), and an untold amount of injury, work loss, and social distruption.

Amanita Muscaria
The Amanita Muscaria mushroom grows wild in Europe, Asis, and North America, particularly under birches, firs, and larches, and has bee used as a hallucinogen for perhaps 10,000 years. Amanita was indentified as the Soma of acient India, and some scholars believe that the worship of this mushroom at the base of a fir tree was the origin of the Christmas tree. Amantia was used recreationally by Siberian tribes until Russian traders introducted vodka in the 18th century. The mushroom contains muscimal, ibotenic acid, and muscarine, which led to the discovery of neurotransmitters. Amanita is usually eaten after being dried, The drying process changes ibotenic acid to muscimol, the most constituent. The decarboxylation of ibotentic acid reduces the undesirable side effects and makes the mushroom five or six times more psychoactive. Amanita mushrooms are chewed, grounded and mixed with food or drink, or brewed into a tea. A normal dose is one to five mushrooms. The effects begin within 20 minutes to two hours and last up to about eight hours.

Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca, a Quechua Indian word meaning "vine of souls", is a psychoactive drug made by combining extracts of a vine, Banisteriopsis cappi, and Psychotria viridis, both which grow in the Amazonian forests of South America. The active ingredients are harmaline and DMT, which together form a powerful hallucinogen that can be readily absorbed. Ayahuasca causes intense vomiting and diarrha followed by a dreamlike condition lasting about ten hours.

Betel Nuts
Hundreds of millions of people in Asian countries chew betel nuts for mild stimulation. The nuts come form the areca palm tree and are usually mixed with gum and burnt lime. Some people add nutmeg, turmeric, or cloves for extra flavor. The active ingredent in betel nuts is arecoline, which is absorbed by salvia and causes central nervous systems stimulation. Excessive amounts of betel buts cause a feeling on intoxication.

Broom
Broom, Cytsus scoparius, refers to yellow-flowered shurbs grown legally in gardens thought the United States. When the plant is smoked, it produces a feeling of intoxication and euphoria lasting about two hours. Broom contains cytosine, a chemical similar to nicotine. LIke nicotine, it is toxic with eaten by not when smoked.

Caffeine
Caffeine-containing tea has been a popoular stimulant since it was cultivated in China. Tea and Coffee, which both contain caffeine have became the most popular legal stimulants in the world. Caffiene is also found in other beverages such as mate' and chocolate, and it is addered to carbonated soft drinks. Caffeine is addictive, creating both psysical and mental dependence after as little as 100mg a day. Heavy use of caffeine results in restlessness, nervousness, excitment, insomina, flushed face, muscle twiching, rapid heartbeat, increased urination and gastrointestinal complaints.

California Poppy
The California Poppy is not an opium poppy, but it has a number of chemicals that are similar to the opiate alkalois, such as cheleryhrine, sanguinarine, protopine, and homochelidonine. The leaves and orange petals can be dried and smoked to produce a mild, marijana-like intoxication lasting about 30 minutes.

Coleus
Coleus plants are available if gardening stores. They were used as hallucinogen by Mazatec Indians of southern Mexico. Chewing and swallowing 50 to 75 leaves causes colorful visual hallucinations similar to the effects of psilocybin.

Datura
Better known in the United States as Jimson Weed, this substance is a very widespread plant growing wild throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. It has been used throughout histroy for it's hallucinogenic properties, as evidenced by it's many names such as, devils apple, devils weed and green dragon. Datura has powerful properties related to atropine, causing dilated pupils, fever, dry mouth, and dramatic hallucinations. The effects can last up to 36 hours, with noticealbe effects lasting for several days.

Dextromethorphan
This common cough medicine, often referred to as DXM is found in many popular brands such as Robitussin, Dimetan, and Comtrex. Normally no more than 120mg should be taken in a 24 hours period, although many people exceed the limit. When taken in larger amounts 300mg or more at a time, it may cause euphoria, visual and auditory disturbances, and a loss of coordination.

Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous Oxide was discovered in 1776 by Jospeh Pristely, who also discovered Oxygen. The first use for Nitrous Oxide was for "laughing gas", which is still used today. Nitrous Oxide became the first medical anethetic in the 1840's. It continutes to be used in dental anesthesia, for pressureization of whipped cream and other foods, and for recreation puposes.

Tobacco
Tobacco is the more injurious drug in the world today, causing one out of evey five premature deaths. In the United States alone, there are about 430,000 deaths every year due to tobacco smoking. In the United States tobacco smoking peaked in t he 1960's, when an estimated 40% of adults were smokers. Tobacco smoke contains about 4,000 different chemicals. A dose of 60mg of nitcotine taken bu mouth would be fatal. Modern cigarettes now, have about 700 added ingredients, inculding 13 chemicals considered too toxic to be used at food, five which are classified as hazardous, including the chlorofluorocarbon freon, ethy 2-furoate, ammonia, and pesticides, all of which can cause damage to the lungs, liver, and nervous system.


...these are just a few of the many legal psychoactive drugs across the world, I will keep the list growing as I research more and more! If any of you know of a legal psychoactive that I haven't mentioned, feel free to add it to the list and if you do, dont forget to leave us with informative details about the drug!

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Nice post! Well-organized. We need to elaborate it... I think there are more legals, right?
	Nice list and idea
	i missed this post somehow, but thanks for the info
	Very informative thanks

[Pinkavvy]

Miss- Way to go! I really enjoy all your posts, and love the informative data sheets lately. Good looking out!

[pharmapsyche]

Thanks, I'm just looking to inform as many people as I can with some of the knowelage I know, and ofcourse, people that will take the time to read, lol!

Reputation Comments on this post:

All of your posts are well researched and thoughtful: Thanks for contributing to this forum.

[sands of time]

Great post. I must disagree with one point you made though. You described caffeine as being "highly addictive". Caffeine is addictive, but it is definately not highly so. There is no real craving for caffeine if use is discontinued, but there are some unpleasant physical WD's. Headaches are no fun, and it sucks being tired, but thats nothing compared to most types of withdrawals.

[pharmapsyche]

Sands of time, now that you mention it, I realize you're right and I also edited my post for the future readers. I think the reason why I stated that it was a highly-addictive drug at first, was because I was thinking more along the lines of one of the most addictive ‘legal psychoactive drugs’, but even that is not exactly true. I could defiantly say that I have some sort of addiction to the popular drink Dr. Pepper and the caffeine can be held responsible for the main addictive ingredient in this carbonated soft drink. The withdrawal effects that some one would induce after stopping their use of caffeine are nothing close to the withdrawal effects that drugs such as Amphetamines, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, Alcohol, and many others give off. I agree with you, thanks for noticing.

[sands of time]

Sure, you've been making some great posts lately, thanks for your contribution. It's widely believed that the most difficult drug to quit is nicotine, smoked in particular. Since this route gives it an almost instant ride to the brain, it is even more addictive. The point is, this is a legal drug. We should all keep this is mind, since legal drugs can cause some terrible withdrawals just like the illegal ones. The only difference is, tobacco and alcohol have been widely used for hundred of years, making them socially acceptable. Most illegal drugs have only been used by a small sect of the population.

[pharmapsyche]

Thanks. I agree with the people who think that nicotine is one of the hardest drugs to quite. I never thought I would ever become as dependent as I have on cigarettes. Even though I smoke myself, so I'm being a hypocrite, cigarette smoking is pretty nasty and harmful to the body. It's kinda strange how it is said to be one of the hardest drugs to quite, yet after regular use, you get no buzz from the cigarette, leaving you smoking a stick of harmful nicotine for no reason other than giving your body this unhealthy substance to stop your body's unwanted physical and mental cravings.

[sands of time]

Strange? Not really. Thats the way the human brain was hard wired. It sure as hell is ironic though.

[Nature Boy]

Nicotine withdrawal is supposedly a horrible, horrible process. If you smoke twenty cigarettes a day for a decade, quitting cold turkey can produce the following symptoms:

- Insomnia
- Diarrhoea
- Vomiting
- Nightmares
- Cold sweats
- Irritation

[Jatelka]

Having gone through nicotine withdrawal multiple times (and never succeeded in actually giving up: Doh!) SWIM can add the following:

Poor concentration (we're talking colander brain: No short term memory at all)
Hysterical crying at minimal (or no) provocation
Goosebumps/shivers: Possibly the worst thing ever
Anorexia

[StigmataLectron]

Strange, I've always seen cigarettes as an aide to anorexia, and not a barrier to it. All of my friends who have that "need to lose weight NOW" attitude area also tobacco tokers.

I like your post, miss methylene, but you didn't mention Diphenhydramine. Is that because nobody likes it?

[psyche]

Great job indeed, and suprised me that ayahuasca, or dmt, is legal in states? In Finland it surely isn't. Another thing that sting in my eye was that Joseph Priestley invented laughing gas in 1776. Sorry my pettiness, but it was invented in 1772 and invention published 1776, no big deal. Laughing gas was first used in amusing people in marketplaces by intoxicating people while others watched as they stumbel around and sometimes get hurt but don't mind. It was there that Dr. Horace Wells got the idea of using N2O in anaesthesia in 1840s.

[sands of time]

Dmt containing plants are not necessarily controlled, but if they are used for consumption than they are illegal. DMT is a scheduled substance, and any attempt to consume it is against the law. The plants themselves are not against the law though.

Stigmata, diphenhydramine and dimenhydrinate probably were not mentioned because the do, for the most part, suck! Thats my opinion anyways, but a few people do seem to enjoy some of the drugs characteristics. Overall though, its rather unpopular.

[Jerc]

isnt this from that book illegal drugs? great read