Drug Myths: Fact, fiction and the murk in between

By SnuVoogelbreinder. Abridged edition originally published in Journal 4 alongside EGA’s 2017 symposium.

Photo at the Garden States 2022 Ethnobotanical Conference, by Big Doofa.

Myths and misinformation can take many forms, and are prevalent in all walks of life. The world of drugs and their users is certainly no exception. Here we will explore this broad issue from different angles, using a number of examples to look at how misinformation can originate and spread, how it affects people, and how we can be more discerning in detecting deception.

The 1960s were a fertile period for drug-related myths, because of at least three factors. Firstly, more people than ever before were experimenting with all manner of psychoactive substances. Secondly, the rise of the underground press allowed the spread of information (including myths and rumours) to like-minded others locally and internationally. Thirdly, the mainstream culture took a great interest in the novelty and headline potential of new drug-using subcultures, and further served to spread information, usually in a wildly distorted form, viewed through the lens of uncomprehending outsiders. One prominent early subject of this triad was the humble banana. The story is usually told as a prank that got out of hand, or succeeded wildly, depending on your point of view. However, as best I can tell this is not how it began, which means that even the supposed factual history of this event is partly false.

In 1967 Gary Hirsh (R.I.P.; drummer in the band Country Joe & the Fish) had a notion that banana peels might be psychoactive when smoked, as his family had traditionally eaten bananas to help relax before bed, and he had also recently heard they contain a “natural tranquilizer”. In Vancouver to play over February 16-18, the band prepared a batch of baked inner peel scrapings, but by the time the group tried smoking the stuff they were already under the influence of several strong doses of LSD. Nevertheless, they temporarily had forgotten the acid factor, felt like the banana peel smoke was really working and proceeded to tell anyone who would listen about this miraculous discovery. Later the acid was remembered and the banana peel revealed as a bit of a dud, but by then it had taken on a life of its own (Kruz 2014; McDonald n.d.; McMillian 2011; Perry & Miles 1997). Underground newspapers (particularly the Berkeley Barb) quickly seized on this new claim, followed by the mainstream press, and the myth of ‘bananadine’ (the name invented for the supposed ‘active ingredient’) was soon more or less globally known (Anon. 1967c; Bozzetti et al. 1967; Krikorian 1968). Narcs allegedly lurked in the fruit section of a community co-op, watching for purchases of suspicious quantities of the new yellow peril (Anon. 1967b), which was even being discussed (probably facetiously, but definitely amusingly) in Congress as a menace that must be stamped out (Thompson 1967). Donovan’s hit song ‘Mellow Yellow’ did a lot to help that along, even though it wasn’t actually about smoking bananas as many people assumed. The line “electrical banana is going to be a sudden craze” was actually referring to vibrators! Also, the song was first released as a single in the US in October 1966, before the banana smoking affair had even begun, which led many people to assume that it was Donovan who originated the rumour[1], despite his repeated denials over the years (He did occasionally give enigmatic responses to queries on the matter, suggesting otherwise and trying to have it both ways, much like McDonald who apparently once told Donovan years after the fact that he had deliberately cooked up the whole thing as a hoax, a claim that lacks credibility when compared to his other statements on the matter). Some enterprising opportunists – or perhaps simply jokers – even set up a Mellow Yellow corporation with the stated intention to supply the national and international markets (Anon. 1967a).

“...the band prepared a batch of baked inner peel scrapings, but by the time the group tried smoking the stuff they were already under the influence of several strong doses of LSD.”

I am yet to hear of any convincing report of psychoactive effects from smoking banana peel, beyond headaches and carbon monoxide intoxication from trying desperately to get some effect. However, the peels do contain significant amounts of psychoactive amines/alkaloids such as serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, phenethylamine and salsolinol, some of which increase in concentration over ripening, others decreasing (Borges et al. 2019; Duncan et al. 1984; Riggin et al. 1976; Udenfriend et al. 1959; Vettorazzi 1974); bufotenine has also been tentatively detected in the exudate from green bananas (Swinburne 1976). Perhaps a concentrated basified extract of ripe peels could be effective. Other parts of the banana plant have shown some mild psychoactive properties in animal studies – anticonvulsant, anxiolytic and antidepressant-like activity from stem extracts (Reddy et al 2016, 2017, 2018), and antidepressant-like and sedative activity from leaf extract (Salako et al. 2018).

Before long, other stranger claims began to emerge, some of which may have been journalistic fabrication, some from hippies pulling the leg of credulous, square newshounds. A 1967 article in Time magazine claimed that students were smoking spider webs for a high (Anon. 1967c), and others claimed that smoking a cigarette smeared with rotten capsicum – or smoking a cigarette through a hole in a rotten capsicum, thus “inhaling the vapors of the decomposition products” – produced hallucinations within an hour (Weil 1969). It turns out that smoking a cigarette through a bell pepper was another notion from the curious mind of Gary Hirsh[2] (McDonald n.d.)! Webs are famously combustible in a horrible, stinky way so I don’t wish to try that. Spiders make different silk for different purposes, mainly consisting of proteins, but interestingly the coating of orb weaver spider (Areneus diadematus) ‘catching threads’ contains high levels of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) (Schulz 1997), and the oily droplets coating webs of the orb spider Nephila clavipes contain 1-(2-guanidinoethyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-6-hydroxymethyl)β-carboline, as well as numerous other compounds, which have neurotoxic and lethal effects on some prey (Marques et al. 2004, 2005; Salles et al. 2006). I did try the rotten pepper-smeared cigarette without any apparent effect. Sweet capsicum/paprika and hot chilli peppers do actually contain tryptamine, but only in traces (less than 0.001%) (Ly et al. 2008); traces of nicotine have also been found in green peppers (Moldoveanu et al. 2016). Their main active chemicals are capsaicin and other capsaicinoids, which bind to TRVP1 receptors as well as stimulating substance P release, which in turn causes release of endorphins (Roth 2014). Heat decomposes capsaicin to form mainly 8-methyl-6-nonenamide, 8-methyl-6-nonenoic acid and vanillin (Henderson & Henderson 1992). Of course, chilli afficionados say that eating them can produce a pleasant rush, stimulation and mood-enhancement (eg. Bowles 2006; Chileman 2007; Weil 1976).

Peppers contain capsaicin and other capsaicinoids, as well as tryptamines in trace amounts. Credit to Wellcome Library, London.

In the early 1970s a rumour emerged that smoking unroasted peanut skins (not shells) had a psychoactive effect. The instructions included eating the nuts after shelling them and stripping off the skins (Powell 1971), but it was unclear whether this was a necessary step or just to avoid wasting food. Many people have tried this over the ensuing years, with the majority reporting no psychoactivity, and a minority of dissenters who say they experienced a mild ‘high’ – one from just eating lots of skins (Auxin 2015; Hoffmaster21 2016). So-called common sense suggests it’s most likely these dissenters were experiencing placebo effect, but it can’t be ruled out that these people lucked out on an active batch of peanuts. Regardless, their online claims/reports have been shouted down as imaginative fantasy by more sober commentators who just ‘know’ peanuts are not psychoactive without having tried it themselves, because they believe if it were so, everyone would know about it. That kind of reasoning has some weight behind it, even if it relies on large assumptions and lack of personal experience, but such black and white certainty can be elusive in the world of natural chemistry and pharmacology, where a plant species may not always bear the same chemicals in the same quantities, and where the responses of different people to various drugs can be highly variable. I decided to try it myself recently, with Australian-grown raw shelled peanuts, expecting nothing. A fat 3-paper joint of dried, chopped skins was smoked, and to my surprise definite mild effects were felt before I was half way through. In the end only ¾ of the joint was smoked as the effects were not greatly increasing and the smoke had a burning plastic-like smell that was becoming unpleasant. Sedation and unusual sensations in the head lasted at least 30-60 minutes after smoking (pers. obs. 2017). Bizarrely, news reports also claimed that people were injecting peanut butter and mayonnaise “as a substitute for narcotics”[3](Associated Press 1969), but this seems literally incredible (i.e. not credible). From a physical perspective alone it seems almost impossible as these foodstuffs would clog up the needle, even if you prefer smooth peanut butter to chunky.

Peanut skins contain tannins, flavonoids, procyanidins, and the indole alkaloids 2-methoxyl-3-(3-indolyl)-propionic acid and 2-hydroxyl-3-(3-(1-N-methyl)-indolyl)-propionic acid (Dudek et al. 2017; Lou et al. 2001). Peanuts sometimes have some level of Aspergillus mould infection (eg. Pitt & Hocking 2006), which may introduce possible psychoactive and toxic properties – more of which below. Leaves and stems of the peanut plant (Arachis hypogaea) are used in Chinese medicine to relieve insomnia. An extract showed anxiolytic and sedative-hypnotic activity in mice, apparently due to the main constituents linalool, 5-OH-4’,7-dimethoxyflavanone, 2’-O-methylisoliquiritigenin and ferulic acid (Deng et al. 2018).

“I decided to try it myself recently, with Australian-grown raw shelled peanuts, expecting nothing. A fat 3-paper joint of dried, chopped skins was smoked, and to my surprise definite mild effects were felt before I was half way through.”

Adrenochrome, an oxidation product of adrenaline (epinephrine), became a rare and semi-mythical powerful psychedelic drug overnight when Hunter S. Thompson’s ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ was published, initially in installments in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971. Readers seemed to overlook the obvious fact that the work was a semi-fictional blend of subjective journalism and drug-affected creative writing, and that the author was purportedly under the influence of a wide variety of other psychoactive drugs when he claimed to have ingested adrenochrome. Thompson seems to have been inspired by the writings of Hoffer & Osmond (1960), and added a hefty dose of exaggeration. Hoffer & Osmond found the drug to have emotionally flat psychoactivity with some sensory alterations, but little if any psychedelic effect. Modern-day psychonauts have reported only non-psychedelic effects that may be unpleasant (genaro 2004; Three 2007).

Another literary fiction that has been widely read as fact is the work of Carlos Castaneda, particularly his first book ‘The Teachings of Don Juan: a Yaqui way of knowledge.’ This was first submitted as a PhD dissertation to UCLA, then published as a popular book in 1968, followed by many sequels. Although the factual veracity of Castaneda’s writings is dubious (De Mille ed. 1980), they contain some ‘factual’ elements incorporated from Castaneda’s readings in the realms of global mysticism and esoteric thought, and it appears he did have some personal experience with various psychoactive plants. With this in mind, some readers can enjoy his books as fantasy fiction laced with ‘true’ insights. Others, however, despite all evidence to the contrary, refuse to accept Castaneda’s writings as anything but non-fiction, and insist the naysayers just find it all hard to believe because it’s too weird for their straight, rational minds. This is a dispute that tends to get Castaneda supporters quite worked up, but we will side-step that slightly to look at one entity that has grown out of the literature and taken on a life of its own – Mescalito. In Castaneda’s books, Mescalito is the name of the peyote spirit that he claimed to have encountered on his magical journeys. This appears to make sense to the average reader, because peyote has been called mescal buttons and contains mescaline, right? Not quite. Mescaline was so named because peyote had acquired the name mescal in some circles around the time mescaline was first isolated, but in fact mescal had been misapplied to that cactus, and also to the seeds of Sophora secundiflora (mescal beans). The true mescal (or mezcal) is any of the Agave spp., which are used for food and to make the alcoholic beverages pulque, mezcal and tequila (the word has also sometimes been applied to some Yucca spp. which are used for food in a similar way) (Trout 2017). It follows that any peyote spirit would never have been traditionally known as Mescalito, which effectively means ‘little Agave’, and has been applied as a colloquial name for some Tillandsia spp. which look like miniature agaves. Depending on how you think of spirit beings, maybe Castaneda did meet Mescalito on a peyote trip but the spirit and its name were conjured up by his brain, which already had an association between peyote and mescaline. Or perhaps these spirits use whatever name they think we can relate to. In a sense, similar to how Yoda is a kind of guru figure to some people, Mescalito as the peyote spirit now exists, having been willed into being by thousands of Castaneda readers who want to believe the books. Some people sincerely claim to have met this spirit whilst under the influence of mescaline-containing cacti, and to have it introduce itself by that name. This is doubly unusual when the person had consumed not Peyote, but San Pedro. The same spirit for two very different cacti thousands of kilometres apart?

Hunter S. Thompson helped spread myths around adrenochrome. Credit to Cashman Photo Enterprises, Inc.

Speaking of mezcal and tequila, we can’t go past a brief mention of the ‘worm’ (actually any of several species of insect larvae that eat the plant). Not only is it a myth that these ‘worms’ are a standard traditional additive, there is a prominent belief that eating the worm after finishing the bottle has psychedelic effects. Some people believe that the drink itself has psychedelic effects if enough is consumed. I believe this to be a psychological trick people have played on themselves, assuming that mezcal and tequila are made from a cactus (false) that contains mescaline (also false). Insects feeding on plants do often accumulate alkaloids and other chemicals from the plant, but in this case there is no mescaline to be accumulated, nor any other substances known to be psychoactive (to the best of my knowledge). People who have polished off a bottle of mezcal or tequila, alone or with help from friends, are generally drunk enough to be highly suggestible and are probably imagining there is an effect beyond alcohol, because they are expecting and hoping for it due to this misguided folklore.

Of course, people can also spread deliberate lies, whether as a practical joke, to sow disinformation and generate confusion for ‘psyops’ purposes, or for more obscure reasons. This has become much easier with the internet and drug discussion forums. Unusual claims posted by people without a track record of level-headedness and ability to express rational thoughts should generally be taken with a grain of salt. However, even people with such a good track record, whether a pseudonymous internet user or established public figure, still make mistakes and have their own biases and blind-spots. Also, just because someone can’t spell or uses poor grammar does not mean they are not honest or trustworthy. Being human, everyone makes mistakes from time to time, and some false claims that end up in print or circulated verbally are simply the result of human error or misconception. For some years a claim was repeated on the internet that panther chamaeleons contain DMT; this was based on someone assuming that the finding of DMT in Paramuricea chamaeleon referred to the popular reptile, whereas in fact it is a species of coral. A simple mistake, but one that could have easily been avoided with a few seconds of fact-checking.

The source of a claim can also be a giveaway for possible deception. The tabloid Weekly World News was well known for containing many articles that were barely-believable fantasy, with the occasional factual story. A 1993 story in that paper claimed that police and doctors were concerned teens were “sniffing human ashes to get high”, with an effect “more powerful than LSD and cocaine combined” (Corea 1993), yet the sole researcher cited for these claims appears to not exist, along with any other evidence.

Additionally it’s always worth checking whether something was first posted on April 1st, but even then, true information does get published on that date as well. Two April Fools’ news stories that tricked a lot of people for a while sounded like they could just turn out to be factual. One claimed that kids were smoking or injecting crushed bedbugs (Cimex sp.) for a ‘hallucinogenic’ effect (Mikkelson 2016). The other claimed that teens were licking the slime from saltwater catfish, also for a ‘hallucinogenic high’ (Hurteau 2005). Although both stories were completely fabricated, they are broadly feasible. Some insects certainly do contain psychoactive chemicals, although I am not aware of any from bedbugs. To give just two examples, in n.e. India eating too much of the edible stink bug Aspongopus nepalensis reportedly “causes hallucination” (Chakravorty et al. 2011). Insects may accumulate and sometimes transform chemicals from plants that they feed on. For example, winter cherry bugs (Acanthocoris sordidus) feeding on a specimen of the Australian Duboisia leichhardtii growing in Japan accumulated scopolamine and atropine from the plant, and transformed the scopolamine to atropine (Kitamura et al. 2004). If a human consumed enough of these bugs they would find them to be quite intoxicating. However for this to apply to bedbugs, they would need to be sucking the blood of the biggest drug pig alive (or recently dead) unless they were producing their own toxins.

“For some years a claim was repeated on the internet that panther chamaeleons contain DMT; this was based on someone assuming that the finding of DMT in Paramuricea chamaeleon referred to the popular reptile, whereas in fact it is a species of coral.”

Also, psychoactive fish do exist (eg. Helfrich & Banner 1960), and some catfish species produce venoms containing toxic peptides, delivered via saw-toothed bony stings in the dorsal and pectoral fins. This also administers some of the skin mucus or ‘slime’ from the fish, which also contains peptides, proteins, enzymes and other active chemicals. Although stings from some of these venomous catfish may cause “malaise” and “psychomotor agitation”, they are accompanied by unambiguously negative effects such as pain, fever, cold sweats, nausea, vomiting and infection (Ramos et al. 2012; Thomson et al. 1998; Wright 2009). In terms of further misinformation, one psychoactive ‘dream fish’ – Kyphosus fuscus – has been claimed to contain 5-MeO-DMT (Stafford 1992). Although this claim has been since circulated as fact, there is no known evidence behind it, and it appears to be entirely speculation, perhaps linked to the hypothesised role of that endogenous alkaloid in dreaming (Callaway 1988). More recently, I stumbled across a fascinating tale of powerful psychedelic effects derived from a Belizean lionfish sting, and later, snorting the powdered venom extract. This story was part of notes describing the background for the great album ‘Lionfish’ by psychedelic band Elkhorn (Gardner 2018). It seemed feasible, but too good to be true. Although lionfish certainly look psychedelic, the symptoms of stings from their spines generally consist mainly of excruciating pain. Upon contact, Gardner was happy to admit the story was an artistic fiction intended to be funny. While I appreciate a good yarn – which did serve the purpose of drawing me to check out the album – it’s not totally clear online that the story is fiction, and some Darwin Award contenders may do themselves harm in attempting to replicate it.

A more recent April 1st prank article (Alworth 2015) brought back memories of the old notion that a hops plant (Humulus lupulus) could be grafted to a Cannabis rootstock to grow a THC-containing hops vine (eg. Superweed 1983). These plants are both in the same family and the grafting does work, but without the transfer of THC (Crombie & Crombie 1975). But back to the recent online article, which claimed hops growers in Oregon had produced a Humulus/Cannabis hybrid. Exciting news, if it were true, but it was all in good fun and readers spotted that it was an April 1st joke within two hours of posting. At other times hops/ganja hybrids have been claimed to exist, with photos of weird-looking plants to back them up, but these have all been either photos of an unusual Cannabis strain, or the Japanese hops vine (Humulus japonicus), the flowers of which look somewhere in between those of regular hops and ganja.

Prior to the days of super-resinous Cannabis being the norm, smokers were sometimes offered the chance to buy what was being called ‘Black Merta’ in the USA (Margolis & Clorfene 1978) and ‘Buddha’ in Australia (though often this term was freely applied to any aged, compressed or imported Asian Cannabis) (pers. obs.). This was moistened Cannabis bud that had been buried underground for a period, and rather than being ruined, somehow became more potent. Some black mould infection was usually apparent, but sometimes the buds just looked darker, denser and browner. People claimed that smoking this sometimes had psychedelic effects (pers. comms; pers. obs.). The only scientific test of this procedure found no significant alteration of cannabinoid levels (THC, CBD, CBN) (Stewart et al. 1978). Another method, to prepare ‘khala-khij’ (purportedly “an African aphrodisiac which liberates women and fortifies men”), entailed first making an isopropyl alcohol extract of Cannabis seeds and stems, then making a water extract of the residue, reducing both and combining them. After mixing in powdered Cannabis leaf, blue-green mould harvested from oranges that had been sitting in a paper bag in a closet for a couple of weeks was mixed through. This was sealed in a plastic bag and stored in a dark place for a few weeks after which it attained a strong ammoniacal smell, then being baked dry in an oven before smoking (Superweed 1969).

To learn more about the diversity of Cannabis products, read EGA’s Cannabis concentrates resource.

A variety of mould fungi common in soil, including strains of Aspergillus spp., can produce ergot alkaloids with possible psychoactivity (agroclavine, elymoclavine, chanoclavine, festuclavine, fumigaclavines), as well as carcinogenic aflatoxins and other toxic compounds (Bennett & Klich 1992; El-Refai et al. 1970; Panaccione & Coyle 2005; Powell ed. 1994; Sallam et al. 1969; Samajpati 1979; Spilsbury & Wilkinson 1961; Yamano et al. 1962; Xu et al. 2014). Even Cannabis that has not been subjected to burying may be contaminated with some amount of Aspergillus, usually A. flavus or A. fumigatus (as well as other moulds and bacteria). However, there are some problems with this. Not all strains produce these potentially psychoactive alkaloids, and many are toxic. If a mould infection goes too far, rather than increase potency, it will destroy the cannabinoids as well as the plant matter. It is unlikely that the amount of mould being smoked along with the Cannabis contains sufficient alkaloids to survive combustion and produce psychoactive effects. Even if present in high concentrations, it is possible any ergot alkaloids would be destroyed by smoking anyway. Also, inhaling mould spores is incredibly unhealthy. Spores are very tough and appear to survive the brief high temperatures involved in smoking. There are numerous cases in the medical literature of people with compromised immune systems suffering (and sometimes dying) from what is called pulmonary aspergillosis, associated with smoking Aspergillus-infected Cannabis. Aspergillosis is an internal growth of Aspergillus, usually beginning in the lungs after being inhaled (Cescon et al. 2008; Chusid et al. 1975; Gargani et al. 2011; Hamadeh et al. 1988; Kagen et al. 1983; Levitz & Diamond 1991; Llamas et al. 1978; Llewellyn & O’Rear 1977; Ungerleider et al. 1982). If anyone is tempted to try to turn their weak weed into gold by burying it, I urge them not to.

For as long as anyone can remember, it has been claimed that overindulging in cheese before sleeping results in unusually strange and vivid dreams. In recent history the British Cheese Board (2005) reported the results of their own limited human experiments, comparing the dream effects of various different cheeses. This was widely reported at the time as a piece of humourous but factual news, which went unchallenged. Twice I attempted to contact the BCB, requesting more information about the specifics of their study, and I never received a reply. I now suspect the whole thing was a jokey publicity stunt to aid their purpose of promoting cheese, and that their experiments probably never took place. However, myths rarely have no basis at all, and this is a very old one. There might just be something to it, and it would be good to see a genuine human study with full data available, even though a double-blind experiment would be difficult. And how do you distinguish a cheese-enhanced dream from one that would have happened anyway?

Regardless, there are two interesting experience reports on Erowid which describe strange, vivid dreams after eating moderately large amounts of Stilton blue-vein cheese (dfraser 2008; Fluxatorium 2011). Some cheeses (such as Camembert and blue-vein types) contain Penicillium moulds, some strains of which may produce psychoactive ergot alkaloids capable of making dreams more ‘interesting’ (Hong & Robbers 1985; Kozlovskii et al. 1979; Ohmomo et al. 1975; Taber & Vining 1958). Cheese and other dairy products also contain tryptophan (a sleep aid, anxiolytic, and precursor to serotonin, melatonin and other endogenous tryptamines) and stress-relieving proteins (casein, lactalbumin) (Kim et al. 2007; Markus et al. 2002). Proteins present in milk may fragment to yield opioid peptides such as casoxin D or α-casein exorphins (from α-casein), β-casomorphins or β-casorphins (from β-casein), casoxins A, B & C (from κ-casein), α-lactorphins (from α-lactalbumin), β-lactorphin (from β-lactoglobulin) and lactoferroxins (from lactoferrin). These act as opioid agonists, except the casoxins and lactoferroxins which act as antagonists (Teschemacher & Koch 1991; Teschemacher et al. 1997). αS1-Casein tryptic hydrolysate has anxiolytic, anticonvulsant and sleep-promoting activity and appears to act on GABAA receptors (dela Peña et al 2016). Milk is well known as a gentle sleep aid when drunk before going to bed, and apparently milk collected at night may have greater activity in this regard. ‘Night milk’ is much richer in tryptophan and melatonin, and has shown sedative, sleep-promoting and anxiolytic-like activity in mice (dela Peña et al. 2015).

One man with liver damage disobeyed his dietary requirement of limited protein and over-indulged in cheese; he ended up in a ‘near coma’ and was found “alternating between stupor and delirious agitation”. When relatively lucid he said he was “out of this world. I’m stoned on protein” which he said felt “like a dream, confused, sort of crazy, spaced out” (Sacks 2012). Also worth noting is the presence of traces of morphine in human and cow milk (Hazum et al. 1981; Teschemacher & Koch 1991), which would presumably also be present in cheese.

“Milk is well known as a gentle sleep aid when drunk before going to bed, and apparently milk collected at night may have greater activity in this regard. ‘Night milk’ is much richer in tryptophan and melatonin, and has shown sedative, sleep-promoting and anxiolytic-like activity in mice.”

In the 1980s and ‘90s, a myth commonly encountered in the mainstream media was that chocolate has ‘feel good’ and aphrodisiac properties because it contains phenethylamine (PEA), a stimulant alkaloid found in plants, fungi and animals that has been claimed to play a role in feelings of love, based on animal experiments in which PEA was injected into the brain (Smit 2011). This was presented as a solid scientific fact derived from statements in Michael Liebowitz’s 1983 book ‘The Chemistry of Love’, although ‘sciencey’ is more appropriate. True, PEA does occur in chocolate (Pastore et al. 2005; Ziegleder et al. 1992). True, PEA does apparently have some psychoactivity (Sabelli & Javaid 1995). The problem is that taken orally, PEA is rapidly metabolised and usually requires huge doses (7-9g) for a decent effect according to some (MMPA 2012), and others found no oral activity at doses up to 1600mg, nor i.v. up to 50mg (Shulgin & Shulgin 1991). Also, it only occurs in very low concentrations in chocolate, despite claims to the contrary. This raises one issue about how myths are created and spread. The media, either in attempting to reach the broadest audience by dumbing-down facts, or because their researchers don’t do their jobs, like to latch on to simple ‘facts’ that people can understand (or think they can). In this case, they managed to overlook the obvious fact that the major alkaloids in chocolate – theobromine and caffeine – are themselves psychoactive stimulants (Bruinsma & Taren 1999; Smit 2011; Smit et al. 2004), and chocolate also contains small amounts of a wide variety of other potentially psychoactive chemicals (such as salsolinol, dopamine, synephrine, tryptamine, 5-MeO-tryptamine, β-carbolines, and anandamide) (Di Tomaso et al. 1996; Herraiz 2000; Kenyhercz & Kissinger 1978; Pastore et al. 2005; Riggin & Kissinger 1976). Plus, it’s delicious and feels great in the mouth, as if that wasn’t enough!

Rick Strassman made some interesting speculations regarding endogenous DMT in his book ‘DMT: The Spirit Molecule’ (2001), such as that it may be at peak levels during the events of birth and death. Rick made no attempt to disguise these speculations as fact; he only quite sensibly proposed them as possible examples of endogenous DMT experiences in humans, which might be practical to test scientifically in the future. This didn’t stop a huge number of people claiming that these speculative examples are all scientifically-proven facts. Nowadays the internet enables anyone with computer access to spread false assertions such as these with lightning speed. This highlights the need for diligence when using the internet for research. If nearly everyone is repeating the same falsehood, a person who did not go to Strassman’s own words and see for themself may be none the wiser [4].

Incidentally, David Nichols (2018) recently outlined some compelling arguments that cast doubt on the ability of the human body to produce enough DMT in a short time to have any substantial psychedelic effect, although it is also true that we know very little about the true range of natural DMT concentrations in body fluids and parts of the body (Barker 2018). If DMT does have a role in endogenous mystical states it certainly remains to be proven. Similarly, claims of endogenous 5-MeO-DMT production (as well as endogenous DMT and β-carbolines) being boosted during extended darkness retreats have been made for a couple of decades or so by the people who run them (e.g. Chia n.d.). The biochemical correlates proposed as established fact by Mantak Chia range from the possibly plausible to the ‘imaginative’, to put it kindly, and are accompanied by a great deal of hypothetical (but presented as plain fact) New Age physico-spiritual postulating, unsupported pseudoscientific gibberish and wild misinterpretations of the actual science purportedly being explained. Some biochemical data suggests the possibility that darkness can stimulate endogenous production of methylated tryptamines (Finnin 1979; Relkin 1983), and the experiences people have described appear to lend some subjective weight to the claims at first glance. Unfortunately this is not proof, and people have been wrongly stating this as an established fact. Something visionary and profound is going on in darkness retreats, but the biochemical correlates have not been studied.

It is unlikely that endogenous DMT produces psychedelic effects. Credit to Psychonaught.

Another area in which people need to be wary of deception is the adulteration or substitution of drugs/supplements. Street drugs have always been cut with other substances from the harmful to the benign, and in decades past people used to worry about the rumoured presence of strychnine in ‘magic mushrooms’ and in some batches of LSD. These fears have turned out to be unsubstantiated (e.g. see Erowid), although some people who claim to have taken strychnine within the narrow ‘recreational’ dose range still insist that based on their subjective experiences and claims of some people purporting to be LSD chemists, strychnine is not an uncommon adulterant, added on purpose because it reputedly enhances the experience. I believe any genuine LSD chemists telling the strychnine story to their friends are having them on. More likely the people telling such tales are not LSD chemists at all and are just trying to impress people with their supposed inside knowledge. Myths about LSD have long abounded, largely due to the great secrecy, technical proficiency and mystical/alchemical allure associated with its illicit manufacture by mysterious people. Due to the weak strength of much street acid, many users take multiple doses at a time. If strychnine were indeed anything approaching a common additive, then strychnine poisoning as a result of acid consumption would be relatively commonplace – instead it is nonexistent. That is not to say LSD is never mixed with potentially lethal drugs. Worryingly, in recent times some LSD has been found to be contaminated with the powerful synthetic opiates fentanyl and carfentanil, which have also been detected in some samples of methamphetamine and cocaine (Capps 2018).

For those to whom common LSD wasn’t interesting enough, it was sometimes sold as being mescaline, which in a pure form is rarely available and could attract a higher price per dose. The giveaway for fraud is that an active dose of pure mescaline cannot physically fit into a single paper tab or microdot. Even when confronted with this carefully-explained fact, I have witnessed several different people refuse to accept it, they so badly wanted to believe they had experienced pure mescaline and had not been ripped off. Sometimes purported mescaline has been sold in pill or tablet form, which in regards to volume is more believable, and sometimes this may actually contain what it is claimed to. However, in one old analysis of 13 seized drug samples sold as mescaline, it was found in none of them – 7 were LSD, 4 were STP (DOM), 1 was aspirin and 1 contained no detectable drug (Cheek et al. 1970).

Today, with an abundance of new, barely-tested synthetic analogues of old drugs washing around, the situation is more risky for people who think they’re buying and consuming LSD or MDMA, for example. Rather than simply being cut with inert substances, or mixed/substituted with a different drug of relative safety, it is now significantly likely that in a high proportion of such illicit transactions, potentially lethal analogues are being sold. This would (and should) be prosecutable as false labelling likely to cause death or serious harm in a more rational world of legal drugs, where significant research would need to be undertaken into the toxicology and safety of any such new drug before it could be sold to people for consumption, and any drugs already available would be subject to analysis by regulators to confirm dose and purity. People all over the world are consuming substances of unknown safety, purity and identity on faith, a sad state of affairs created by the ‘War On Drugs’, which is just puritanically concerned with stopping people obtaining or consuming anything that might get them high (unless it’s already controlled and taxed by government and ‘legit’ big business). Many politicians and some police seem to prefer to use the prevalence of these dangerous substitutes, and the chemically-illiterate exaggeration of toxic chemical contamination from illicit, unregulated drug production[5], to scare people away from using illegal drugs altogether. Others can see that these particular dangers exist only because of prohibition, and that in refusing to allow change to a libertarian and health-based rather than criminal-based approach to drugs in society and the personal domain, such public power-holders are partly complicit in the deaths of every person who takes or has taken their ‘final trip’ due to contaminated or substituted psychedelics.

“For those to whom common LSD wasn’t interesting enough, it was sometimes sold as being mescaline, which in a pure form is rarely available and could attract a higher price per dose. The giveaway for fraud is that an active dose of pure mescaline cannot physically fit into a single paper tab or microdot. ”

Cannabis has generally been considered ‘tamper-proof’ regarding cutting or substitution, except with new and inexperienced users who may not know what real – or at least good quality – cannabis should look and smell like. However hashish has historically been cut with adulterants for sale to the unwitting, and of course hand-rubbed hashish will always contain some human skin. Cannabis herb, as we have seen, may be contaminated with mould fungi and bacteria (and hashish can go mouldy if pressed too wet and stored). On occasion it has been sprayed or soaked in solvents such as formaldehyde, or with PCP, to increase the effects – with or without the knowledge of the end-user (Spector 1985; Trout pers. comm. 2014). After the introduction of super-stinky, dense ‘skunk’ cannabis some dishonest dealers would apparently sometimes soak more ordinary flower buds in ammonia and compress them when still damp, for sale as counterfeit skunk (pers. comms.). However I was surprised to find that in more recent years, unscrupulous people have been busy applying a wide variety of adulterants to increase the weight of their product and make it appear to be more resinous. These range in nature from annoying and potentially bad for the lungs when smoked (sand, sugar, talcum powder), to simply dangerous (ground glass, lead, hairspray) (Knodt 2017; Stefanie 2013). In Iran, lead has also been found as an adulterant of opium, heroin, methamphetamine and MDMA; many samples of all of these drugs were also adulterated with other cheaper drugs (Akhgari et al. 2018). Adulteration and substitution is a big concern in the world of culinary and medicinal dry herbs and spices (Karioti et al. 2014; Ouarghidi et al. 2012; Walker & Applequist 2012). Even some dried oregano has been found to be cut with olive leaves. Cheaper saffron is usually not saffron at all. Some traditional Chinese medicine herbs and pill preparations have been found to contain herbs and minerals not listed in the ingredients, and sometimes replacing the ingredients which are supposed to be in there; unwanted additives have included highly toxic plants and heavy metals (Coghlan et al. 2015).

Sometimes herbal ‘party drug’ products and sports/exercise/weight-loss supplements are marketed with claims that they contain certain plant extracts with active compounds, masking the fact that they actually contain synthetic compounds which may be scheduled substances. Usually the success of these kinds of products is short-lived, as the claims tend to attract a lot of interest from plant chemistry nerds, health professionals, food and drug regulators, and law enforcement. A good example of this is the case of supplements claiming to contain geranium extracts from Pelargonium graveolens (as ‘geranamine’) to justify the presence of the banned synthetic stimulant DMAA (1,3-dimethylamylamine) as a natural ingredient. Some manufacturers provided an obscure Chinese journal reference (Ping et al. 1996) to give weight to this claim. I am yet to see a copy of this paper that is not a re-typed translation offered by one of the manufacturers in question, as evidence in their court case in the US. Even if this paper has been accurately translated and derives from accurate research, the chemical was only claimed by Ping et al. to be present in traces. Soon, an abundance of genuine journal papers appeared demonstrating that no geraniums could be found to contain even a trace of this chemical (Austin et al. 2014; ElSohly et al. 2012; Lorenzo et al. 2012; Zhang et al. 2012). The manufacturers and their blog mouthpieces have cried foul, claiming all of these researchers have committed fraud by playing down or omitting detection of traces of DMAA which were mentioned in some online pre-print versions but later removed in the final versions. I have no way of knowing if there is any truth to these nit-picking claims, but it appears these critics from the industry are unable or unwilling to recognise that mistakes and analytical contamination do happen in this kind of research, and the omission of preliminary results that turned out to be false is not fraud, but a sign that the researchers have been diligent in re-checking their work before final publication. Since then some papers have appeared purporting to find this chemical in geraniums (Fleming et al. 2012; Gauthier 2013; Li et al. 2012), but they are all from one fairly new journal, were all funded by one of the main manufacturers of DMAA-containing products, and have not been replicated by anyone else. Numerous criticisms have been levelled at these papers by other academics (Pawar et al. 2013; Smith 2012). The best that can be said is DMAA might be found in tiny traces in some geraniums but not in any amount that could be usefully extracted for these supplements.

Another prominent example of deception in the supplements world is weight-loss products claiming to contain an extract of Acacia rigidula. This North American species sometimes causes intoxication in stock animals, and contains tyramine, N-methyltyramine, phenethylamine, tryptamine, and possibly N-methylphenethylamine and N-methyltryptamine (Camp & Norvell 1966; Pawar et al. 2014). Of supplement samples analysed, all contained some of these alkaloids, but none were in the relative proportions that would be expected when compared to genuine plant extracts. What really stands out is that some of the products have been spiked with the synthetic amphetamine analogues methylsynephrine (oxilofrine) and/or β-methylphenethylamine (Cohen et al. 2015; Pawar et al. 2014; Yun et al. 2017).

Some Acacia species contain DMT and other tryptamines - but it is unlikely that any Acacia species contain methamphetamine or mescaline. Photo by Dr Liam Engel.

Suspicious claims regarding this Acacia and another that also causes stock intoxications (A. berlandieri) goes back a little further into academia. Many people will have heard that these species were reported to contain (as well as the previously-known simple phenethylamines as main alkaloids) a horde of interesting alkaloids including nicotine, DMT (known from other Acacia spp.), mescaline and other cactus alkaloids (mescaline has never otherwise been found outside of the cactus family), as well as a range of amphetamines, phenethylamines and other substances (nortriptyline, musk ambrette) never before found in nature (Clement et al. 1997, 1998). When these papers first came out everyone wanted to believe the data, but it seemed strange that such big news in the world of phytochemistry was barely commented on as being novel in these papers. Finding these unexpected molecules in an Acacia warranted at least further isolation and characterisation of the alkaloids to confirm their identity, but this was not pursued by the researchers responsible. To date these results have not been replicated by anyone. The researchers responsible for the original claims have stuck to their guns, when they have responded at all to queries. However, while many academic papers have since casually cited the unusual claims of Clement et al. without question, and the papers were never retracted, the general consensus amongst researchers particularly interested in this matter is that much of the data regarding anomalous trace constituents is false (see Trout 2015 for a more detailed discussion that pulls fewer punches).

It is important to be sceptical of any claims, even if they appear to be supported by some evidence, and this is especially true in the realm of psychoactive drug lore. Some myths turn out to be true, or at least part-true. Many do not. We contend with a general (but not comprehensive) unreliability of information in media (newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, internet/social media), popular non-fiction, even some academic non-fiction, and public and private discourse. Despite living in the so-called information age, it remains difficult to find truth in a world riddled with ill-informed opinions, speculations and deliberate misinformation presented as fact. Bullshit or not? To judge that, you need to be informed from a wide variety of sources, not just within your bubble. Remember that even ‘experts’ can be wrong. Keep your mind open but question everything, even the debunkers and sceptics.

Footnotes

[1] The LP of the same name wasn’t released until March 1967 in the US, just after the banana ‘hoax’ kicked off, leading to the alternate assumption that it was a response to that social phenomenon, not its originator. It is now established as an amusing – and confusing – coincidence.

[2] Several attempts were made to contact Mr Hirsh for comment on this and related matters, to get confirmation and clarification straight from the source, but I did not receive a response. Sadly he is now deceased.

[3] Thanks to Keeper Trout for bringing this to my attention.

[4] Whenever possible use primary sources, to see whether someone wrote what others said they did, but remember that the written word may look set and authoritative, yet still be erroneous. Even academic publications cannot always be relied on. In my own research I have frequently found information in journal papers or textbooks that turned out to not be supported by the reference given. (Despite my best efforts, I have messed up this way a few times in my own writings and only discovered this much later. I am told this is normal and happens to everyone, but it is still unfortunate and embarrassing!) Then there are unconscious biases to contend with, which can shape the methods used and conclusions reached, and lead to rejection of ideas that conflict with the writer’s preferred set of ideas (especially if the preferred ideas are the writer’s own and a basis of their professional reputation). The peer-review process for academic journals means that some good science is rejected for no reason other than contradicting the theories or discoveries of one or more of the reviewers – some young upstart threatening their ego status, and being shown the door. Other papers which are actually published may later be retracted due to some flaw which the peer-review process should have caught the first time around, and others which are clearly flawed have never been retracted or even apologetically amended. Many internet journals have sprung up in recent years, full of shoddy science, spelling and grammar. Although some accurate research may be found in such journals, overall the peer-review process seems to be almost non-existent. To make matters worse, ‘experts’ sometimes are not only wrong but commit fraud for a variety of reasons.

[5] This is in reference to claims that such drugs are mixtures of dangerous household and industrial chemicals; by such a simplistic reduction of the facts, then the same could be said for most pharmaceuticals. Hazardous chemical contamination from sloppy illicit labs, on the other hand, is a genuine problem (and yet another which is a direct consequence of prohibition).

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