The 5-HT2A receptor is a subtype of the 5-HT₂ receptor that belongs to the serotonin receptor family and is a G protein-coupled receptor.
5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine)
A psychedelic of the tryptamine class. It is found in a wide variety of plant species, and also is secreted by the glands of at least one toad species, the Sonoran Desert toad.
18-Methoxycoronaridine (18-MC)
A derivative of ibogaine invented in 1996 by the research team around the pharmacologist Stanley D. Glick from the Albany Medical College and the chemists Upul K. Bandarage and Martin E. Kuehne from the University of Vermont.
A set of regulations instituted in 1992 by the FDA. The process allows for expedited approval of drugs that treat serious conditions, “and that fill an unmet medical need based on a surrogate endpoint.
Acid Tests
A series of parties held by author Ken Kesey primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid-1960s, centered on the use of and advocacy for the psychedelic drug LSD, commonly known as "acid".
An active placebo is a placebo that produces noticeable side effects that may convince the person being treated that they are receiving a legitimate treatment, rather than an ineffective placebo.
A state characterized by positive physical and mental effects that persists after the primary effects of a drug have subsided. Psychiatrist Walter Pahnke described afterglow as an “elevated and energetic mood with a relative freedom from concerns of the past and from guilt and anxiety.”
An agonist is a chemical that binds to a receptor and activates the receptor to produce a biological response
Amanda Feilding
An English drug policy reformer, lobbyist, and research coordinator. In 1998, she founded the Foundation to Further Consciousness, later renamed to the Beckley Foundation.
An anxiolytic is a medication or other intervention that reduces anxiety.
A psychoactive brew used both socially and as ceremonial spiritual medicine among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin. It is a psychedelic and entheogenic brew commonly made out of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, the Psychotria viridis shrub or a substitute, and possibly other ingredients.
Barbiturate
A drug that acts as a central nervous system depressant. Barbiturates are effective as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as well as overdose potential among other possible adverse effects.
A UK-based think tank and UN-accredited NGO, dedicated to activating global drug policy reform and initiating scientific research into psychoactive substances. It was founded in 1998, and is directed by Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss.
Breakthrough Therapy Designation
A United States Food and Drug Administration designation that expedites drug development that was created by Congress under Section 902 of the 9 July 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.
Bunk Police
A private company that sells reagent test kits.
Carl Hart
An American psychologist and neuroscientist. He is a professor of psychology at Columbia University. Hart is known for his research in drug abuse and drug addiction.
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)
A division of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that monitors most drugs as defined in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London
Led by Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, the Centre focuses on two main research themes: the use of psychedelics in mental health care; and as tools to probe the brain’s basis of consciousness.
Comedown
A phase of drug withdrawal that involves the deterioration in mood and energy that occurs when a psychoactive drug, clears from the blood in the bloodstream.
A neurological disorder characterized by recurrent severe headaches on one side of the head, typically around the eye.
Compass Pathways
A mental health care company dedicated to controlling patients in regards to psychedelics.
Controlled Drugs and Substances Dealer’s License (Canada)
This registration permits practitioners to distribute, dispense, conduct research, administer, or procure controlled substances in the course of their professional practice as permitted by the Department of Public Health or other governing agency.
Controlled Substances Act (CSA)
The statute establishing federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances is regulated.
DanceSafe
A large-scale brain network primarily composed of the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus and angular gyrus. It is best known for being active when a person is not focused on the outside world and the brain is at wakeful rest, such as during daydreaming and mind-wandering.
Evidence-based therapeutic interventions driven by high quality software programs to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease.
A class of substances which distort perception of sight and sound and produce feelings of detachment – dissociation – from the environment and/or self.
DoubleBlind Magazine
A biannual print magazine and media company covering timely, untold stories about the expansion of psychedelics around the globe.
A tryptamine drug that occurs naturally in many plants and animals. It is also referred to as the “spirit molecule” due to the intense psychedelic experience.
A neurotransmitter that plays several important roles in the brain and body. It is an organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. Dopamine constitutes about 80% of the catecholamine content in the brain.
Ego Death
The term used to describe “a complete loss of subjective self-identity.”
A class of psychoactive drugs that produce experiences of emotional communion, oneness, relatedness, emotional openness—that is, empathy or sympathy.
A chemical substance, typically of plant origin, that is ingested to produce a nonordinary state of consciousness for religious or spiritual purposes.
Erowid
A non-profit educational & harm-reduction resource with 60 thousand pages of online information about psychoactive drugs, plants, chemicals, and technologies.
A designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of an investigational drug for expedited review to facilitate development of drugs which treat a serious or life-threatening condition and fill an unmet medical need. Fast Track designation must be requested by the drug company.
A rodent behavioral test used for evaluation of antidepressant drugs, antidepressant efficacy of new compounds, and experimental manipulations that are aimed at rendering or preventing depressive-like states.
Free Base
The conjugate base form of an amine, as opposed to its conjugate acid form. The amine is often an alkaloid, such as nicotine, cocaine, morphine, and ephedrine, or derivatives thereof. Freebasing is a more efficient method of self-administering alkaloids via the smoking route.
Full Agonist
A drug which is capable of producing a maximum response that the target system is capable of
GHB
A substance that produces a sedative like effect. IT acts on the GHB receptor and is a weak agonist at the GABAB receptor. GHB has been used in the medical setting as a general anesthetic.
GMP/cGMP (Good Manufacturing Practices)
A system for ensuring that products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards.
A psychoactive agent that often or ordinarily causes hallucinations, perceptual anomalies, and other substantial subjective changes in thought, emotion, and consciousness that are not typically experienced to such degrees with other drug classifications.
Harm Reduction
A set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use.
Harvard Psilocybin Project
A series of experiments in psychology conducted by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert. The founding board of the project consisted of Leary, Aldous Huxley, David McClelland (Leary's and Alpert's superior at Harvard University), Frank Barron, Ralph Metzner, and two graduate students who were working on a project with mescaline.
A rapid side-to-side head movement that occurs in mice and rats after the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor is activated
Holotropic Breathwork
Various breathing practices in which the conscious control of breathing is said to influence a person's mental, emotional or physical state, with a claimed therapeutic effect.
A naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in plants in the family Apocynaceae such as Tabernanthe iboga, Voacanga africana, and Tabernaemontana undulata. It is a psychedelic with dissociative properties. Preliminary research indicates that it may help counter drug addiction.
IM
An injection technique used to deliver a medication deep into the muscles. This allows the medication to be absorbed quickly.
IV
An injection technique used to delivers fluids, medications and nutrition directly into a person's vein.
a special symptom or the like that points out a suitable remedy or treatment or shows the presence of a disease
Investigational New Drug (IND)
a special symptom or the like that points out a suitable remedy or treatment or shows the presence of a disease
LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)
MAOI
María Sabina
MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine)
Meclizine
MK-Ultra
Mycelium
Mystical Experience Questionnaire
Naloxone
Narcotic
Neurotoxic
Nightshade
Oneirogen
Orange Sunshine
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) Meeting
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PAT)
Psychoactive
Psychonaut
Psychotropic
R. Gordon Wasson
Randomized Control Trial (RCT)
Ram Dass aka Richard Alpert
Rick Doblin
Shaman
Soma
Spore
SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor)
Substrate
Summer of Love
Synesthesia
Timothy Leary
Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD)
Trip
Trip Sitter
Vasoconstriction
Zendo Project