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3000 BCE
Early use of hallucinogens
Nobody knows when hallucinogens were first used. However, they were used often by native societies of the Western Hemisphere such as the Aztecs who referred to the psychedelic mushrooms of Mexico known as peyote as "god's skin." https://www.britannica.com/science/hallucinogen -
Interest in hallucinogens sparked
The chemical Mescaline was found to be the main active component. This sparked interest in the scientific community to find medical use for hallucinogens. https://www.britannica.com/science/hallucinogen -
The First Synthetic Hallucinogen
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was first synthesized in 1938 by Sandoz Laboratories while trying to find a new analeptic drug. http://chemlabs.princeton.edu/macmillan/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/JML-hallucinogens.pdf -
Period: to
Potential uses for hallucinogens
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the experimentation of hallucinogenic drugs became quite popular. They were used to treat such things as alcoholism, autism, and were even used to ease the pain of terminally ill cancer patients. Human trials were eventually considered to be too premature and were eventually limited to strictly scientific use only. https://www.britannica.com/science/hallucinogen -
Period: to
Recreational use of hallucinogens
Sometime during the 1960s, recreational use of hallucinogens sprang up on the Western Coast of the United States. Drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy became among the most popular. This would eventually spread all the throughout North America and eventually Western Europe and Australia. https://www.britannica.com/science/hallucinogen