5-Br-DMT REPORTS?

In 2013 I published a series of reports in Vice magazine on 5-Bromo-DMT, a sponge alkaloid with psychedelic activity in man. The potency was lower than DMT and the effect was less than spectacular, but the simple fact that the drug represented the first psychedelic isolated from the ocean (and only the ocean) made it fascinating. The article generated some modest discussion on drug forums and then interest faded away.

To my surprise and excitement, two years and seven months after the article's publication, 5-Br-DMT appeared for sale among the offerings of a research chemical vendor. I waited patiently for reports to appear on drug forums and Reddit but was only able to find a single report posted on October 30th by a user named Sporelock:

"I have tried this. It provided a thorough stoning effect, with the only visuals produced being colour saturation and mild waving or breathing, like a low dose of mushrooms or something, and that was at its most intense part. Its just nice an relaxing, and very smooth but light. This is not a breakthrough intensity experience like plain DMT or 5-MeO-DMT. I loaded around 50-65(?) mg into a pipe and shared it with two other friends, (this is a guess I didnt actually measure it because I knew its effects were very light and going too far is pretty difficult).Worth a try, and it doesn't exhaust you very much. You are totally functional and we were able to city bus down to a restaurant for a beer part way through the experience.......I was past the peak though and only had to talk while getting a beer. I didn't need to control my headspace around my friends at the bar though. Just a little extra focus while talking to the barkeep. Theres a minor headspace, but its manageable definitely.
...While its not super intense or overly active, it still is a DMT analogue. And all tryptamines have fucked up tolerance curves. Its like a once a week maximum thing to be honest. Im just assuming you smoke weed more than 1 time a week. plus weed will be far easier to find. It was nice to smoke weed and be on 5-br-dmt, but its just not feasible to always have it.
...If it combusts alot of the activity is lost, or so Ive heard. You need to get a crack pipe or an actualy vaporizer and hover your lighter under it until you see thin vapour forming and inhale those. Look online for proper use of a crack pipe."

I was unable to find additional reports and have no idea how many people have used this drug. Since the publication of the Vice article Jason Wallach and I have continued to study 5-Br-DMT and may write a followup piece. If you have used 5-Br-DMT please send me an email to tell me about your response, the more datapoints the better.

2-(2-ethoxy-5-methoxy-4-methylphenyl)ethan-1-amine

[2-(1H-indol-2-yl)ethyl]bis(propan-2-yl)amine

Alexander Shulgin's drew me this diagram toward the end of his life, due to his failing vision the molecule was almost a blind contour, which resulted in the diisopropylethylamine side chain being attached to the indole 2-position as opposed to the 3-position. Though I imagine this was drawn in error I can't help but see it as a clue, maybe a result of a subconscious interest in the 2-isotryptamines, a synthetically challenging and pharmacologically promising area. 

AM-2233 INDUCED TINNITUS: COLLECTED REPORTS

The structure and cannabinoid receptor affinity of the benzoylindole AM-2233 was first reported in 2001, the compound contains a chiral center in the 2-position of the piperidine ring with the more active (R)-enantiomer possessing 0.2nm affinity for the CB1 receptor. Aside from its high potency in vivo and iodine substituent that can be used for radioisotopic labeling, AM-2233 has the unusual ability to induce tinnitus in those who consume it. Below I have collected a series of anecdotal reports.

Shockwaves went down my arms, swim could hear an extremely loud ringing in my ears as swim felt his whole body go numb and feel like the threads of my body start to come a part, it litterly felt I was about to die....First his hearing started to become muffled like as the ringing grew louder, and his vision continued to get dimmer and dimmer....Yes a strong ringing, actually when swim started to lose his hearing an overwhelming ringing came in....it does have potential though, but swim is wondering whats causes the hearing, and what other receptors does it act on to do that?
-godlike1213, November 2011

...the ringing/hearing loss effect really seems to be a distinctive characteristic of AM-2233. I personally disliked it, and am not looking forward to try this particular substance ever again. Except maybe in combination of some other cannabinoid(s), in small quantity.
-fehs, November 2011

The hearing going out and a ringing in my ears worse than after DeadMau5 concert was always in the way of enjoying AM-2233's effects. It gave SWIM a lot of anxiody. For days after having tested 1/2 a gram on Damiana blend SWIM was still questioning his hearing and thought there was ringing....SWIM will never see to further research with AM-2233, SWIM know's all he wants to about it, and thinks it may be quite toxic in some way. I also want to know what receptor is it affecting to alter hearing depth so dramaticly, and how potentially hazardous this RC possible is.
-CkenX, November 2011

My feline friend Ziggui and her friends dubbed AM-2233 "Tinnitus Powder".. lol. She said the horrible ringing always got in the way, and when she ran out of AM-2201 and was awaiting the new batch, she stated that AM-2233 was no where near even a temporary replacement for AM-2201, She is truly opposed to further research on this RC.
-d42kn355, May 2012

Swim does confirm the humming in my head around the sides it is a lil annoying what causes the humming that is interesting to me...swim said that last night the effects of buzzing humming ears last longer than sleeping 6 hrs and said the humming was still slightly present maybe the rc binds to more than cb receipters if sound travels to the brain by chemistry than am2233 could be binding on audiotory transmitters causing a hum thank god it is just a humming sound you can audiably hear and feal but not some lil prick talking in your head haha
-Ynot, September 2011

...the humming effect wasn't really bothering me much at first but when the dosage was increased even further the auditory effect changed; not only was my ears humming like before but now everything was also heavily 'muffled', kind of if I was covering my ears with my hands or something.
-fehs, September 2011

After the whole ordeal, a distinct ringing in both ears could be heard. Hearing also felt muffled as if coming home from a concert. This ringing remained persistant and induced some worry. Quickly with the internet experiences I learned ringing or "humming" is duely noted from a handfull of people. This confirmed the sample to be AM-2233 for sure....AM-2233 smoked off a blend is much more pleasant, with less "yuky" OD feeling, and less ringing in the ears/feeling of needing to "pop". Further research shall be conducted.....Ringing and buzzing is present, it seems, at possibly all/any dose. Hate to admit it, but AM-2233 is surprisingly potant in its own fashion.
-CkenX, September 2011

With 2233, I would describe it more like loss of hearing than humming. Kind of if you held your hands on your ears or something....with 2233, the "humming effect" was very different, and so distinctive feature... and it happened every time when I exceeded certain size of doses, and became more intense the more I kept smoking, while there clearly was no typical symptoms of cannabinoid overdose in the air....Not necessarily at the lowest doses, or to a small extent only, but it didn't take very much either, certainly doesn't require "od-levels" to achieve a strong dampening effect. No hallucinations really, just rather boring dulling of normal sounds... well, with a twist maybe, but not a twist large enough for me to call it hallucination.
-fehs, January 2012

Theirs AM-2233 I've brought from a site in the UK. It's not a bad buzz,it gets you stoned for about a hourish,more of a Sativa feeling to it,the only problem I noticed was a ringing sound in the ears,slightly off putting.
-pickledshrooms, November 2011

I really strongly reccomend against using am-2233, it is not a nice high and you get thee loudest ringing in your ears. Its just one of those 'unpleasent' synth highs but 90% of the time you smoke it.
-OTGee, March 2012

...had a massive overdose, parachuting 300 milligrams (i thought i was consuming a different chemical for which that amount would be a low dose) -aside from the horrible psichedelic like dying bad trip, gf fearing i had gone permanently insane- i went deaf for a whole day with horrible tinnitus
-cosmic._.ape, December 2012

...been there done that with said noid [AM 2233] my self i woke one morning after smoking it could not get of the bed painic attacks ring in the ears the works.
-foolsgold, December 2012

But since then I have been noticing little things that arn't quite right. For example Id say almost every day I have a pounding headache, I feel as if I have an irregular heartbeat although I went to doctors and they checked my blood pressure and said it was fine? I have also had unbearable tinnitus and iv heard that am2233 can lead to this?
-AphexSwim, May 2012

Personally I couldn't consume much 2233 due to the ridiculously high vape temp which seemed to be so close to the pyrolysis temp it was unreal, big cloulds of indoly smoke, also the tinnitus it gave me was horrid, first RC I've ever binned!
-hx_, March 2012

There is a new incense blend being sold retail in Australia that causes a loud ringing sensation in the ears that starts an hour after use. The ringing last for a couple of hours and is really annoying. A few different people have reported this now and it has been reported to the manufacturer without a response….Some people have reported AM-2233 causes ringing in the ears.
-nekointheclouds, June 2012

RESEARCH ASSISTANT WANTED

I am in the midst of writing a book, it's an expansion of this article in Harper's Magazine about the unsolved murder of Steven Pollock and will be published by McSweeny's. The research for this book is extremely demanding and I need someone to assist me. Please respond if you meet the following criteria:

• You live in New York.
• You are capable or spending tens or hundreds of hours working on this project with me in New York.
• You are exceptionally good at both archival and electronic research. 

I am willing to pay for your food and transportation and possibly more depending on how good you are. Please do not respond unless you have read the Harper's article and meet the above criteria.

CUBENSIS AQUARIUM GARDENING?

For several years I have been hunting for a copy of the last book by Richard Gutierrez (pseud. Rich Gee) titled Cubensis Aquarium Gardening, a book surpassed even by Guzman's legendary Psilocybe monograph in its elusiveness. (The latter book circulates in digital copies, the former appears to be entirely unavailable.) Cubensis Aquarium Gardening is listed as having been published in 1995 by Ars Obscura, yet when I contacted Ars Obscura to ask about the availability of reprints or remainders, they had no knowledge of the book. Although Cubensis Aquarium Gardening is listed for sale on a few websites, none of them actually stock it and no digital copies are available as far as I can tell. Cubensis Aquarium Gardening is only 35 pages long and was likely printed in a very limited edition, the only reference I can find to anyone actually having read it is from John Allen. 

I am aware the techniques offered in the book may be outdated or available elsewhere, I am simply interested in this book for its historical value and for images of early specimens of the Penis Envy cubensis variety.

ULTRASONIC SPEAKERS?

I've been in the process of designing an experiment that requires precise control over the frequency and amplitude of sound waves and must encompass ultrasonic frequencies, ideally up to 70 kHz. I'm aware that is well outside the range of human hearing and closer to the frequencies used in ultrasonic cleaners. Many bird callers and electronic pest control devices advertise the ability to produce ultrasonic frequencies but it is unclear how much range these speaker possess and if they can be modified for other applications. I have also seen ultrasonic piezoelectric speakers that advertise frequencies up to 70kHz but I am uncertain, again, how limited their range is. Ebay is full of signal generators that can produce sine waves of almost any frequency but I believe these still require a transducer to convert the signal and are probably replaceable by various computer programs.

So this is my question: can anyone with a background in sound engineering or alike recommend a minimally expensive, maximally accurate system to produce pure tones of a precise frequency and amplitude (as well as ultrasound more generally) and a speaker to transmit them?

pCA NEUROTOXICITY: DIABLO XXX FORMULA 3?

With the recent news that a variety of legal high products featuring 4-chloroamphetamine (pCA) as an active ingredient have appeared on the gray market I thought I'd post an excerpt from my Harper's article published earlier this year that describes the experimental use of pCA as an antidepressant:

One of the most frightening things about the human brain is how poorly it gauges its own functioning. Things quickly become complicated when you attempt to measure the performance of an instrument with the instrument performing the measurement. In 1969 a Dutch psychiatrist named Herman M. van Praag conducted a series of experiments on depressed patients with 4-chloroamphetamine, a new drug that possessed a significant therapeutic effect and was tolerated excellently; not a single patient complained of side effects. Though Praag discontinued his work in the mid- ’70s, 4-chloroamphetamine is still used widely today, not as an antidepressant but as a neurotoxin for selective depletion and destruction of serotonergic neurons in experimental animals. The point being that humans cannot necessarily feel neurological changes. Many disorders of the brain are accompanied by a commensurate inability to perceive the disorder. The later stages of Alzheimer’s, for example, are characterized by memory loss so severe that the deficits are forgotten.

A more intuitive example of this phenomenon is encountered in the peripheral nervous system where superficial first and second degree burns are extremely painful but deep third and forth degree burns can be relatively painless due to complete destruction of sensory receptors in the skin, just because there is no sensation doesn't mean there hasn't been damage done. I wanted to post all this in response to a number of claims that pCA's lack of acute adverse effects could be interpreted as an indicator that it lacks toxicity.

Chemically pCA is highly optimized for depleting serotonin stores and virtually all structural modifications such as N-methylation, N-hydroxylation, β-hydroxylation, ketoximidation*, or 3,4-dichlorination decrease its toxicity. It also possesses a much higher toxicity than pIA or pFA, with only pBA exhibiting comparable potency. The mechanism of pCA's toxicity is still unclear and after reviewing the literature the only thing that can be said with certainty is that it's SERT dependent and blocked by SERT inhibitors. 

I've been reading a lot of the discussion posted on Reddit, Bluelight, and other forums and it seems the harm reduction community succeeded in preventing the sale of pCA containing products as they have recently been removed from the vendor's website. If the tablets were actually pressed then I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the vendor simply responded to the outcry by removing the offending items and reintroducing them under a different name so I would treat any of their offerings with extreme caution. If anyone did purchase the pCA containing tablets please email me as I would very much like to confirm that this material was actually being sold.

*Presumably the nounal form of ketoxime 

MK-801 HISTORY?

Despite having been in gray-market use for almost twenty years, MK-801 is arguably the least common RC dissociative. It is so rare that I am not entirely sure how many of the reports on its qualitative effects (which are less than ten in number) are from users ingesting material diverted from legitimate bioscience suppliers or laboratories (in which context it's common) relative to those acquiring the material from gray-market RC sources. Accounting for MK-801's extreme scarcity are a non-trivial four-step synthesis from an unusual precursor (5-dibenzosuberenone), its association with at least one fatal poisoning, its implication in the formation of Olney's lesions (which, I am aware, have never been observed in humans), and its general conception as a non-euphoric, Jacob's Ladder-ish amnesiogen. But recently Erowid published an extraordinarily detailed MK-801 experience report that presents what I feel is the most illuminating description of the drug's qualitative effects written thus far. The report (titled The Most Beautiful Lobotomy I Ever Had and written by a user named viscosity) incorporates some objective measurement of vital signs, multiple trials at escalating doses, and passing mention of use by the author's friends. Here is an excerpt:

I somehow am able to use the webcam on my computer and take many random video clips where I start recording only to forget what I wanted to say or why I even began recording in the first place. So I make some short 5 second comment about how I’m really far gone and just use undescriptive phrases like “What just happened?” “I’m not really sure” “I don’t know” and “Wow. Just Wow”. My ability to communicate verbally is pretty messed up as I’m stuttering, taking with a heavy speech impediment and keep loosing words in the middle of sentences. I can’t seem to convey in English what the drug feels like at all. It’s so intensely strange and surreal the words completely escape me....
In some videos I obviously have no clue what I’m doing or that I am even recording. I record myself eating something, then wander off camera only to come back at the computer to stare at it, trying to make sense of it, then wander off to mumble some incoherent gibberish off camera. At one point I cannot locate the trash can to throw a food container away for a good couple of minutes and am completely mystified as to where it had gone. It was actually only one and a half feet from its usual location but I could not remember that I had moved it there, and its new location was seemingly invisible to me despite it being directly in my field of vision. I’m not in a bad mood, but I am completely shot at this point and very confused. I even somehow manage to record a video of me watching a video of myself that I had just recorded of me watching myself on the video preview (that one was pretty funny to watch later. By the look on my face I seem to be kind of amused, yet absolutely bewildered and unable to process the sensory stimuli in front of me).

I'm posting this for two reasons: first it's simply an interesting report that counters the idea that euphoric effects of ketamine and other NMDA antagonists can only result from action at targets other than the NMDA receptor, and secondly because I am writing a review article about gray-market dissociative history and would very much like to collect reports from anyone who has self-experimented with MK-801 (also called dizocilpine) or who can provide me with historical information about RC vendors that have carried it in the past.

KETAMINE FREEBASE: CRIMINAL COUNTERION?

In 1999 ketamine was made a schedule III controlled substance in the United States. In the following years China, a major exporter of ketamine, also subjected the chemical to more stringent control and Sichuan began to formally regulate export of ketamine in 2004. If you look at posts on various drug forums during the period between 2002 and 2004 it is frequently stated that China prohibited non-medical export of the hydrochloride salt but not the freebase resulting in laboratories vending the freebase form exclusively:

[There was] a funny window where China had scheduled ketamine HCl but not the base, so that took up the slack.
- J, 2013

There is also alot of Ketamine freebase comming out of china these days, it is diff than the typical ketamine hcl (salt)
(this is because exporting ketamine hcl was outlawed so they just switched to the freebase)
- shroomy, 2002

For some reason people seem to be able to get lots of this ketamine freebase now-a-days. is there some sort of different legal status for this stuff then for the HCL form?
- pberezansky, 2003 

There used to be a big import market from China, but there was a clamp down and now China only exports Freebase Ketamine and not Hydrachroide. Freebase is much harder to use and has to be converted into the salt.
- budda, 2004

There are also an abundance of threads and teks from that period detailing the conversion of ketamine freebase to the hydrochloride salt aimed at scientifically untrained ketamine users in possession of the freebase. This is all to say I believe there is sufficient (indirect) evidence to support the idea that this practice was taking place in China in the early 2000s, my question is whether any of you (readers) can help me find direct evidence that China controlled the HCl salt of ketamine but not the drug itself––effectively prohibiting the chloride counterion––which is ridiculous. If anyone reading this speaks Chinese or could direct me to a lawyer familiar with Chinese drug law during that period, help would be greatly appreciated.

tl;dr

I want to substantiate the claim that ketamine hyrdrochloride, but not the freebase, was legally controlled in China during the early/mid 2000s. 

HAVING A SHOW

“You’re terrible,” he says.

“You’re terrible,” he repeats.

“You’re terrible,” he repeats with additional emphasis.

“What?” I reply.

“You’re terrible,” he says.

“He’s terrible,” he says to a man standing between us.

“What?” the man between us asks, directing the question at me.

“Is he joking or being genuinely hostile?” I ask, directing the question at the man between us. 

“Are you joking?” the man between us asks the man. 

“He’s terrible,” the man responds, “He has a show on Vice, it’s terrible, everyone agrees.”

“You have a show?” the man between us asks cheerfully.

“He has a show about drugs,” the man answers for me.

“Is it a video show?” the man between us asks with genuine interest.

“Yes,” I respond.

“I used to work for Vice with Timmy Barber eating cockroaches,” the man who thinks I'm terrible says, I believe.

“Your terrible,” he says.

THE DEATH OF JAMES ARTHUR?

James Arthur (aka James Dugovic or James Dugovic Arthur) was an infamous lay ethnomycologist and author of Mushrooms and Mankind, a book I find interesting for reasons entirely separate from Arthur's original intention. Mushrooms and Mankind serves as a timeless testament to the power of pareidolia in the wishful male psychomycophile, there are few other published works that indulge such freewheeling speculation in an effort to prove the central role of mushrooms in human history. 

But even more interesting than Mushrooms and Mankind is the issue of James Arthur's pedophilia. I am a proficient Google searcher (an exceedingly rare skill) and so I've read discussions of the topic posted on the Shroomery and various other mushroom and psychedelic interest forums. I have also seen his mugshot and the formal listing of his crimes including: 

*Lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years

*Assault to commit mayhem, rape, etc.
*Continuous sexual abuse of a child
*Oral copulation with a person under 14 years
*Oral copulation with force

I am posting this because I am looking for detailed information on James Arthur's sex crimes, either in the form of a police incident report, an arrest affidavit, a case disposition report, or similar. There is a wealth of anecdotal and second-hand information but I am looking for verifiable first-hand reports and formal documentation.

5-Br-DMT: SYNTHESIS AND EFFECTS

Please enjoy a new article on marine psychedelics that I wrote with Jason Wallach. It details a synthetic route to 5-Br-DMT as well as TiHKAL-style analysis of the subjective effects of the compound in human experimenters.

SEA DMT

A DISCUSSION WITH ADAM GREEN & DANIEL PINCHBECK

SCREENING AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

Dear Massachusettsians, tomorrow I will be screening select episodes of Pharmacopeia (as well as some new unaired footage) at Brandeis University. The screening will be followed by a Q&A and is free of charge. I hope to see you there.

FREDERIK HEINZ BARTH

I am looking to contact Frederik Heinz Barth, we had a written exchange in 2008 but I've since been unable to get messages to you. If you read this please send me an email as I would like to reconnect to ask a question about the synthesis of substituted 1,8-naphthyridines.

MARKOVNIKOV DIBROMIDE

I am contemplating some hypothetical difficulties in the synthesis of 2,5-dibromohexane from 1,5-hexadiene. I am aware that this is a simple reaction that can be achieved in many ways but I would like to accomplish it in such a way that a messy separation is minimally necessary, be it via selective chemical extraction, column chromatography, or fractional distillation. The main unwanted side-products in this synthesis would be the mixed-Markovnikov product and the full anti-Markovnikov product. My first option is simple bromination with (aq) HBr and an appropriate phase transfer catalyst or a similar reaction involving hydrogen bromide gas. My second option is oxymercuration-demurcuration yielding hexane-2,5-diol which can then be subjected to a high yielding and selective bromination with PBr3. The third option is acid catalyzed hydration to the diol with H2SO4 and water followed by bromination with PBr3.

I would prefer not to use hydrogen bromide gas or mercuric acetate (which will require recycling of the metallic mercury liberated during demercuration) and so I lean toward acid catalyzed hydration. Would anyone with practical experience using the above methods enlighten me regarding their relative regioselectivity for the Markovnikov product? I believe it would be something like this: oxymercuration-demurcuration>acid catalyzed hydration>HBr addition.

AMIDE REDUCTION

I'LL BE TALKING ABOUT CONSCIOUSNESS

This Thursday with Adam Green and Daniel Pinchbeck. I hope to see you there. 

HYPNOTIC DINOSAURS