Names people actually use. What the experience is often described like. What researchers are studying. Where the biggest cautions live.
One part field guide. One part evidence map. Always a work in progress.“Commonly described” reflects recurring experience reports, not a promise of what anyone will feel. Research labels describe the maturity of a specific evidence area—not whether a medicine is safe, legal, or appropriate for an individual.
C₁₂H₁₇N₂O₄PAlso calledMagic mushrooms · Shrooms · Mushies
Sensory amplification, time distortion, emotional depth, inward focus, and sometimes awe or connection.
Depression · Anxiety · Alcohol-use disorder
C₁₁H₁₅NO₂Also calledMolly · Ecstasy · E
Warmth, openness, energy, closeness, and increased emotional or tactile intensity.
PTSD · Social anxiety
C₁₃H₁₆ClNOAlso calledKet · K · Special K
A floaty, dreamlike sense of distance from the body, surroundings, pain, or everyday thought.
Depression · Chronic pain
C₂₀H₂₅N₃OAlso calledAcid · Lucy · Blotter
Long-lasting visual texture, energized thought, unusual associations, and a stretched sense of time.
Anxiety · Alcohol-use disorder
C₁₂H₁₆N₂Also calledN,N-DMT · Dimitri · The spirit molecule
A fast, immersive shift in imagery, space, body awareness, and sense of self.
Depression · Healthy volunteers
C₂₀H₂₆N₂OAlso calledIboga alkaloid · Iboga-derived
A long, often demanding, dreamlike experience with vivid autobiographical imagery and reflection.
Opioid-use disorder · Addiction
C₁₃H₁₆ClNOAlso calledSpravato · S-ketamine · (S)-ketamine
A monitored, dreamlike or floaty dissociative state that may bring distance, dizziness, sedation, or a shift in mood.
Depression · Treatment-resistant depression
Variable preparationAlso calledYagé · Hoasca · Daime · The vine
A long, visionary, emotional, spiritual, and often physically demanding experience shaped by brew and ceremony.
Depression · Traditional healing
C₁₃H₁₈N₂OAlso calledFive · Mebufotenin · 5-methoxy-DMT
A rapid, immersive loss of ordinary self and space that may feel expansive, terrifying, peaceful, or difficult to remember.
Depression · Anxiety research
C₁₁H₁₇NO₃Also calledMesc · 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine
A long, colorful, tactile, emotionally open experience with stimulation and a sometimes demanding body load.
Healthy volunteers · Anxiety research
C₂₃H₂₈O₈Also calledSalvia · Diviner’s sage · Ska María Pastora
A brief but potentially complete replacement of ordinary reality, body ownership, gravity, identity, and environmental awareness.
Consciousness research · Traditional healing
C₁₀H₁₄BrNO₂Also calledNexus · Bees · 2CB
Colorful, tactile, social, and energetic effects that can become visually intense, nauseating, anxious, or confusing.
Human pharmacology · Consciousness research
Variable cactus alkaloidsAlso calledPeyotl · Lophophora williamsii · Buttons
A long, colorful, prayerful, emotional, social, and often nauseating cactus experience held in living Indigenous traditions.
Ceremonial healing · Human pharmacology
Variable cactus alkaloidsAlso calledHuachuma · Wachuma · San Pedro cactus · Echinopsis pachanoi
A long, grounded, heart-opening, visual, relational, and physically demanding mescaline-cactus experience.
Traditional healing · Human pharmacology
Variable plant alkaloidsAlso calledTabernanthe iboga · Iboga root bark · Eboka
An exceptionally long, visionary, ancestral, autobiographical, and physically risky experience with profound coordination loss.
Traditional healing · Addiction research
Variable mushroom constituentsAlso calledFly agaric · Fly amanita · Red-and-white amanita
An unpredictable dreamlike, sedating, delirious, or agitated state that is pharmacologically unlike psilocybin mushrooms.
Toxicology · Consciousness research
Profiles are being built one at a time so the practical, experiential, historical, safety, and research layers can live together without flattening any of them.