# \*Totally\* natural but \*totally\* illegal drugs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2001, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-natural-but-totally-illegal-drugs/84449 "2001-09-29T03:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-natural-but-totally-illegal-drugs/84449/21 "2001-09-30T14:14:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam420 \* > \*\* > As far as not wanting to through hormone levels out of wack goes, I think it’s interesting that one of the most intense (_ **INTENSE** _) drugs that people use is DMT, which produces brief but absolutely unreal psychedelic episodes when smoked, but is always present in measurable quantities in your brain. > \*\* Aren’t most drugs that people might take for recreational purposes already present in measureable quantities in the brain? Or if not that precise drug itself, then something very similar? After all, if your brain didn’t already have receptors for the drug it wouldn’t do a damn thing when you took it. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-natural-but-totally-illegal-drugs/84449/22 "2001-09-30T14:44:15Z")
How about some endorphins? ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-natural-but-totally-illegal-drugs/84449/23 "2001-09-30T23:18:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > Aren’t most drugs that people might take for recreational purposes already present in measureable quantities in the brain? Or if not that precise drug itself, then something very similar? After all, if your brain didn’t already have receptors for the drug it wouldn’t do a damn thing when you took it. \*\* No, not even close. Some drugs are natural analogues of existing brain chemicals, but the vast majority are competitors, antagonists, triggers etc. In other words they cause the brain to release its natural reserves of chemicals, or cause it to produce more and more of those chemicals, despite natural threshold levels having been exceeded. Those types of drugs don’t mimic natural ‘pleasure’ chemicals directly, they just stuff up the normal controls on the release and production of those substances. The reason these chemicals work isn’t because the brian has natural receptors for them, it’s because they either bind to and disable the natural chemicals in the brain, or else bind to receptors intended for completely different chemicals. It’s much like the way carbon monoxide binds very effectively to haemoglobin, or lead and arsenic bind very effectively to a variety of enzymes. That doesn’t mean that your body has receptors for CO, As or Pb. Like virtually all poisons they work by binding to sites that were never developed to cope with that particular type of shit entering your system. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Frink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-natural-but-totally-illegal-drugs/84449/24 "2001-10-01T06:49:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam420 \* > \*\*[hijack] > > As far as not wanting to through hormone levels out of wack goes, I think it’s interesting that one of the most intense (_ **INTENSE** _) drugs that people use is DMT, which produces brief but absolutely unreal psychedelic episodes when smoked, but is always present in measurable quantities in your brain. > > [/hijack] \*\* “Unreal psychedelic episodes” is putting it mildly. I’ve heard that these experience can sound uncannily like UFO encounters. Seeing that DMT is a naturally occuring neurochemical, some have suggested that those “UFO abductions” might be the result of a large release of naturally occurring DMT. Also–it’s interesting that DMT is most active during deep REM stages–Dream time, in other words. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-natural-but-totally-illegal-drugs/84449.md?page=1)