OFFICIAL NAMES: Paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA), four-methoxyamphetamine (4-MA), paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA)

STREET NAMES: Death, Mitsubishi double-stack, chicken yellow, chicken powder

DRUG CLASSIFICATIONS: Schedule I, hallucinogen

Overview

PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine) is a synthetic hallucinogen. It has psychoactive effects similar to methyl-enedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, or ecstasy), another Schedule I hallucinogen. Schedule I controlled substances are defined as having a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. PMA is far more potentially lethal than ecstasy. PMA is most often ingested by drug users who think they are taking ecstasy, and find out too late that they have really ingested PMA, or "death." Overdose victims suffer an extreme rise in body temperature that shuts down the internal organs, causes convulsions, and often death. Relative to ecstasy, very small quantities of PMA are required for an overdose to...