Every behavior in which an organism engages involves information from the primary senses, such as vision, hearing (audition), and touch. A number of drugs of abuse alter sensory information. Mind-altering drugs can also influence perception of time, thinking, behavior, and mood. Often abusers of these drugs experience severe depression, anxiety, paranoia, confusion, and terror.

Naturally occurring drugs, such as MESCALINE from the PEYOTE cactus, increase awareness of visual and auditory sensations and also produce visual illusions and HALLUCINATIONS. The PSILOCYBIN mushroom (Mexican or Magic mushroom) produces similar effects. Because of these sensory changes, mescaline and psilocybin have been used since pre-Columbian times in religious ceremonies by the peoples of Mexico and the American southwest.

LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE (LSD), an artificially-produced drug which was first synthesized in the late 1930s by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoff-mann, has...