Over the years, the use of these drugs in religious rites became fused with Christianity, and even today some tribes believe that God put some of His power into peyote, and Jesus was the man who gave the plant to the Indians in a time of need. Psilocybe Muscorumi - one of the family of 'magic mushrooms'. The peyote cactus. Mescaline is made when the caps, or buttons, are dried and eaten, brewed into tea or powdered into capsules. Their use became fashionable in the UK in the 1970s as a 'natural' and legal alternative to LSD .
Examples are serotonin and norepinephrine .
The hydrolysed form of psilocybin with the change shown in blue Many hallucinogens are variations of important biological substances called indole-amines . An example of an important indole-amine is the serotonin molecule mentioned earlier. This allows the molecules to more readily penetrate the central nervous system, and hence makes them more potent. Psilocybin has this indole ring, with a phosphoric acid group attached to it. In the body the phosphoric acid group is oxidised to the hydroxyl compound, known as psilocin , which is equally psycho-active.