Born illegal: The 2C class of psychedelics

Charles Shaw takes a close look at the social impact of some of Shulgin's brightest babies: The 2C phenethylamines.

How is it that a purportedly legal substance (or at the very least, one that is not explicitly illegal) garners a felony bust? Perhaps we should begin by taking a look at the mysterious compound that caused all the trouble.

2C-I (or 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine) belongs to a family of twenty-nine "2C" compounds which include the more notable 2C-B, 2C-E, and 2C-T-7 that are designated Schedule 1 or "dangerous with a high abuse potential and no known or accepted medicinal applications." All of these compounds were invented ("synthesized" is how the chemists put it) by Shulgin.

Of course, that's just the government talking, so you know where to rank their opinion. They say the same thing about marijuana, LSD, peyote, psilocybin, and DMT, none of which are addictive in the strict sense of the word, even though arguably marijuana can and does produce some "psychological dependency." As to whether any of these substances are dangerous, well, that's really all in how you define "dangerous."