Natural psychoactive substances have fascinated the curious mind of shamans, artists, scholars and laymen since antiquity. During the twentieth century, the chemical composition of the most important psychoactive drugs, that is opium, cannabis, coca and "magic mushrooms", has been fully elucidated. The mode of action of the principal ingredients has also been deciphered at the molecular level....
The concept of a 'derivative' is used widely in chemistry, where its precise meaning depends on the circumstances. However, numerous examples of derivative also occur in domestic drugs legislation, some of which stem from the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. There is a commonly held view that only 'first-order' derivatives should be considered: substances that can be...