PMA and PMMA - What Kind of Drug Is It?

What Kind of Drug Is It?

PMA and PMMA are strong and dangerous drugs that have been linked to a number of deaths in North America, Australia, and Europe. PMA and PMMA are nearly identical in chemical makeup, and their effects on the body are essentially the same. For the purpose of this entry, PMA and PMMA will be discussed as one.

PMA is a synthetic hallucinogen, meaning that it is made in a laboratory and is a mind-altering drug. Derived from the Latin word allucinari, which means "to wander in the mind," hallucinogenic drugs alter the user's perception of reality, thought, or emotion, and can result in alternate states of consciousness or hallucinationsVisions or other perceptions of things that are not really present.. PMA was known to have been used for a short time in the early 1970s in the United States and Canada and saw a comeback in the 1990s.

Deadly Deception

PMA is often sold as another synthetic hallucinogen called ecstasy (MDMA). Illegal drug makers often pass off PMA for ecstasy for several reasons: 1) Ecstasy is a popular party drug among teenagers and young adults; 2) PMA is cheaper to produce than ecstasy; and 3) PMA is similar in appearance, cost, and effect. (An entry on ecstasy is available in this encyclopedia.) However, PMA is far more dangerous than ecstasy. Its initial slow effect on the body sometimes causes users to take more of the drug because they think they have taken weak ecstasy. More drug can lead to overdose.

Official Drug Name: Paramethoxyamphetamine (PAH-ruh-meth-AHK-see-am-FETT-uh-meen) p-methoxyamphetamine, 4-methoxyamphetamine (all names for PMA); paramethoxymethamphetamine (PAH-ruh-meth-AHK-see-METH-am-fett-uh-meen; PMMA)

Also Known As: Chicken powder, chicken yellow, death, double-stacked, killer, mitsubishi, mitsubishi double-stack, red death, red mitsubishi, white mitsubishi

Drug Classifications: Schedule I, hallucinogen

Combining PMA with other drugs, alcohol, or caffeine increases the risk of overdose. (Entries on alcohol and caffeine are available in this encyclopedia.) Those who have ingested PMA have reported breathing difficulties, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms, and increased blood pressure and temperature. Those suffering from PMA overdose experience high body temperatures, sometimes resulting in convulsions, coma, and a complete shutdown of the organs of the body. This fact has led to the drug's street name "death." Since PMA is sometimes sold as ecstasy, unsuspecting users are unprepared for the potential side effects of the more deadly drug.

PMA and PMMA are often designed to look like ecstasy (pictured here). The difference is that it is much easier to overdose on PMA and PMMA. Teens have taken the drug thinking it was ecstasy with deadly results. Scott Houston/Corbis.
PMA and PMMA are often designed to look like ecstasy (pictured here). The difference is that it is much easier to overdose on PMA and PMMA. Teens have taken the drug thinking it was ecstasy with deadly results. © Scott Houston/Corbis.