PMA - Substance Search

Summary Erowid

PMA is a strong psychedelic which may cause dangerous overheating of the body. PMA has been sold in ecstasy tablets, and has lead to life-threatening or fatal hyperthermia in some users.

Perspectives

“At just over an hour, there was a sudden blood pressure rise, with the systolic going up 55 mm. This was maintained for another hour. I found the effects reminiscent of DET, distinct after-images, and some parasthesia. I was without any residue by early evening (after 5 hours).”

— Alexander Shulgin, PiHKAL (with 60 mg)

Dose Information PsychonautWiki

ROA	Light	Common	Strong	Heavy
Oral	20-40mg	40-60mg	-	-

Light Common Strong Heavy

Onset, Duration & After-effects PsychonautWiki

ROA	Onset	Total
Oral	1-2 hrs	2-4 hrs

Effect Profile

17 reports

Scores (1–10) curated from multiple sources:

Effect keyword matching from PsychonautWiki catalog
Weighted by importance: core (×3), major (×2), minor (×1)

Full methodology

Psychedelic 4.6

Moderate+ 5/10

Moderate visuals with mild auditory effects and body load, low headspace

Visual Intensity ×3

7

color enhancement drifting tracers pattern recognition enhancement

Headspace Depth ×3

2

time distortion confusion

Auditory Effects ×1

4

auditory distortion

⚠ Body Load / Somatic Effects ×1

4

nausea increased heart rate

Stimulant 3.8

Moderate 4/10

Strong anxiety/jitters with moderate stimulation, low euphoria and focus

Stimulation / Energy ×3

6

stimulation wakefulness alertness enhancement

Euphoria / Mood Lift ×2

3

euphoria

Focus / Productivity ×2

2

analysis enhancement

⚠ Anxiety / Jitters ×1

8

anxiety restlessness increased heart rate

Opioid 2.6

Light+ 3/10

Mild itching/nausea with low euphoria and sedation

Euphoria / Warmth ×3

3

euphoria

Analgesia ×2

0

Sedation / Relaxation ×1

3

sedation

⚠ Itching / Nausea ×1

4

nausea

Based on reports from:

PiHKAL PiHKAL #97: 4-MA Erowid Experience Reports PsychonautWiki PMA

Tolerance

Build-up develops within days of regular use; analgesic tolerance faster than respiratory depression tolerance

Reset 7–14 days for partial reset; full reset may take weeks — tolerance loss greatly increases overdose risk

Tolerance Decay

Full tolerance 1d Half tolerance 7d Baseline ~35d

Data on PMA-specific tolerance are scarce; pattern approximated from amphetamine-like stimulants with serotonergic activity. Anecdotal reports suggest rapid acute tolerance during binges and partial cross-tolerance with MDMA-class agents.

Cross-Tolerances

MDMA

50%

MDA

50%

other substituted amphetamines

30%

Effects Erowid

Aggregated from 17 Erowid experience reports

Positive Effects 5

Euphoria 52.9% 70%

Anxiety Suppression 47.1% 70%

Sedation 35.3% 70%

Color Enhancement 17.6% 70%

Music Enhancement 17.6% 70%

Adverse Effects 2

Nausea 41.2% 70%

Confusion 17.6% 70%

Combinations TripSit

Cross-Check PMA with another substance

Community Trip Reports

Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, and Bluelight. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance.

Erowid 8 reports 6 neutral 2 cautionary visit

First and Last Experience with PMA neutral exp #69903

I had been taking ecstasy for over a year and a half on a regular basis, on average every second weekend with the occasional 4-5 day binges. I was by no means an inexperienced user, I liked to get on it and when I did I went hard.

Ecstacy Nightmare neutral exp #22245

I had done ecstacy once before, and I wanted more than anything to repeat the experience. My friend picked up some white double stacked pills with white triangles on them, that we were told contained MDMA. I took the pill around 11AM in my house with one friend.

Spoiled Ecstacy neutral exp #7993

Well, I had been on the outlook for some Ecstacy for a while, and I was really happy when a friend dropped by to tell me he had a few pills called roosters, so I bought them off him.

Not to Dance neutral exp #29998

I feel I must first point out that I did not voluntarily take PMA as a recreational substance but rather discovered after ingesting a pill that its content was not the MDMA I believed to of bought. The tablet was a large with the famous 3 triangled Mitsubishi logo stamped on it, the tablet was white.

Thought it was Speed.... neutral exp #7782

A friend came over the other night and we decided to have some 'speed' we snorted 1 1/2 points each. When I sorted my lines I found it to be alot more painful than usual and the taste was slightly different to the Speed taste I am used to. The colour was a slight beige yellow, looked like usual rock speed.

PMA-Mitsubishi-Chicago neutral exp #5162

We were just having dinner. As we know that it's better to eat before a roll than during or after. The dinner was chicken and vegetables. no alcohol was used during the meal. A half hour of talking time passed and we dropped. Three of us. We all had taken MDMA before and even took 'Mistubishi's' while in England.

The Dinner Table cautionary exp #17651

[Erowid Note: A substance(s) in this report might be identified incorrectly. Erowid reviewers question the author's identification of the drug described. Although the report is included in the collection, the substance might be something other than the author believed it to be.] Last autumn, I took one of these PMA-pil...

Norwegian Teenager Dies After Taking Ecstasy cautionary exp #2485

A 17-year-old girl from Oslo died late Sunday night after taking a toxic ecstasy tablet one week earlier. It's suspected that the 'Mitsubishi' pill she had taken may have contained a cheap but deadly amphetamine substitute, PMA. The teenager went into a coma last Sunday and was taken to Buskerud central hospital.

Bluelight 3 threads 1 neutral 2 cautionary visit

Pma Inexperienced Its Good neutral

Yeah, so basically every report I have ever read about PMA was written by someone who took waaaay too much, or took it mistaking it to be MDx or speed... and there doesn't seem to be any dosage guidelines on Erowid except "pushing 60mg can cause overheating" etc., while at the same time the PiHKAL entry decribes the do...

Pma First Time A Nightmare Come True cautionary

PMA - a nightmare come true Well, I have barely ever seen trip reports abou PMA (except Shulgin's and in my opinion he was MAD for trying this substance!).. So, after long consideration I thought I should share my experience with this substance.

Pma First Time If You Have To Try It Do It At Home cautionary

It is Important to note here that PMA (Para-MethoxyAmphetamine) is a very dangerous drug with neurotoxic long term effects along with dangerous acute effects that occur along side the psychedelic effects. PMA should never be taken as a recreational drug and pills should be avoided when PMA is a suspected constituent.

PiHKAL / TiHKAL Shulgin

PiHKAL #97: 4-MA

“At just over an hour, there was a sudden blood pressure rise, with the systolic going up 55 mm. This was maintained for another hour. I found the effects reminiscent of DET, distinct after-images, and some parasthesia. I was without any residue by early evening (after 5 hours).”

— Alexander Shulgin, PiHKAL (with 60 mg)

PMA's nerd page Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more

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Helpful Links

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PMA Encyclopedic Encyclopedic Typical encyclopedia coverage. Cross-reference for important decisions. 2 corroborating sources partial dose data duration data present 19 combo interactions documented PubChem toxicity data classified Tentative