Excretion of p-Methoxyamphetamine administered to Humans

Abstract

PSYCHOSIS can be induced by the administration of large doses of amphetamine¹ and some of its derivatives². In man, a principal metabolite of amphetamine is p-hydroxyamphet-amine. Biological O-methylation of this compound would yield a potent hallucinogen, p-methoxyamphetamine (PMA)³. In a previous report⁴, we demonstrated that within the limit of detectability of PMA (about 80 µg/24 h urine) by a sensitive procedure employing gas chromatography of the acetyl derivative, PMA was not detected in the urine of four subjects to whom amphetamine sulphate was administered in large doses (mean of 629 mg) over an average period of 51 h. These subjects developed varying degrees of psychotic symptomatology.