psychoactiveadj.n.
/ˌsʌɪkəʊˈaktɪv/, U.S. /ˌsaɪkoʊˈæktɪv/ A. adj.
Of a drug, or its properties or effects: possessing the ability to affect the mind, emotions, or behaviour; = psychotropic adj.
ΚΠ
1958 R. W. Gerard in Trans. 2nd Res. Conf. Chemotherapy in Psychiatry 1957 56 Today we have the psychoactive drugs (an adjective..which I commend to you; it has the virtues, I think, of phrenotropic without being at all precious).
1975 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 19 Oct. 17/2 Advisers..avoided taking any position on the two most commonly used ‘psychoactive or mood-altering’ drugs—alcohol and tobacco.
1987 S. M. Stahl et al. Cognitive Neurochem. v. 64 Psychoactive drugs can affect complex behaviours in a number of ways.
2003 E. Schlosser Reefer Madness i. 55 [He]..was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for conspiring to sell ditchweed, a strain of wild marijuana that is rarely psychoactive.
B. n.
A psychoactive drug.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > medicine for mental conditions > [noun] > psychotropic or psychedelic drug
psychedelic1956
psychodysleptic1957
psychotogen1957
psychotomimetic1957
psychochemical1958
psychopharmaceutical1962
psychoactive1965
psychotropic1966
psychomimetic1967
mood drug1970
1965 Brit. Columbia Med. Jrnl. 7 554 In recent years, a group of drugs variously referred to as the psychoactives, psychic energizers, antidepressants,..or mood elevators has been introduced into medicine in an attempt to counteract depression states pharmacologically.
1991 N. Boyd High Society i. 13 Criminalization is..a battle in which the domestic military are asked to arrest and convict those who possess certain psychoactives.
2004 G. St John Rave Culture & Relig. Introd. 6 The prospect of young (especially white) people..entering alternate states of consciousness and communicating with the sacred (with or without the assistance of psychoactives).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1958