 In a systematic review from 2014 of the chemical synthesis of designer drugs, the effects of Shulgin's work were described as "by far the most far-reaching" in the cultural climate of interest in hallucinogenic compounds – as presumed to have peaked in the 1950s – and in its consequences as "devastating".Shulgin claimed that mescaline made him aware of the existence of a world buried in our spirit, whose "availability" was "catalyzed" by chemicals.In the same review an example of his insights was given by his description of MDMA as "his low-calorie Martini".