Myristicin, a natural product found in nutmeg oil and nutmeg extract, contains the carbon skeleton for a series of drugs of abuse related to the 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamines (MDAs). Myristicin, 1-(3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-propene, was identified as the major component of commercially available nutmeg oil and in the organic extract of nutmeg powder. Myristicin, or methoxysafrole, is a benzodioxole with slight MAO-inhibiting properties. Myristicin is active at the 5-HT receptors in the brain, and has been shown to have hypotensive, sedative, anti-depressant, anesthetic, hallucinogenic, and serotonergic properties. Large doses generally cause hyper-excitability, followed by CNS depression. Myristicin has been shown to have potent anti-cancer properties. A 65% inhibition of the tumor multiplicity in the lung of rats was observed as the result of treatment of myristicin in rats. Myristicin showed a 31% inhibition of tumor formation in the forestomach of rats. Mice given 5 to 50 mg doses of myristicin, showed 4- to 14-fold increase in liver glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity.