A routine traffic stop Tuesday led to the city’s first discovery of a narcotic referred to as “LSD on steroids,” police said.

“We have not heard of it nor seen it in Vicksburg before,” said police Chief Walter Armstrong. “It was in a crystal form.”

Patrick Andrew Traylor, 21, 3424 Drummond St., was charged with possession of a controlled substance in the 3300 block of Drummond Street near National Street at 5:52 p.m. after the traffic stop.

Police found the drug, a hallucinogen called dimethyltryptamine or DMT, in his car, Vicksburg police Sgt. Sandra Williams said.

Traylor had five grams with a street value of $2,000 on the front passenger seat of his vehicle, Armstrong said.

A search of his home yielded three more grams, with a street value of $1,200.

Usually seen as oil or crystals, the schedule 1 drug, which makes the offense a felony, is vaporized in a glass pipe or mixed in cigarettes with tobacco or marijuana.

The drug is a derivative of plants including anadenanthera peregrina seeds and virola bark, which are found in South America and the West Indies. By the time it is used as a recreational drug, it is synthetic.

“It’s more prevalent in California,” Armstrong said. “They often refer to it as ‘LSD on steroids.’ It’s pretty potent.”

The chief said the drug is not volatile when manufactured.

“It’s a natural psychodelic hallucinogen found in many plants,” said Armstrong.

DMT changes from white to reddish-pink as it ages and smells like burning plastic when smoked. Hallucinations last about 30 minutes.

DMT vapor produces a harsh feeling on the lungs, elevates blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature and dilates pupils.

Sheriff Martin Pace said he has not seen the drug in Warren County.

Traylor, who was on probation with the Mississippi Department of Corrections for a 2007 burglary conviction in Hinds County, was being held without bond today at the Warren County Jail.