Sensation is not perception.

To be psychoactive, capsaicin would need to warp your perceptions, rather than solely induce the sensation of burning pain.

As the original article notes it does appear to have a psychoactive effect beyond the sensation of burning pain (though if a sensation of pleasure is a psychoactive effect why wouldn't a sensation of pain be?).

I found additional sources going into the likely pharmacology of this effect:

> Namely, capsaicin and vanillin (and anandamide itself) are all agonists of the TRPV1 receptor, which stimulates production and release of endogenous anandamide. When mixed with N-linoleoylethanolamide and N-oleoylethanolamide from cacao, which inhibit anandamide breakdown, the levels of endogenous anandamide are augmented further. When breakdown of anandamide is inhibited pharmacologically or genetically, anandamide is able to produce a state of intoxication similar to tetrahydrocannabinol in rodents and nonhuman primates

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6706955/

Interesting, that does remind me of times that some people would experience a brief “glow” feeling after consuming a handful of “inferno” chicken wings.

Wait, so psychedelic mushrooms aren’t a drug by that definition?

Psychedelic shrooms are not ordinarily consumed "as food", though they are eaten. But they taste like ass and often cause nausea. The primary purpose is unambiguously to get high.

Also, psilocybin is probably still scheduled explicity from before the law was passed.

Does it explicitly exclude alcohol? Seems like alcohol would hit all of these marks

Yes and nicotine