Hallucinogens

What They Are• Drugs that alter perceptions and thinking,

intensifying and distorting visual and auditory perceptions and producing hallucinations; also called psychedelics.

• May be synthetic or derived from plants

Why People Use The Drug• Historically, hallucinogenic plants were used for religious rituals to

induce a state of detachment from reality and create "visions" though to provide mystical insight or enable contact with the spirit world or "higher power.“

• Recently, people have been using the drug for social/recreational purposes, which includes having fun, coping with stress, or enabling them to enter what they perceive as a more enlightened sense of thinking/being.

• Hallucinogens have also been tried out as therapeutic agents to treat diseases associated with perceptual distortions, such as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and dementia.

Common Examples and their Alternative Names

• LSD (Technical name: lysergic acid diethylamide) • Other names: acid, blotter, doses, hits,

microdots, sugar cubes, trips, tabs, window panes

• Magic mushrooms (Technically known as “psilocybin”) • Other street names: shrooms, boomers,

little smoke

• PCP (Technical name: phencyclidine) • Street names: ozone, rocket fuel, love

boat, hog, embalming fluid, superweed

Effects• LSD effects on body:

• Increased blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature

• Dizziness and sleeplessness

• Doss of appetite, dry mouth, and sweating

• Numbness, weakness, and tremors

• Impulsiveness and rapid emotional shifts

• PCP effects on body:

• High blood pressure

• Rapid heartbeat

• Fast breathing

• High body temperature

• aggression, anxiety, loneliness, panic, dizziness, nausea, vomiting

Consequences of Using Hallucinogens

• General repercussions include stuttering or difficulty speaking, problems with reasoning and memory, anxiety and depression, suicidal thoughts.

• PCP -This drug provides a sense of super strength and invulnerability; this combined with the inability to feel pain and poor judgement can lead to serious injury. -Users often end up in emergency rooms due to the PCP's severe psychological effects and violent or suicidal behaviors.

• LSD -In addition to bad trips and flashbacks, LSD users may also develop relatively long-lasting psychoses, such as schizophrenia or severe depression. -Other risks include paranoia and gastric bleeding (bleeding in the stomach).

Legal and Social Issues• Hallucinogens have been mostly illegal in the United States

since the 1970’s

• In recent events Magic mushrooms have been decriminalized in Denver Colorado and Oakland California, pushing states to legalize them across the country.

• Federal Regulations protect the use of peyote for ceremonial use among Native Americans

• 22 out of the 50 states have laws that do not approve of peyote use, making it difficult for native americans to participate in their religious practices.

Is it addictive?• In some cases, yes.

• LSD is not considered addictive, because it doesn't cause uncontrollable drug seeking behavior.

• People who do take LSD could produce a tolerance, so users who take LSD repeatedly must take higher doses to achieve the same effect.

• PCP is addictive, people who stop using it do experience withdrawals. (Cravings, headaches, and sweating are common symptoms.)

• More research is still needed on a variety of hallucinogens.

Route of Administration• PCP: Capsules, Tablets or Pills, Snorting,

Injecting, Inhaling, Vaporizing, or Smoking

• LSD: Capsules, Pills, Swallowing as Liquid, Absorbing Through the Lining in the Mouth using Drug-Soaked Paper Pieces

Story Time • Example of PCP usage

• Nathan’s brother Jamie was arrested on PCP, he was a chronic drug user who's weed was laced with PCP back in the 80s. This from stories passed down gave him a drunk feeling while numbing his body. Jamies thinking was impaired and he decided that it would be a good idea to run from the police. One moment he was running, the next he remembered blinking and time had passed in which he woke up with knives in his hands and police surrounding him weapons drawn. Jamie was arrested and charged with assault on a police officer, possession of stolen goods and being intoxicated in public. He served 10 years in jail…. don’t do PCP kids!