Hallucinogen drugs PCP Acid LSD Angel Dust Ketamine Tik
Hallucinogen drugs are those that cause hallucinations profound distortions in a person’s perceptions. Of reality like PCP Acid LSD Angel Dust Ketamine Tik.
Under the influence of hallucinogens, people see images, hear sounds, and feel sensations. These seem real but do not exist. Some hallucinogens also pro d u c e rapid, intense emotional swings. Hallucinogens cause their effects by disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin.
Distributed
Distributed throughout the brain and spinal cord, the serotonin system is involved in the control of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems. Including mood, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control, and sensory perception. LSD (an abbreviation of the German words for “lysergic acid diethylamide”) is the drug most commonly identified. With the term “hallucinogen” and the most widely used in this class of drugs. It is considered the typical hallucinogen, and the characteristics of its action and effects described in this Research Report apply to the other hallucinogens, including mescaline, psilocybin, and ibogaine.
What are dissociative drugs?
Drugs such as PCP (phencyclidine) and ketamine, which were initially developed as general anesthetics. Used for surgery, distort perceptions of sight and sound and produce feelings of detachment, dissociation. This from the environment and self, but these mind-altering effects are not hallucinations.
Dissociative anesthetics
PCP and ketamine are therefore more properly known as “dissociative anesthetics.” Dextromethorphan, a widely available cough suppressant. When taken in high doses can produce effects similar to those of PCP and ketamine. The dissociative drugs act by altering distribution of the neurotransmitter glutamate throughout the brain.
Glutamate is involved in perception of pain, responses to the environment, and memory. PCP is considered the typical dissociative drug. And the description of PCP’s actions and effects in this Research Report largely applies to ketamine and dextromethorphan as well.
Why take hallucinogen drugs ?
Hallucinogenic drugs have played a role in human life for thousands of years. Cultures from the tropics to the arctic have used plants to induce states of detachment. This from reality and to precipitate “visions” thought to provide mystical insight. These plants contain chemical compounds, such as mescaline, psilocybin, and ibogaine. These are structurally similar to serotonin, and they produce their effects by disrupting normal functioning of the serotonin system.
Historically, hallucinogenic plants were used largely for social and religious ritual. Their availability was limited by the climate and soil conditions they require. After the development of LSD, a synthetic compound that can be manufactured anywhere, abuse of hallucinogens became more widespread. Plus from the 1960s it increased dramatically. All LSD manufactured in this country is intended for illegal use. Consequently illegal as LSD has no accepted medical use in the United States.
Physical characteristics of LSD
LSD is a clear or white, odorless, water-soluble material synthesized from lysergic acid. Therefore a compound derived from a rye fungus. This is the most potent mood- and perception – altering drug known. Hence oral doses as small as 30 micrograms can produce effects that last 6 to 12 hours. LSD is initially produced in crystalline form. Therefore the pure crystal can be crushed to powder and mixed with binding agents to produce tablets known as “ microdots” or thin squares of gelatin called “window panes”; more commonly, it is evidently dissolved, diluted, and applied to paper or other materials.
The most common form of LSD is called “blotter acid”—sheets of paper soaked in LSD and perforated into 1/4-inch square, individual dosage units. Variations in manufacturing and the presence of contaminants can produce LSD in colors ranging from clear or white, in its purest form, to tan or even black. Even uncontaminated LSD begins to degrade and discolor soon after it is manufactured, and drug istributors often apply LSD to colored paper, making it difficult for a buyer to determine the drug’s purity or age.
L S D ’s effects
The precise mechanism by which LSD alters perceptions is still unclear. Evidence from laboratory studies suggests that LSD, like hallucinogenic plants, acts on certain groups of serotonin receptors designated the 5-HT2 receptors, and that its effects are most prominent in two brain regions: One is the cerebral cortex, an area involved in mood, cognition, and perception; the other is the locus coeruleus, which receives sensory signals f rom all areas of the body and has been described as the brain’s “novelty detector” for important external stimuli.
LSD’s effects typically begin within 30 to 90 minutes of ingestion and may last as long as 12 hours. Users refer to LSD and other hallucinogenic experiences as “trips” and to the acute adverse experiences as “bad trips.” Although most LSD trips include both pleasant and unpleasant aspects, the drug’s effects are unpredictable and may vary with the amount ingested and the user’s personality, mood, expectations, and surroundings.
Users
Users of LSD may experience some physiological effects, such as increased blood pressure and heart rate, dizziness, loss of appetite, dry mouth, sweating, nausea, numbness, and tre m o r s ; but the drug’s major effects are emotional and sensory. The user’s emotions may shift rapidly through a range from fear to euphoria,with transitions so rapid that the user may seem to experience several emotions simultaneously.
LSD also has dramatic effects on the senses. Colors, smells, sounds, and other sensations seem highly intensified. In some cases, sensory perceptions may blend in a phenomenon known as synesthesia in which a person seems to hear or feel colors and see sounds.
Hallucinations
Hallucinations distort or transform shapes and movements, and they may give rise to a perception that time is moving very slowly or that the user’s body is changing shape. On some trips, users experience sensations that a re enjoyable and mentally stimulating and that produce a sense of heightened understanding. Bad trips, however, include terrifying thoughts and nightmarish feelings of anxiety and despair that include fears of insanity, death, or losing control . LSD users quickly develop a high degree of tolerance for the drug’s effects:
Repeated use
After repeated use, they need increasingly larger doses to produce similar eff e c t s . LSD use also produces tolerance for other hallucinogenic drugs such as psilocybin and mescaline, but not to drugs such as marijuana, amphetamines, and PCP, which do not act directly on the serotonin receptors affected by LSD. Tolerance for LSD is short lived— it is lost if the user stops taking the drug for several days. T h e re is no evidence that LSD produces physical withdrawal symptoms when chronic use is stopped.
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