Hallucinogens

Hallucinogens are among the oldest known drugs, many of which are found in plants and fungi. However, forms of it can be manufactured synthetically in illegal labs. The word “hallucinate” comes from the Latin words meaning, “To wander in the mind.” When consumed in non-toxic dosages, hallucinogens produce changes in perception, mood, and thought and make imagined experiences appear real. Changes in perception include:

• Psychic effects, which are disorders of thought associated with time and space.
• Physiological effects, such as elevated heart rate, dilated pupils, and increased blood pressure.
• Sensory effects – perceptual distortions that vary with setting, mood, and dose (Hallucinogens).
  

Hallucinogens affect ones well being and may change the way they feel emotionally. It causes feelings of suspicion, confusion, paranoia, and disorientation. Hallucinogens can cause mixed up speech, loss of muscle control, and make the teen act in aggressive, irrational, or violent ways.

Hallucinogens increase the heart rate and blood pressure, which can lead to heart and lung failure. Hallucinogens are unpredictable; each time they are used the results can be different from pleasurable to frightening. The user may experience flashbacks, weeks or even months after the drug has been consumed. Various types of hallucinogens include:

• PCP
  1. Users snort PCP powder, swallow tablets and capsules, or smoke the drug by applying it (in powder form) to a leafy substance such as marijuana, mint, parsley, or oregano.
  2. Users increasingly are dipping marijuana or tobacco cigarettes in liquid PCP and smoking them.
  3. PCP is an addictive drug; its use often results in psychological dependence, craving, and compulsive behavior.
  4. PCP produces unpleasant psychological effects, and users often become violent or suicidal.
  5. PCP poses particular risks for young people. Even moderate use of the drug can negatively affect the hormones associated with normal growth and development. PCP use also can impede the learning process in teenagers.
  6. High doses of PCP can cause seizures, coma, and even death (often as a consequence of accidental injury or suicide while under the drug's effects). At high doses, PCP's effects may resemble the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, including delusions and paranoia.
  7. Long-term use of PCP can lead to memory loss, difficulty with speech or thought, depression, and weight loss.
  8. Most common names for PCP are angel dust, animal tranquilizer, embalming fluid, ozone, rocket fuel, and wack.
  9. Marijuana or tobacco cigarettes that are dipped in PCP are called illy, wet, or fry.
• LSD:
  1. Most potent hallucinogen derived from a fungus that grows on rye and other grains
  2. Manufactured synthetically in illegal labs.
  3. Usually taken by mouth, but can also be inhaled or injected
  4. Is usually mixed with other substances, such as sugar and is sold on the street as: blotter acid – pictured paper that has been soaked in an LSD solution, capsules, microdot tablets, and thin squares of gelatin known as windowpanes.
• DMT:
  1. Common names DMT, Dimitri, Divine Moments of Truth, Businessman’s Trip
  2. Causes intense visuals and strong psychedelic mental effects when it is ingested by smoking. Injecting, snorting, or swallowing.
  3. When smoked, DMT generally reaches full effects within 10-60 seconds of inhalation.
  4. The main effects of DMT last approximately 5-20 minutes when smoked, with a period of 1-2 hours before fully returning to somewhat normal state in most people.
  5. Causes overwhelming fear, immersive experiences, stomach discomfort, radical perspective shifting, overly-intense experiences, change in perception of time, auditory hallucination (buzzing), powerful “rushing” of sensation, difficulty integrating experiences (reality vs. hallucination), intense open eye visuals and kaleidoscope patterning color shifting.
• Psilocybin:
  1. A hallucinogenic substance obtained from certain types of mushrooms indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Mexico, and the United States.
  2. Fresh mushrooms have white or whitish- gray stems; the caps are dark brown around the edges and light brown or white in the center.
  3. Dried mushrooms are generally rusty brown with isolated areas of off-white.
  4. Psilocybin mushrooms are ingested orally. They may be brewed as a tea or added to other foods to mask their bitter flavor.
  5. Psilocybin mushrooms are popular at raves, clubs and, increasingly, on college campuses and generally are abused by teenagers and young adults.
  6. Use of psilocybin is associated with negative physical and psychological consequences.
  7. The physical effects, which appear within 20 minutes of ingestion and last approximately 6 hours, include nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, drowsiness, and lack of coordination.
  8. The psychological consequences of psilocybin use include hallucinations and an inability to discern fantasy from reality. Panic reactions and psychosis also may occur, particularly if a user ingests a large dose.
  9. The most common names for Psilocybin are magic mushroom, mushroom, and shrooms.
• Peyote:
  1. Peyote is a small, spineless cactus in which the principal active ingredient is mescaline. Mescaline can also be produced through chemical synthesis.
  2. The top of the peyote cactus, also referred to as the crown, consists of disc-shaped buttons that are cut from the roots and dried. These buttons are generally chewed or soaked in water to produce an intoxicating liquid.
  3. The hallucinogenic dose of mescaline is about 0.3 to 0.5 grams, and its effects last about 12 hours. Because the extract is so bitter, some individuals prefer to prepare a tea by boiling the cacti for several hours.
  4. Peyote abusers may experience flashbacks.
  5. Effects are similar to those of LSD, including increased body temperature and heart rate, uncoordinated movements (ataxia), profound sweating, and flushing.
• MDA and MDMA:
  1. Are extremely popular in the dance and rave club scene.
  2. Teenagers hide the hallucinogens in inventive and secretive ways, such as in eye drop bottles, candy containers, and energy drinks so that law enforcement and parents cannot easily detect them.
  3. MDA and MDMA is taken orally, usually as a capsule or tablet.
  4. MDA and MDMA can produce confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, and severe anxiety.
  5. Chronic users perform more poorly in certain types of cognitive or memory tasks.
  6. MDA and MDMA abstinence-associated withdrawal symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, depressed feelings, and trouble concentrating.
  7. Has many of the same physical effects as other stimulants, such as cocaine and amphetamines including increases in heart rate and blood pressure, muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, and chills or sweating.
  8. In high doses, MDA and MDMA can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate temperature. On rare but unpredictable occasions, this can lead to a sharp increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), which can result in liver, kidney, cardiovascular system failure, or death.
  9. MDA and MDMA can interfere with its own metabolism (breakdown within the body); therefore, potentially harmful levels can be reached by repeated MDA and MDMA administration within short periods.
  10. Other drugs that are chemically similar to MDMA and MDA, such as PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine) associated with fatalities in the United States and Australia, are sometimes sold as ecstasy. These drugs act as neurotoxin and create additional health risks to the user.
  11. Ecstasy tablets are often cut with other substances, such as ephedrine, DXM, a cough suppressant, ketamine an anesthetic used mostly by veterinarians; caffeine; cocaine; and methamphetamine which increases risk for adverse health effects.
  
  
  If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
  http://www.abttc.net/
  Phone: 800.971.1586
  Fax: 800.401.8464
  24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
  Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
  e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
  http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/
  
  Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter too!
  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ABTomorrow
  Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ABTomorrow