Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs
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N A TIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE ResearchReport S E R I E S Drugs with street names like acid, angel dust, and vitamin K distort the way a user perce i v e s time, motion, colors, sounds, and HALLUCINOGENS self. These drugs can disrupt a person’s ability to think and communicate rationally, or even AND DISSOCIATIVE to recognize reality, sometimes resulting in bizarre or dangerou s be h a v i o r . Hallucinogens such Including LSD, PCP, as LSD cause emotions to swing DRUGS Ketamine, Dextrom e t h o r p h a n wildly and real-world sensations to assume unreal, sometimes Hallucinogens cause their frightening aspects. Dissociative What are ef fects by disrupting the inter- drugs like PCP and ketamine may hallucinogens? action of nerve cells and the make a user feel disconnected ne u r otransmitter serot o n i n . and out of control. allucinogens are drugs Distributed throughout the brain In addition to their short-term that cause hallucinations— and spinal cord, the serot o n i n ef fects on perception and mood, pr ofound distortions in a system is involved in the control LSD is associated with psychotic-like H person’s perceptions of rea l i t y . episodes that can occur long after of behavioral, perceptual, and Under the influence of hallucino- a person has taken the drug, and regulatory systems, including PCP and ketamine can cause gens, people see images, hear mood, hunger, body tempera- respiratory depression, heart sounds, and feel sensations that tu r e, sexual behavior, muscle rate abnormalities, and a with- seem real but do not exist. Some co n t r ol, and sensory perce p t i o n . drawal syndrome. Use of LSD and hallucinogens also prod u c e LSD (an abbreviation of the other hallucinogens by secondary rapid, intense emotional swings. Ge r man words for “lysergic school students has declined since 1998, but ketamine and LSD are becoming more widely used at dance clubs and all-night raves by older teens and young adults. NIDA res e a r ch is developing a clearer picture of the dangers of these mind-altering drugs. We have compiled the scientific in f o r mation in this report to in f o r m readers and to stren g t h e n pr evention and treatment effo r t s . Psilocybin mushrooms and peyote cactus ar e plants that people have used to Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D. pr oduce “visions.” Di re c t o r National Institute on Drug Abuse U . S . D e p a r t m e n t o f H e a l t h a n d H u m a n S e r v i c e s • N a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t e s o f H e a l t h 2NIDA RESEARCH REPORT SERIES acid diethylamide”) is the drug dissociat i o n — f r om the environ - most commonly identified with ment and self. But these mind- Why do the term “hallucinogen” and the altering effects are not people take most widely used in this class of hallucinations. PCP and ketamine hallucinogens? drugs. It is considered the typical ar e theref o r e more prop e r l y hallucinogen, and the character- known as “dissociative anesthet- allucinogenic drugs have istics of its action and effe c t s ics.” Dextromethorphan, a widely played a role in human described in this Research Report available cough suppres s a n t , Hlife for thousands of years. apply to the other hallucinogens, when taken in high doses can Cu l t u r es from the tropics to the including mescaline, psilocybin, pr oduce effects similar to those ar ctic have used plants to induce and ibogaine. of PCP and ketamine. states of detachment from rea l i t y The dissociative drugs act by and to precipitate “visions” What are altering distribution of the neuro- thought to provide mystical transmitter glutamate throu g h o u t insight. These plants contain dissociative the brain. Glutamate is involved chemical compounds, such as drugs? in perception of pain, res p o n s e s mescaline, psilocybin, and ibo- to the environment, and memory. gaine, that are structurally similar rugs such as PCP (phen- PCP is considered the typical to serotonin, and they prod u c e cyclidine) and ketamine, dissociative drug, and the their effects by disrupting norma l Dwhich were initially description of PCP’s actions and functioning of the serotonin sys- developed as general anesthetics ef fects in this Research Report tem. Historically, hallucinogenic for surgery, distort perceptions la r gely applies to ketamine and plants were used largely for of sight and sound and produce de x t r omethorphan as well. social and religious ritual, and feelings of detachment— their availability was limited by Prevalence of Students Who Have Ever Used Hallucinogens and PCP 14% 14% 14% ■ 12th-graders ■ ■ ▲ 10th-graders 12 ■ 12 12 ● ■ 8th-graders 10 ▲ 10 10 ■ ▲ ▲ 8 ▲ 8 ■ 8 ■ ■ (Data not available for 6 ▲ 6 6 8th- and 10th-graders) ● ■ ▲ ▲ ▲ ● 4 ● ● 4 ▲ 4 ■ ■ ● ■ ● ■ ▲ ● ● ■ ■ 2 2 ● ● 2 0 0 0 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 LSD Other Hallucinogens PCP Source: Monitoring the Future Survey, 2000 NIDA RESEARCH REPORT SERIES 3 the climate and soil conditions they req u i r e. After the develop- ment of LSD, a synthetic com- hemist Albert Hofmann, working at the Sandoz pound that can be manufactured CCorporation pharmaceutical laboratory in Switzerland, an y w h e r e, abuse of hallucino- first synthesized LSD in 1938. He was conducting res e a r ch gens became more widesprea d , on possible medical applications of various lysergic acid and from the 1960s it increa s e d compounds derived from ergot, a fungus that develops dramatically. All LSD manufac- on rye grass. Searching for compounds with therapeutic tu r ed in this country is intended value, Hofmann created more than two dozen ergo t - d e r i v e d for illegal use, since LSD has synthetic molecules. The 25th was called, in German, no accepted medical use in the Lys e rg - S ä u r e-Diäthylamid 25, or LSD-25. Five years after United States. he first created the drug, Hofmann accidentally ingested Physical a small amount and experienced a series of frightening characteristics of LSD se n s o r y effe c t s : LSD is a clear or white, odorless, “My surroundings . transformed themselves in more wa t e r -soluble material synthe- sized from lysergic acid, a te r rifying ways. Everything in the room spun arou n d , compound derived from a rye and the familiar objects and pieces of furni t u r e assumed fungus. LSD is the most potent gr otesque, threatening forms. They were in continuous mood- and perce p t i o n - a l t e r i n g motion, animated, as if driven by an inner res t l e s s n e s s drug known: oral doses as small . Even worse than these demonic transforma t i o n s as 30 micrograms can prod u c e of the outer world were the alterations that I perce i v e d ef fects that last 6 to 12 hours. in myself, in my inner being. Every exertion of my will, LSD is initially produced in ev e r y attempt to put an end to the disintegration of the crystalline form. The pure crystal outer world and the dissolution of my ego, seemed to can be crushed to powder and be wasted effo r t. A demon had invaded me, had taken mixed with binding agents to possession of my body, mind, and soul.” pr oduce tablets known as “m i c r odots” or thin squares of gelatin called “window panes”; mo r e commonly, it is dissolved, discolor soon after it is manufac- receptors, and that its effects are diluted, and applied to paper tu r ed, and drug distributors often most prominent in two brain or other materials. The most apply LSD to colored paper, regions: One is the cerebral cor- common form of LSD is called making it difficult for a buyer to tex, an area involved in mood, “blotter acid”—sheets of paper de t e r mine the drug’s purity or age. cognition, and perception; the soaked in LSD and perfo r a t e d other is the locus ceruleus, into 1/4-inch square, individual LS D ’ s effects which receives sensory signals dosage units. Variations in manu- The precise mechanism by which fr om all areas of the body and facturing and the presence of LSD alters perceptions is still has been described as the brain’s contaminants can produce LSD un c l e a r . Evidence from laborato- “novelty detector” for important in colors ranging from clear or ry studies suggests that LSD, like ex t e r nal stimuli. white, in its purest form, to tan hallucinogenic plants, acts on LSD’s effects typically begin or even black. Even uncontami- certain groups of serot o n i n within 30 to 90 minutes of inges- nated LSD begins to degrade and receptors designated the 5-HT2 tion and may last as long as 4NIDA RESEARCH REPORT SERIES Structure of Serotonin and Selected Hallucinogens SEROTONIN LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE - LSD PSILOCYBIN MESCALINE Hallucinogenic drugs are much like the neurotransmitter serotonin in their molecular structure as well as where and how they act in the brain.