Hallucinogens are substances that cause powerful changes in sensory perception and induce hallucinations. Common hallucinogens include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and MDMA. Hallucinogen use has been associated with panic attacks, persisting perception disorders, psychosis, and mood disorders. The discovery of LSD in 1943 increased misuse due to its potency and ease of production. Hallucinogens work by interfering with neurotransmitter action or binding to receptor sites. Effects of LSD and PCP include hallucinations, altered cognition and mood, feelings of detachment, and psychosis. Flashbacks and persisting disorders may occur after hallucinogen use.

1. HALLUCINOGENS-EFFECTS OF
LSD, PCP

2. HALLUCINOGENS
• Hallucinogens are substances that cause powerful changes in sensory perception, from
strengthening a person’s normal perceptions to inducing illusions and hallucinations.
• They are also called psychedelic drugs, the hallucinogens include LSD, mescaline,
psilocybin, and MDMA (Ecstasy). Many of these substances come from plants or animals;
others are produced in laboratories.
• Hallucinogens, by definition, are intoxicants. The use of hallucinogenic drugs is associated with
panic attacks, hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, psychosis, delirium, and mood and
anxiety disorders.

3.  The discovery of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1943 increased the use and misuse of
hallucinogens because such synthetic hallucinogens are easily made, easily distributed, sold
cheaply, and much more potent than their botanical counterparts.
 This paved the way to the abuse of synthetic hallucinogens and the development of several
associated psychiatric disorders that are now seen in psychiatric practice.
 Hallucinogenic compounds found in some plants and mushrooms (or their extracts) have been
used mostly during religious rituals for centuries.
 Almost all hallucinogens contain nitrogen and are classified as alkaloids. Many hallucinogens
have chemical structures similar to those of natural neurotransmitters (e.g., acetylcholine-,
serotonin-, or catecholamine-like).
 While the exact mechanisms by which hallucinogens exert their effects remain unclear, research
suggests that these drugs work, at least partially, by temporarily interfering with neurotransmitter
action or by binding to their receptor sites.

4. Types of hallucinogens:
1. LSD
2. Mescaline
3. Psilocybin
4. MDMA

5. 1. LSD
 LSD (d-lysergic acid diethylamide) is one of the most potent mood-changing chemicals. It was
discovered in 1938 and is manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that
grows on rye and other grains.
 It can cause profound changes in perception, mood, and cognition that can last as long as 12 hours.
 The LSD experience is not always pleasant. It can be extremely traumatic, and the distorted objects and
sounds, the illusory colors, and the new thoughts can be terrifying.

6. 2. Mescaline
 Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychedelic substance found in certain species of cactus, the most
well-known being the peyote cactus.
 Mescaline requires 2 to 3 hours for onset of action, and its effects sometimes last for more than 12
hours
 Hallucinations are usually visual, less often auditory. Visual hallucinations, Euphoria, Altered states of
consciousness, Uncontrollable laughter, Slowed passage of time, A mixing of senses (such as “seeing
a sound” or “hearing colors”) etc can be experienced.

7. 3. Psilocybin
 Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is obtained from a variety of “sacred”
Mexican mushrooms known as Psilocybe Mexicana. Often referred to as shrooms or magic
mushrooms, these mushrooms contain a hallucinogenic called psilocybin.
 The immediate effects of the chemical generally last three to six hours, but in certain cases, effects can
continue for up to three days.
 The drug’s potential euphoric sensation and relaxing possibility often cause individuals to misuse
psilocybin mushrooms.

8. 4. MDMA
 The drug Ecstasy, or MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine), is both a hallucinogen and a
stimulant that is popular as a party drug among young adults.
 At present, this drug is considered a “dangerous” drug and is listed in the most restricted category by the
Drug Enforcement Administration.
 As with many other illicit drugs, the recreational use of Ecstasy has been associated with personality
characteristics of impulsivity and poor judgment.
 Other consequences like panic disorder, prolonged psychosis, memory impairment, obstructive sleep
apnea, organic brain problems, cerebrovascular injury, dissociation, delirium, visual hallucinations etc
were also reported.

9. EFFECTS OF LSD AND PCP
LSD
The most potent of the hallucinogens, the odourless, colourless, and tasteless drug LSD can produce intoxication
with an amount smaller than a grain of salt. LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), one of the most famous and most
powerful hallucinogens, was derived by Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman in 1938 from a group of naturally
occurring drugs called ergot alkaloids. This psychedelic is clear or white and made from lysergic acid. It can
cause profound changes in perception, mood, and cognition that can last as long as 12 hours.

10. Effects of LSD:
 After taking LSD, a person typically goes through about 8 hours of changes in sensory
perception, mood swings, and feelings of depersonalization and detachment.
 Within 2 hours of being swallowed, LSD brings on a state of hallucinogen intoxication,
sometimes called hallucinosis, marked by a general strengthening of perceptions, particularly
visual perceptions, along with psychological changes and physical symptoms. People may
focus on small details—the pores of the skin, for example, or individual blades of grass.
 Colours may seem enhanced or take on a shade of purple. People may have illusions in which
objects seem distorted and appear to move, breathe, or change shape. A person under the
influence of LSD may also hallucinate—seeing people, objects, or forms that are not actually
present.

11.  Hallucinosis may also cause one to hear sounds more clearly, feel tingling or numbness in the
limbs, or confuse the sensations of hot and cold. Some people have been badly burned after
touching flames that felt cool to them under the influence of LSD.
 The drug may also cause different senses to cross, an effect called synesthesia. Colors, for
example, may be “heard” or “felt.”
 LSD can also induce strong emotions, from joy to anxiety or depression. The perception of time
may slow dramatically.
 The LSD experience is not always pleasant. It can be extremely traumatic, and the distorted
objects and sounds, the illusory colors, and the new thoughts can be terrifying.
 An interesting and unusual phenomenon that may occur sometime following the use of LSD is the
flashback, an involuntary recurrence of perceptual distortions or hallucinations weeks or even
months after the individual has taken the drug.

12.  Symptoms included severe anxiety, paranoia, and loss of control.
 Some people on bad trips would walk off a roof or jump out a window, believing they could
fly, or walk into the sea, believing they were "one with the universe."
 For some, the anxiety and hallucinations were severe enough to produce psychosis requiring
hospitalization and long-term treatment.
 Some people reexperience their psychedelic experiences, especially visual disturbances, long
after the drug has worn off and may develop a distressing or impairing hallucinogen persisting
perception disorder.
 Physical symptoms can include sweating, palpitations, blurred vision, tremors, and poor
coordination. All of these effects take place while the user is fully awake and alert, and they
wear off in about 6 hours.

13. Phencyclidine (PCP)
Phencyclidine (PCP)-also known as angel dust, PeacePill, Hog, and Tranq-is manufactured as a powder to be snorted or
smoked. Although PCP is not classified as a hallucinogen, it has many of the same effects.
The use of PCP as an approved anesthetic in humans was discontinued in 1965 because patients often became agitated,
delusional, and irrational while recovering from its anesthetic effects.
PCP is a "dissociative drug," meaning that it distorts perceptions of sight and sound and produces feelings of detachment
(dissociation) from the environment and self.
First introduced as a street drug in the 1960s, PCP quickly gained a reputation as a drug that could cause bad reactions and
was not worth the risk. However, some abusers continue to use PCP due to the feelings of strength, power, and
invulnerability as well as a numbing effect on the mind that PCP can induce.

14. Effects of PCP
 At lower doses, it produces a sense of intoxication, euphoria or affective dulling, talkativeness, lack of concern,
slowed reaction time, vertigo, eye twitching, mild hypertension, abnormal involuntary movements, and weakness.
 At intermediate doses, it leads to disorganized thinking, distortions of body image (e.g., feeling that one's arms are
not part of one's body), depersonalization, and feelings of unreality.
 A user may become hostile, belligerent, and even violent.
 At higher doses, PCP produces amnesia and coma, analgesia sufficient to allow surgery, seizures, severe respiratory
problems, hypothermia, and hyperthermia. They often display dramatic mood swings and are prone to anxiety,
paranoia, and aggressiveness.
 Paranoid delusions and aggressive behavior are sometimes followed by PCP-induced psychosis that may mimic
symptoms of schizophrenia. Psychotic episodes can last several days, and it may take as long as two weeks for
patients to return to normal. At toxic levels, or when interacting with alcohol or other depressant drugs, PCP can
prove fatal, causing convulsions, coma, and respiratory arrest

15.  The effects begin immediately after injecting, snorting, or smoking and peak within minutes. Symptoms
of severe intoxication can persist for several days; people with PCP intoxication may be misdiagnosed as
having a psychotic disorder unrelated to substance use.
 Mood disturbances: Approximately 50 percent of individuals brought to emergency rooms because of
PCP-induced problems—related to use within the past 48 hours—report significant elevations in anxiety
symptoms.
 People who have abused PCP for long periods of time have reported memory loss, difficulties with speech
and thinking, depression, and weight loss. These symptoms can persist up to one year after stopping PCP
abuse.
 Addiction: PCP is addictive—its repeated abuse can lead to craving and compulsive PCP-seeking
behavior, despite severe adverse consequences.

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