Hallucinogens are popping up all over the U.S. from the streets to schools, including colleges, high schools and even junior highs. This Hot Topic will give you a brief over view of five of the most popular hallucinogens:
Pat is not blind to the fact that a lot of you out there are using these drugs. Please read the information on the next few pages very carefully. Know what you are putting into your body and what it can do to you before you freak out! By being informed you can make better decisions.
Hallucinogens, or psychedelics, are drugs that affect a person's perceptions, sensations, thinking, self-awareness, and emotions. Hallucinogens markedly affect all the senses and cause hallucinations - seeing or hearing things that do not exist or are distorted. A person's thinking, sense of time and emotions can also be altered. There are many different kinds of hallucinogens. Some occur naturally, in trees, vines, seeds, fungi and leaves, while others are manufactured in laboratories. Hallucinogens include such drugs as LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and DMT. Some hallucinogens come from natural sources, such as mescaline from the peyote cactus. Others, such as LSD, are synthetic or manufactured. PCP is sometimes considered a hallucinogen because it has some of the same effects. However, it does not fit easily into any one-drug category because it also can relieve pain or act as a stimulant.
Hallucinogens are not new. Many naturally occurring substances such as peyote, psilocybin, or mescaline have long been used in cultural and religious contexts, and LSD was synthesized in Europe in the late 1930s. However, until the 1950s, when psychiatric researchers investigated the possible therapeutic value of LSD, recognition that certain drugs had hallucinogenic properties was very limited.
Hallucinogens cause their effects by disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. 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.
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Mushrooms- Psilocybin
Chemical name: 3-[2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl]-1H-indol-4-ol dihydrogen phosphate ester, O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine; Indocybin
Chemical formula: C12H17N2O4P
Street Names: magic mushroom, purple passion, shrooms, boomers
DEA Schedule: Schedule I
History of the Drug: A recent survey showed that 15% of students at two California universities admitted using psilocybin, making it the most-used hallucinogen on campus. In Oregon, Wisconsin, New York and Arizona (and as distant as England and Wales), reports of increased psilocybin use reflect a renewed interest in the drug.
Early Native American inhabitants of North America probably first found out about mushrooms the hard way-but, then again, centuries ago everybody found out about everything the hard way.
What they found in psilocybin was a natural drug that triggers a bewildering array of hallucinatory effects. It made such a big impression, in fact, that many believed the plant to be divinely-inspired, and incorporated the plant into religious rituals as long ago as 1,000 B.C.
The Aztecs also practiced sacramental use of mushrooms, which they called teonanactl, or "flesh of the gods."
Non-Indians first became interested in the properties of psilocybin when reports of the closely guarded mushrooms ceremonies filtered out of Mexican backlands and into American universities. Still, it was 1936 before serious Western investigators even came within picture-taking distance of the legendary mushrooms.
Then, with the development of synthetic psilocybin in the mid-1950s, was spared the first real interest in the drug as a tool in psychotherapy and the treatment of emotional disorders. And while few conclusive results emerged from early psilocybin research, the studies succeeded in superimposing the mantle of "science" onto psilocybin's ancient links with "magic."
The combination proved irresistible to many at the time, and psilocybin remains a much-sought-after hallucinogen today. In the American West, Northwest, and south, where the mushrooms grow wild, many users take annual pilgrimages to growing areas. Supplies gathered can be dried and used-at full psychoactive potential-for months.
Appearance
When people refer to magic mushrooms, they are actually referring to several different types of mushrooms that grow in many parts of the world. These different mushrooms have one thing in common though: they all contain a natural chemical (called Psilocybin) that is also a hallucinogen. Most often on the street they are sold as mushrooms. They can also be a powder and sold as capsules. When these capsules are analyzed in a lab, however, they are often found to be either LSD or PCP.
Do you smoke this? They are generally just swallowed but they can also be used to make a kind of tea, which people then drink.
What's gonna happen to me? Like all hallucinogens, magic mushrooms effect the mind and the senses. Users can hallucinate, or see and hear things that don't really exist. Hallucinogens also influence emotions and the ability to think clearly. With a small amount of psilocybin, these effects are mild. With a large amount, they can closely resemble the effects produced by LSD.
Risks & Realities: They can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, stomach cramps, nausea, anxiety and shivering. They can also cause numbness of the tongue and mouth. Even thought some users might think it's safer to pick their own, things can get even trickier then. The presence of poisonous look-alikes only compounds the risk. Experts say toxic mushrooms outnumber psilocybin varieties by a ratio of ten to one. And while a reliable guidebook can reduce the risks, only laboratory analysis can provide positive proof that a particular mushroom is edible-and safe. Since two dozen mushroom species contain varying amounts of the drug, gauging a safe dose is a lot like guessing the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.
Fast facts about effects on the body: Psilocybin can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, stomach cramps, nausea, anxiety and shivering. They can also cause numbness of the tongue and mouth.
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Chemical name: 3,4,5-trimethoxy-beta-phenethylamine
Chemical formula: C11H17NO3
Street Names: buttons, cactus, mesc, peyote, Big Chief, Mescalito
DEA Schedule: Schedule I
History of the Drug: Peyote and San Pedro are New World psychedelics. In ancient times their use was concentrated in the regions to which they are native. Peyote was used throughout Mexico to as far north as Texas, San Pedro in the Andes mountain region of South America. The earliest known depiction of San Pedro cactus is on a stone tablet found in Peru dating to 1300 B.C. Ritual objects containing images of Peyote have been found dating back to 500 B.C. The introduction of Peyote into the U.S. and Canada, and its use by North American Indian tribes, occurred much more recently, beginning sometime in the late 1800s.
As with mushrooms, the Roman Catholic Church tried to abolish the use of Peyote and San Pedro. However, they were only partially successful. Peyote use spread from Mexico to North America, and the Native American Church was formed in 1918 to preserve Native Americans' right to use Peyote. And with San Pedro, the ceremony practiced by many South American shamans continued while incorporating several Christian symbols into the rituals. The name of a Christian saint was even adopted for the cactus.
Mescaline was the first psychedelic compound to be extracted and isolated, which occurred in 1896. In 1919 it became the first psychedelic to be synthesized. For the next 35 years it remained a somewhat obscure compound known primarily to the psychiatric community. In 1953 the popular novelist Aldous Huxley read about mescaline. Soon thereafter Huxley tried mescaline, and brought it to the attention of the public by writing The Doors of Perception.
Appearance
Mescaline is found in many types of cacti, most prominently in peyote (lophophora williamsii), San Pedro (trichocerus pachanoi) and the Peruvian Torch (trichocerus peruvianus). The mescaline content of the various mescaline-containing cacti varies greatly between individual samples as well as between species. Following is an estimate of the mescaline contents of these three species.
Do you smoke this? Mescaline is either swallowed or smoked.
What's gonna happen to me? Peyote and mescaline are best known for their unique hallucinogenic properties, which many users report as less disorienting-and hence more manageable than LSD and other synthetic psychedelics. Subjective effects can include rapid changes in mood, feelings of empathy and kinship with others, kaleidoscopic perceptual changes, and deeply moving, even profound, introspective spiritual experiences.
Risks & Realities: As peyote use has evolved over the years, non-sacramental users have faced two potential dangers. First, there's the risk of bad trips, which mostly center on a fear of dying or loss of control. Tranquilizers can be administered in extreme cases, but the only way to totally eliminate the possibility of panic with a drug as powerful as peyote is to avoid using it altogether.
A second risk linked to mescaline derives from the reality of street-drug economics. That's because it's so expensive to synthesize the drug that other drugs are often substituted - usually LSD, PCP, or amphetamine-based psychedelics. Real peyote is identifiable by its noxious taste, which can trigger a vomiting that's more relief than curse. And mescaline has a revolting taste of its own - and a sky-high price tag reflecting the scarcity of supply.
Fast facts about effects on the body: Peyote contains more than fifty psychoactive ingredients, the most powerful of which is mescaline. In doses of 200-500 mg (about 10-20 buttons), mescaline triggers increased heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure and dilation of the pupils. Normal coordination and reflexes are reduced, and the skin may feel dry and itchy. Peak effects hit 2-3 hours after ingestion, and run their course in about 12 hours.
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