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    Get Smart About Hallucinogens
    Get Smart About Hallucinogens
    Get Smart About Hallucinogens
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    Get Smart About Hallucinogens

    By Publishing Hazelden and Marvin D Seppala

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    About this ebook

    Learn the basic facts behind the dangers of hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, and others), including their history, their medical use, signs of addiction and dependence, addiction treatment options, prevention tools for parents, and much more.Hallucinogens have been use by humans for many thousands of years, for both spiritual and recreational purposes. However, with developments in brain research, we now understand that hallucinogens, particularly those created in illicit laboratories, can be more potent and dangerous than they’ve ever been. In this Hazelden Quick Guide, expert resources and information come together in an engaging and accessible e-book short. Topics include:• What hallucinogens are and how they’re created• The history of their use and abuse• Changing cultural, social, and legal factors• Definitions of normal use, abuse, and dependence, with information on prevention and advice for parents• How the drugs work, including their health effects• Intervention and effective treatment methods• Relapse prevention tools for recovering dependents and addicts
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHazelden Publishing
    Release dateJul 1, 2014
    ISBN9781616495664
    Get Smart About Hallucinogens

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      Book preview

      Get Smart About Hallucinogens - Publishing Hazelden

      Introduction: Understanding Hallucinogens

      In this Hazelden e-booklet we’ll explore some specific hallucinogens: LSD, psilocybin (mushrooms), and peyote, as well as some drugs that are a bit different but have some hallucinogenic properties, including MDMA (ecstasy), PCP (phencyclidine, or Angel Dust), and Ketamine. Though LSD, mushrooms, and peyote have an association with the psychedelic movement of the 1960s, these drugs have all been used as party drugs at clubs, raves, and similar activities up into the current day.

      In this e-booklet you’ll learn about the most commonly used hallucinogens, including

      what hallucinogens are

      how they work in the brain

      risks and potential medical use, if any

      frequency and prevalence of use

      use, abuse, and addiction to drugs in general

      treatment processes

      prevention advice for parents and adults speaking to young people about hallucinogens

      The word hallucinogen is used because these drugs change perceptions, creating a sense that the user is seeing things that are not there—otherwise known as hallucinations. Each of these drugs alters the way users understand information that their senses take in. Hallucinogens also change the user’s mood. Here are some of the documented effects of hallucinogens in general (these vary with dose, type of hallucinogen, and the user’s experience, body makeup, and mood):

      Real and unreal (imagined or falsely perceived) events are hard to separate.

      Colors, smells, and other sensations become more intense.

      Sounds may be heard that aren’t really there.

      Tracers (streams of light) may seem to follow lights.

      Shapes and movements may be distorted, looking bent. Walls and carpets may appear to move.

      Time may seem as if it’s slowed down.

      Body awareness changes, and body shape may feel different.

      Mood changes rapidly from euphoria (very happy) to terror.

      Blood pressure and heart rate undergo temporary changes.

      Users experience dizziness, loss of appetite, dry mouth, sweating, nausea, numbness, tremors.

      In rare cases, users report flashbacks (psychedelic experiences when the drug is not being used) and psychotic episodes.

      All in all, these changes, whether pleasant or unpleasant, add up to an altered perception of reality. The world looks and feels different under the influence of hallucinogens. It is easy to understand how a substance that causes a sense of a different reality would become an important part of some religious practices, since the desire to attain or experience a different plane of existence is deemed important by many religions. Jerome H. Jaffe, a famed drug researcher, psychiatrist, and chief of President Richard Nixon’s drug programs between 1970 and 1973, noted this as a primary difference between hallucinogens and other classes of mood-altering drugs:

      … the feature that distinguishes psychedelic agents from other classes of drugs is their capacity reliably to induce or compel states of altered perception, thought, and feeling that are not (or cannot be) experienced otherwise except in dreams or at times of religious exaltation.¹

      Hallucinogens, whether derived from a natural plant or synthesized in the laboratory, contain chemicals that affect the central nervous system in ways that alter the user’s perceptions. When under the influence of a hallucinogenic substance, a person’s senses become distorted. Colors and surfaces move, patterns seem to appear where none were observed before, objects appear to change in shape. This is usually accompanied by a sense of dissociation—a feeling of distance from reality. The experiences can be pleasant and fascinating or terrifying, with a sense that they may never end. And the experiences bear only partial resemblance to what a user would perceive when not under the influence. This is due to the way hallucinogens act in the brain.

      In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Psychiatrists, psychologists, and other behavioral health professionals use this manual as a guide to diagnose people with substance use and mental health disorders. In the latest edition, the terminology used for addiction disorders has changed. Instead of separating such problems into categories such as substance abuse, chemical dependency, or addiction, the manual now uses one term—substance use disorder—to include the full range of problematic drug use. To be officially diagnosed with a problem with hallucinogens, then, someone would be classified as having a phencyclidine use disorder (when PCP or other dissociative drugs are problematic) or other hallucinogen use disorder (covering all other hallucinogens, including LSD and others). The diagnostic manual includes a list of criteria to help health care professionals determine whether a person has a mild, moderate, or severe form of the disorder. Although some of these drugs lack the addictive qualities of, say, heroin or alcohol, a pattern of problematic use despite negative consequences is cause for a professional diagnosis and treatment.

      In this book, we have continued to use the terms abuse, dependence, and addiction as a convenience to readers, since these are the terms most commonly understood by the general public.

      An Ancient Sacrament

      Hallucinogens are substances that, when ingested, change the way we perceive our surroundings. Just as contemporary Christians and Jews use the drug alcohol in various rituals, many cultures in history have used hallucinogenic drugs as part of religious rituals.

      In fact, archaeologists tell us that humans have been using substances to change perception since before recorded history. No doubt through trial and error, our ancestors learned that certain substances produced visions when eaten or inhaled. Today we call these substances hallucinogens.

      For example, archaeologist Scott Fitzpatrick of the University of Oregon recently uncovered evidence that the Native Americans who colonized the islands of the Caribbean (starting about 2,400 years ago) carried with them drug-sniffing devices. These included double-spouted ceramic inhaling bowls and snuffing tubes they manufactured for use with a hallucinogenic

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