Drug Fact Sheet: Hallucinogens

What Are Hallucinogens?

Hallucinogens are found in plants and fungi or are synthetically produced and are among the oldest known groups of drugs used for their ability to alter human perception and mood.

What Is Their Origin?

Hallucinogens can be synthetically produced in illicit laboratories or are found in plants.

What Are Common Street Names?

Common street names include:

• Acid
• Blotter
• Cubes
• Fry
• Mind Candy
• Mushrooms
• Shrooms
• Special K
• STP
• X
• XTC

What Do They Look Like?

Hallucinogens come in a variety of forms:

• MDMA (Ecstasy) tablets are sold in many colors with a variety of logos to attract youth.
• LSD is sold in the form of saturated paper (blotter paper), typically imprinted with colorful graphic designs.
• LSD also comes in powder and capsule form.

How Are They Abused?

The most commonly abused hallucinogens among junior and senior high school students are:

• Hallucinogenic mushrooms
• LSD
• MDMA (Ecstasy)
  

Hallucinogens are typically taken orally or can be smoked.

What Is Their Effect on the Mind?

Sensory effects include perceptual distortions that vary with dose, setting, and mood.

Psychic effects include distortions of thought associated with time and space. Time may appear to stand still, and forms and colors may seem to change and take on new significance.

Weeks or even months after some hallucinogens have been taken, the user may develop an uncommon disorder called Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) or experience “flashbacks.”

HPPD can include fragmentary recurrences of certain aspects of the drug experience in the absence of actually taking the drug.

The occurrence of HPPD is unpredictable but may be more likely to occur during times of stress and seems to occur more frequently in younger individuals.

What Is Their Effect on the Body?

Physiological effects include:

• Elevated heart rate
  
• Increased blood pressure
  
• Dilated pupils
  
• Nausea
  
• Vomiting

What Are Their Overdose Effects?

Deaths exclusively from acute overdose of LSD, magic mushrooms, and mescaline are extremely rare.

Deaths generally occur due to:

• Suicide
• Accidents
• Dangerous behavior
• Inadvertently eating poisonous plant material
  

A severe overdose of PCP or ketamine can result in:

• Respiratory depression
• Coma
• Convulsions
• Seizures
• Death due to respiratory arrest
  

What Is Their Legal Status in the United States?

Many hallucinogens are Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act. This means that they:

• Have a high potential for abuse
• Have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States
• Lack accepted safety for use under medical supervision