Phencyclidine or PCP (short for phencyclidine), is a dissociative drug that is used as an anesthetic and has hallucinogenic and neurotoxic effects. It is also popularly known as Angel Dust, Weed, or Peace Pill.
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Phencyclidine (PCP) was developed in the 1950s as an intravenous anesthetic, but due to its significant side effects with hallucinations, delirium, and mania, its human medical use was discontinued after about ten years..
In its pure form, PCP is a white crystalline powder that dissolves easily in water or alcohol and has a distinctive bitter chemical taste. When illegally marketed as a drug, it usually contains a large amount of contaminants that cause the color to vary from light brown to darker brown, with a pasty to lumpy consistency. It is available in a wide variety of colored tablets, capsules, and powders, to be taken by mouth or inhalation. The liquid form of PCP is actually phenicclidine base generally dissolved in ether, a highly flammable solvent. For smoking, PCP is usually sprayed onto a leafy material such as peppermint, parsley, oregano, or marijuana. PCP can also be injected.
Pharmacologically, PCP is a non-competitive NMDA / glutamate receptor antagonist, but it also interacts with other receptors and may have effects on dopamine, opiate, and nicotinic receptors..
This drug hinders the person's ability to think and communicate rationally and even to recognize reality, sometimes causing extravagant or dangerous behaviors. Dissociative drugs such as PCP and ketamine can make the user feel disconnected and out of control.
Hallucinations are usually accompanied by distortions in a person's sense of time and being. In some cases, a person's sense of being can be destroyed. Naturally, confusion abounds and logic is absent. With the loss of self, the user may feel intense alienation, as if the world and the people in it are meaningless, and feelings of depression.
In some cases, people may suffer from illusions that they are celebrities or dignitaries; and suddenly they may feel overwhelmingly scared of death.
A moderate amount of PCP generally causes users to feel detached from their surroundings, as well as a general drunken demeanor. There is numbness of the limbs, difficulty speaking and loss of coordination may be accompanied by a feeling of strength and invulnerability.
Moderate doses produce partial or complete anesthesia, where the person cannot move their limbs or any part of their body..
At higher doses, there is a drop in blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration. This can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, blinking above and below the eyes, drooling, loss of balance, and dizziness. High doses of PCP can also cause seizures, coma, and death (although death is most often due to accidental injury or suicide during intoxication with this drug). High-dose psychological effects include delusions and hallucinations.
PCP, like ketamine, can cause respiratory depression, heart rhythm abnormalities, and strong withdrawal syndrome. When mixed with other central nervous system depressants such as alcohol or benzodiazepines, the drug can cause severe respiratory depression, leading to coma and even death. However, since PCP reduces a person's ability to think rationally, other drugs are often taken. PCP is also associated with an increased risk of suicide.
In some users it can cause acute anxiety and a feeling of impending doom; in others, paranoia and violent hostility, and in some, it can produce a psychosis indistinguishable from schizophrenia. Many believe that PCP is one of the most dangerous drugs of abuse.
Ongoing PCP abuse can lead to tolerance and addiction. As a person takes more and more medicine to achieve the same effects, the risks of long-term harm increase. It appears to cause psychosis in people suffering from schizophrenia and also in chronic users.
PCP is addictive and its use often causes psychological dependence, with intense craving and compulsive drug-seeking behavior.
PCP users report memory loss, speech and learning difficulties, depression, and weight loss. These symptoms can persist up to a year after cessation of use..
The use of PCP among adolescents can interfere with hormones related to normal growth and development. Many PCP users are taken to emergency rooms due to unpleasant psychological effects or due to overdose. In a hospital or place of detention, these people often become violent or suicidal, and are very dangerous to themselves and others.
The effects of PCP abuse and addiction are varied; however, treatment is possible and users tend to respond to it.
The first step in the process will be the safe detoxification of the substance. Because withdrawal can induce certain potentially dangerous symptoms, such as seizures, detoxification should be done under medical supervision. A rehabilitation center will provide a safe and supervised environment for this phase.
Once the detox phase is complete, addiction treatment therapy will begin, either at the rehab center itself or as part of an outpatient treatment program..
Treatment and aftercare will provide the skills and support the person will need to live a life of sobriety and prevent relapse..
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