Psychedelic Drugs and Their Effects
Several drugs are classified as psychedelic drugs. Those include but are not limited to: LSD, peyote/mescaline, PCP, ketamine, mushrooms, LSA, Ayahuasca, and MDMA (ecstasy). The primary action of these drugs is to alter the thought process and the perception of the mind. Psychedelic drugs are a part of a wider class of drugs known as hallucinogen.
LSD or acid is potent in very small doses. Hallucinations are a very common side effect.
Mescaline occurs naturally in the peyote cactus.
PCP causes brain damage, hallucinations, mania, disorientation and delirium. It was first invented as an anesthetic.
Ketamine was also invented as an anesthetic but has been abused in order to take incredibly high doses which cause hallucinations.
Mushrooms or shrooms are a naturally occurring fungus that causes hallucinations, strong visual and auditory components.
LSA is Hawaiian baby rosewood and is a precursor to LSD.
Ayahuasca is used in a mix that when drunk causes visual hallucinations.
MDMA or ecstasy is an illegal drug used for its hallucinogenic effect along with others
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:19 pm
These are good consise descriptions of these drugs.
April 30th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I was told once by a therapist that LSD is one of the most dangerous drugs for kids under the age of 25 to be experimenting with, just a fun fact i guess. He had a friend that attended Harvard and was involved with studies around the effects of LSD and one of the discoveries made in the study that before the brain is fully developed at the general age of 25 LSD can alter ones thought process and perceptions permenantly. Through my own experience when i started using acid heavily i lost complete touch with reality as well as myself. Besides loosing touch with family, friends, and my girlfriend i altered states of being that after 2 years clean have still not corrected themselves. The fear, paranoia, and over analytical thinking/inversion were some of the consequences for me. I started experimenting by eating mushrooms every day over a period of time and came out the other side fine so i figured using LSD in the same way would be ok. After my stint of experimenting my drinking increased ten fold because i found that when i was heavily intoxicated or blacked out drunk i felt normal and like my old self. A quote from ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream’ written by Hunter S. Thomspon that really holds true to me today surrounding the ideation of LSD is this; “That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary’s trip. He crashed around America selling “consciousness expansion” without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him seriously… All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create… a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody… or at least some force - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel.” For me, like the quote above states, the answer never came through a chemical solution, not in LSD, not Mushrooms, Salvia, etc. One thing i like about life today is that i dont have the answers and thats cool, its not about the destination, its about the journey.