Phencyclidine
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Phencyclidine (a contraction of the chemical name phenylcyclohexylpiperidine), shortened as PCP, is a dissociative drug that gives the user hallucinogenic and neurotoxic effects. It is commonly known as Angel Dust. The drug used to be used as an anesthetic.
PCP is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water or alcohol. PCP or Angel Dust goes by names on the street such as angel hair, angel mist, aurora borealis, black whack, crystal, cyclones, devil dust, dummy dust, embalming fluid, hallucinogen, horse tranquilizer, jet fuel, magic dust, rocket fuel, or star dust. It is sometimes mixed with marijuana and referred to as Love Boat or Killer Weed, and it can even be mixed with crack, which is known as Space Basing. PCP/Angel Dust was created after WWI as a surgical anesthetic. It was efficient, but the side effects were brutal hallucinations, jumbled speech, and delirium. Around the mid-to-late 1960s, the drug sprang up on the streets of San Francisco as a "Peace Pill." It didn't take long for word to spread that Angel Dust had generated many unpleasant experiences. Once it was realized that it was a very dangerous drug, its use died out before the 1970’s where its uses began to become more frequent in New York. Even though it spread quickly in New York it was the same as before, its use died out. “Legal use of the drug has been discontinued and it is no longer legally manufactured in the U.S., because of its effects.
The effects of PCP can be very unpredictable. It can affect the central nervous system, by causing it to create states of euphoria, loss of inhibitions, anxiety, disorientation, restlessness, drowsiness, or disorganized thinking. Other effects can also be distorted time, space, and body sensations, feelings of weightlessness, paranoia, and the feeling of being disassociated with the environment. Audial and visual hallucinations are common as well when using Angel Dust. The drug raises the heart rate and blood pressure in your body. External effects include but are not limited to: excess salivation, sweating, numbness, staggering, slurred speech, fever, and muscle rigidity.
PCP can be eaten, snorted, injected or smoked. There are Low, Medium, and High Doses of PCP\Angel Dust, which determine what kinds of effects you have. Low doses causes you to have feelings of euphoria (well-being), relaxation, numbness, sensory distortions, feelings of detachment from one's own body, anxiety, confusion, amnesia, illogical speech, blurred vision, blank stare. Medium doses can cause confusion, agitation, analgesia, fever, excessive salivation, "schizophrenic-type" behavior, while High doses can cause seizures, respiratory failure, coma, fever, stroke, or death. A physiological or psychological dependence might occur, and bring forth withdrawal symptoms such as diarrhea, chills, and tremors. PCP affects multiple neurotransmitter systems in the brain. For example, PCP inhibits the obliteration of Dopamine, Norepinephrine, serotonin, and also some types of opioid receptors in the brain. It also inhibits the action of glutamate by blocking NMDA (N-methyl d-aspartate) receptors. Prescription drugs like Diazepam, haloperidol, and phentolamine may be used to help relieve some of the effects of Angel Dust/PCP.
