Benefits with HII

LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin, and PCP: Part 3

What other adverse effects do hallucinogens have on health?

Unpleasant adverse effects as a result of the use of hallucinogens are not uncommon. These may be due to the large number of psychoactive ingredients in any single source of hallucinogen.¹

• LSD: The effects of LSD depend largely on the amount taken. LSD causes dilated pupils; can raise body temperature; can increase heart rate and blood pressure; and can cause profuse sweating, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth, and tremors.
• Peyote: Its effects can be similar to those of LSD, including increased body temperature and heart rate, uncoordinated movements, profound sweating, and flushing. The active ingredient mescaline has also been associated, in at least one report, to fetal abnormalities.²
• Psilocybin: It can produce muscle relaxation or weakness, uncoordinated movements, excessive pupil dilation, nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness. Individuals who abuse psilocybin mushrooms also risk poisoning if one of many existing varieties of poisonous mushrooms is incorrectly identified as a psilocybin mushroom.
• PCP: At low-to-moderate doses, physiological effects of PCP include a slight increase in breathing rate and a pronounced rise in blood pressure and pulse rate. Breathing becomes shallow, and flushing and profuse sweating, generalized numbness of the extremities, and loss of muscular coordination may occur.
  
  At high doses, blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration drop. This may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, flicking up and down of the eyes, drooling, loss of balance, and dizziness. PCP abusers are often brought to emergency rooms because of overdose or because of the drug's severe psychological effects. While intoxicated, PCP abusers may become violent or suicidal, and are therefore dangerous to themselves and others. High doses of PCP can also cause seizures, coma, and death (though death more often results from accidental injury or suicide during PCP intoxication). Because PCP can also have sedative effects, interactions with other central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol, can also lead to coma.

What treatment options exist?

Treatment for alkaloid hallucinogen (such as psilocybin) intoxication—which is mostly symptomatic—is often sought as a result of bad "trips,” during which a patient may, for example, hurt himself or herself.³ Treatment is usually supportive: provision of a quiet room with little sensory stimulation. Occasionally, benzodiazepines are used to control extreme agitation or seizures.

There is very little published data on treatment outcomes for PCP intoxication. Doctors should consider that acute adverse reactions may be the result of drug synergy with alcohol.⁴ Current research efforts to manage a life-threatening PCP overdose are focused on a passive immunization approach through the development of anti-PCP antibodies.⁵ There are no specific treatments for PCP abuse and addiction, but inpatient and behavioral treatments can be helpful for patients with a variety of addictions, including that to PCP.

References

1. Cunningham, N. (2008). Hallucinogenic plants of abuse. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 20, 167-174.
2. Gilmore, H. T. (2001). Peyote use during pregnancy. South Dakota Journal of Medicine, 54, 27-29.
3. Attema-de Jonge, M. E., Portier, C. B., & Franssen, E. J. (2007). Automutilation after consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd, 151, 2869-2872.
4. Schwartz, R. H., & Smith, D. E. (1988). Hallucinogenic mushrooms. Clinical Pediatrics, 27, 70-73.
5. Kosten, T., & Owens, S. M. (2005). Immunotherapy for the treatment of drug abuse. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 108, 76-85.