While this was certainly the trend in the public eye, the club scene was still happening and psychedelic drugs were still being used, especially as an introductory step into harder drugs. Now, researchers are once again focusing on these drugs, but for reasons beyond prevention and reduction in use. Psychedelic drugs are now being examined for their potential use in the treatment of specific conditions.

Throughout the world, hospitals, doctors and researchers are testing the potential of LSD, MDMA (ecstasy) and psilocybin – magic mushrooms – as treatments for addiction to tobacco, obsessive-compulsive disorder, cluster headaches, and anxiety and depression in patients battling end-stage cancer. Psychedelic drugs have become the focus simply because effective treatments are either not working or do not exist.

Dr. Pierre Blier is the Canada Research Chair in Psychopharmacology at the University of Ottawa. He is one researcher focusing his efforts in this area, specifically testing ketamine – or Special K – for severely depressed individuals. His pilot tests have proven successful on participants who are depressed to the point that they qualify for electroconvulsive treatments. Blier is exploring the use of ketamine simply because it is considered a much more benign approach to treatment than shock therapy.

Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto are also examining the potential of ketamine, in addition to MDMA, as possible treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder. Harvard researchers are examining the potential of using LSD in the treatment of individuals with cluster headaches, also known as suicide headaches.

Questions regarding this research and the use of psychedelic drugs are emerging as some consider the practice to be dangerous, regardless of the potential benefits. At the same time, researchers want to know whether or not the reaction is a psycho-spiritual mechanism or one that exists within the biological realm. While standardized psychometric scales can measure the experience, substances are known to play on specific parts of the brain that control reactions to situations and environments.

In controlled situations, the use of such substances can offer promise, but can also create a whole new debatable topic, much like that involved in the medical use of marijuana. There is likely to be two sides to this area of study for quite some time, even as study subjects are given lower doses than recreational users and are monitored carefully.

And, there are simply those who cannot handle the non-linear experiences known to accompany psychedelic drugs. With this risk – should they be used even in medically necessary situations? That is the ethics question that must be answered.
 

"This is new and important information," said K. Michael Gibson, professor and chair of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University and a member of the research team. "It may provide new clues on how to counteract the drug’s effects, or to enhance its metabolism and decrease toxicity for chronic abusers or victims of sexual assault."

Gibson co-wrote the paper with Guo-Fang Zhang and others in the laboratory of Prof. Henri Brunengraber from the Department of Nutrition at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The study was published online by the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and their findings will appear in the print edition on Nov. 27, 2009.

4-HB is a derivative of a major brain neurotransmitter in humans and other species. It occurs naturally in small amounts in the brains of most animals and humans. In a rare genetic metabolic disorder, 4-HB accumulates in extremely high levels, causing significant developmental delays and seizures.

But 4-HB is best known and most feared when it is taken orally, because it impairs the capacity to exercise judgment, like rohypnol and ketamine hydrochloride. For that reason, it can be used as a date-rape drug.

Analyzing the chemicals produced by the breakdown of 4-HB in mice and rats, Zhang, Gibson, and colleagues used very sophisticated mass spectrometry approaches to identify previously unknown enzymes and pathways that appear to act on 4-HB and other similarly structured compounds. They discovered that 4-HB is metabolized by two different chemical mechanisms or pathways. Their discovery of those pathways should open the door for future studies that can identify the enzymes involved in the following steps of the breakdown of 4-HB.

"This work may help to develop new antidotes and treatments for people who have ingested 4-HB, as well as treatment for children with the rare genetic disorder that causes the compound to accumulate in high levels," Gibson said.

According to the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 6.1 million, or 2.5 percent, of the population of Americans aged 12 and older reported having used PCP at some point in their lifetime, 137,000 (0.1 percent) reported past year use and 41,000 (0.0 percent) said they used the drug in the past month prior to being surveyed.

The 2008 Monitoring the Future Study showed PCP lifetime usage among high school seniors in 2008 at 1.8 percent, down from 2.1 percent in 2007. Past year usage and past month usage were up for 2008 vs. 2007. Past year usage in 2008 was 1.1 percent (vs. 0.9 percent in 2007), while past month usage in 2008 was 0.6 percent (compared to 0.5 percent the year prior).

A Houston study of some 426 African Americans who smoked crack cocaine with embalming fluid and PCP (known as “wet” or “fry” on the street), reported in 2008 Journal of Drug Education, attempted to verify cultural novelties of fry. The study found that sex was often traded in an attempt to secure the drugs.

Clearly, PCP is still a problem that needs careful monitoring and attention – especially among young people who are into risk-taking behavior, including drug use.

What it is

PCP, whose scientific name is phencyclidine, was developed in the 1950s as an intravenous anesthetic. Its use in humans, however, was discontinued in 1965 due to the unpleasant side effects of the drug (agitation, delusions, irrationality) when patients were recovering from the anesthesia.

Common street names

Street names for PCP include angel dust, animal tranquilizer, embalming fluid, hog, killer weed, ozone, peace pill, rocket fuel, supergrass and wack. When marijuana is laced with PCP, it’s known as fry, illy or wet. Other names on the street for PCP, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) include: animal tranq, black dust, boat, cliffhanger, crystal t, dipper, dust joint, goon dust, happy sticks, horse tranquilizer, kools, lethal weapon, magic dust, O.P.P., Paz, Peter Pan, Sherman, Sherman sticks, and trank.

How to identify PCP

PCP comes is a white crystalline powder that’s bitter-tasting and soluble in water or alcohol. It may appear in colored powder, and is often sold as a tablet, capsule, liquid or powder. It may also be placed into a variety of medicines or capsules.

How PCP is used

Users take PCP by snorting the drug in powder form, by swallowing tablets and capsules, and by smoking. In smoking, the drug is applied to substances such as marijuana, mint, parsley or oregano, says the NDIC. Users also dip regular cigarettes or marijuana joints into liquid PCP and then smoke them. Other sources say that PCP is often added to such as LSD or methamphetamine.

Effects of PCP

Popular for its mind-altering effects, at low doses, PCP can cause noticeable body awareness changes that are comparable to alcohol intoxication. Users often describe the feeling as trance-like or out of body.

Why PCP is bad for you

PCP has numerous short- and long-term negative effects. Short-term effects of PCP in low doses include an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and pulse, shallow breathing, flushing, poor muscle coordination, and profuse sweating. It also causes numbness to the extremities and interferes with hormone growth development.

In higher doses, the drug may cause hallucinations, seizures, coma and death (many times from accidents or suicide while high). Other negative effects include the following:

• Blurred vision

• Dizziness

• Drooling

• Loss of balance

• Nausea

• Schizophrenia-like symptoms: catatonia, delusions, garbled or sparse speech, paranoia, detachment from reality, disordered thinking

Other consequences of high-dose PCP include memory loss, problems with speech, lack of concentration, depression and weight loss. Some of these symptoms can linger for a year after the drug is no longer used. The combination of PCP with other central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol, can lead to accidental overdose or coma.

Addicting?

PCP is addictive, often causing severe psychological dependence, craving and compulsive, drug-seeking behavior. It is classified as a Schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule II substances (which include cocaine and methamphetamine) have a high abuse potential. Users can be arrested and go to prison for lengthy sentences.

Withdrawal symptoms from chronic PCP use can include coma, convulsions, muscle rigidity, psychosis and violence.