Hallucinogens are drugs that cause hallucinations - profound distortions in a person's perceptions of reality. Under the influence of hallucinogens, people see images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem real but do not exist. Some hallucinogens also produce rapid, intense emotional swings.
2. What are a few examples of drug that come under this classification
LSD, DMT (Ayahuasca), Psilocybin ("Magic Mushrooms"), PCP,Ketamine,DPT
We’ll be focusing on LSD, since it is the most commonly used hallucinogen
3. Short-term effects of that drug.
3. Short-term effects of that drug.
- Increase heart rate and blood pressure
- Heart, lung failure
- Hallucinations
- Abnormal, rapid breathing
- Disorientation
- Changed emotional feelings
- Distorted reality
- Feeling of floating or out-of-body experiences
- Dilated eyes
- Unpredictable trips
4. Long-term effects of that drug. Be sure to include physiological effects on the body.
- Flashbacks weeks, months, or even years after the drug use
- Decreased motivation
- Prolonged depression
- Impaired memory and concentration
- Psychosis
5. Street names for that drug.
Acid, boomers, and yellow sunshine, Back breaker, Battery acid, Doses, Dots etc.
6. Pictures of what that drug looks like.
blotter papers of LSD
Liquid form LSD
7. How that drug is taken.
LSD generally is taken by mouth, and rarely through injection. The drug is colorless and odorless but has a slightly bitter taste. It can be taken in the form of blotters, or can also be found in liquid form.
LSD generally is taken by mouth, and rarely through injection. The drug is colorless and odorless but has a slightly bitter taste. It can be taken in the form of blotters, or can also be found in liquid form.
8. Statistics related to that drug
Percentage of teenagers using LSD had been a social issue especially in the 1990s, increasing until it took a turn and slightly decreased.
9. An interesting/fun fact about the drug.
The Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” can be abbreviated to LSD and is said to capture what taking the drug feels like.
10. Overall analysis .
Generally, I would say that it would be most recommended to stay away from drugs such as LSD. On one hand, LSD may be considered a relatively harmless drug. LSD is not considered addictive because it does not produce compulsive drug-seeking behavior. Also, LSD has no known physical after-effects other than fatigue, and there are no recorded cases of LSD overdose because it takes more than three thousand times the normal dose of LSD to overdose.
Because of this, many people assume it is not as destructive as other drugs. However, users mostly end up becoming not physically, but psychologically addicted to LSD. This poses as a danger to many users because it not only disrupts their social life, but is in fact directly related to their healths, since it can disrupt their sleep and eating patterns.
Also, it is strongly recommended that a sitter be present during your 'trips' while taking LSD. This fact alone suggests the dangers of LSD consumption. The trips that a user takes during consumption is also highly dependent on the surroundings and mood that the user is in, making the effects unpredictable. Sometimes, the trips can take a 'bad trip' and become traumatic and frightening. In pasticular, LSD could possibly have the highest potential for creating bad trips, not helped by the fact that dosages of street LSD can be extrememly hard to judge. Furthermore, even after users have stopped using LSD, many experience flashbacks in which they revisit these bad trips, and in some cases, users may also develop long-lasting psyhoses such as schizophrenia or severe depression as results of their using LSD.
Currently, LSD is illegal, and holding even 1 gram of LSD can be a legal offence that may land the holder in jail. There has been debate on the illegal status of LSD, some stating the government's fear of a anti-capitalist society under the influence of LSD. However, this strict and severe attitude on LSD is probably because of the particular dangers that it poses to individuals as well as the people surrounding them. For example, when unsupervised, users who are 'taking a trip' can become threats to the people around them. There are several cases in which users have committed crimes while on their trip, posing as a threat to society. Also, because their results are unpredictable, it is hard for an individual to actually control the effects, making the drug much more dangerous than can be perceived.
Overall, I would say that LSD may be thought of as a harmless drug, but in fact it poses several dangers due to its hallucinogenic effects and its unpredictable nature, and woulld highly recommend that it be avoided.
11. Other Sources
http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs4/4260/index.htm
http://healthlifeandstuff.com/2010/01/the-10-most-popular-drugs/
