What are Hallucinogens?
Hallucinogens are drugs that cause hallucinations including 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.
Hallucinogens cause their effects by disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Distributed throughout the brain and spinal cord, the serotonin system is involved in the control of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems, including mood, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control, and sensory perception.
There are 3 types of hallucinogens ...
Psychedelics:
These alter the way you perceive the world around you and are said to expand the mind by turning off your brain's selective perception function and allowing you to perceive everything around you. For example, LSD.
Dissociatives:
These work by creating sensory deprivation in the brain so that the mind creates its own perceptions without the interference of actual external stimuli. For example, PCP or magic mushrooms.
Deliriants:
These are actual hallucinogens in that they produce completely false perceptions that aren't based in reality. Their effect on the central nervous system result in delirium and confusion. For example, Belladonna.
Hallucinogens cause their effects by disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Distributed throughout the brain and spinal cord, the serotonin system is involved in the control of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems, including mood, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control, and sensory perception.
There are 3 types of hallucinogens ...
Psychedelics:
These alter the way you perceive the world around you and are said to expand the mind by turning off your brain's selective perception function and allowing you to perceive everything around you. For example, LSD.
Dissociatives:
These work by creating sensory deprivation in the brain so that the mind creates its own perceptions without the interference of actual external stimuli. For example, PCP or magic mushrooms.
Deliriants:
These are actual hallucinogens in that they produce completely false perceptions that aren't based in reality. Their effect on the central nervous system result in delirium and confusion. For example, Belladonna.
Why do people take hallucinogens?
- To trip, to experience hallucinations induced by a drug
- Euphoric effect on the brain
- Fun
- Stimulation or depression
- Behavioral changes
The Risks
A large dose or overdose of hallucinogens can cause:
- Convulsions
- Ruptured blood vessels in the brain
- Irreversible brain damage
- Longer, more intense trip
- Psychosis
- Muscle spasms and seizures
- Loss of coordination
- Convulsions
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Catatonic syndrome (person may sit in a trance-like state)
- Heart/lung failure
- Ruptured blood vessels in the brain
- Coma
- Death