What is Psychedelic Drugs or Hallucinogens ? Definition, Types, Example

Psy­che­del­ic Drugs (Hal­lu­cino­gens)

These drugs change one’s behav­iour thoughts ‚feel­ings and per­cep­tion with­out any actu­al sen­so­ry stimulus. 

The hal­lu­cino­gens in gen­er­al pro­duces dream like state with the dis­ori­en­ta­tion and often make users of SEE SOUND AND HEAR COLOUR. These are also called VISION PRODUCING DRUGS as they pro­duce false imag­i­na­tions or extreme feel­ing of either despair or eupho­ria by effect­ing cere­brum and sense organs . 

These include chem­i­cal such as LSD (Lyser­gic Acid Diethy­lamide) , Mesca­line , psilo­cy­bin and prod­ucts of hemp plant. Cocaine and amphet­a­mines are also capa­ble of pro­duc­ing hallucinations.

• Save

Nat­ur­al Hallucinogens

(I) LSD (Lyser­gic acid diethylamide)

It is the most pow­er­ful psy­che­del­ic. Its chem­i­cal for­mu­la is C₁₅H₁₅N₂CON(C₂H₅)₂ . It is a crys­talline ami­dat­ed alka­loid Obtained from Ergot , an exact got from fruit­ing body of Fun­gus Clav­i­ceps pur­purea that is par­a­site on Rye plant . it is always smoked . LSD was syn­the­sized by Hof­mann (1938).

LSD caus­es hor­ri­ble dreams, emo­tion­al out­burst , hal­lu­ci­na­tions, chron­ic psy­chosis and severe dam­age to the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem . it also brings about chro­mo­so­mal and foetal abnor­mal­i­ties. An LSD addict can be eas­i­ly recog­nised from inco­her­ence in writ­ing and drawing.

(ii) Mesca­line

It is a white pow­dery alka­loid , obtained from the tops (called mescals) of a small spine­less cac­tus , Lophopho­ra william­sii native to the SW Unit­ed States and North­ern Mex­i­co. This cac­tus is also called “pey­ote cactus”.

It’s chem­i­cal for­mu­la is C₁₁H₁₇NO₃. It is a low poten­cy Hallucinogens

(iii) Psilo­cy­bine

It is obtained from the fruit­ing bod­ies of Mex­i­can Mush­room (fun­gus) Psilo­cybe mex­i­cana (Fam­i­ly Agar­i­caceae). Its chem­i­cal for­mu­la is C₁₃H₁₈O₃N₂P₂.

Psilo­cy­bin is a crys­talline sol­id that May have val­ue in psy­cho­log­i­cal medicine.its effect are Sim­i­lar to those of Medicine.

(iv) Cannabi­noids (prod­ucts of Hemp Plant)

Hal­lu­cino­genic Chem­i­cal obtained from leaves , resin and inflo­res­cence of Hemp plant , Cannabis Sati­va are called Cannabi­noids. There are four types of Hal­lu­cino­gens products.

(a) Bhang

It is fresh/dried leaves and flow­er­ing shoots of both male and female plants of Cannabis Sati­va. Bhang is gen­er­al­ly tak­en oral­ly (eg. Drink or in the form of pako­ra or tik­ki) . it acts slowly.

(b) Gan­ja

It is dried unfer­til­ized female inflo­res­cence of Cannabis sati­va . it is smoked gen­er­al­ly in cig­a­rettes. It is more potent . its effects are pro­duced almost instantaneously.

© Cha­ras

It is dried resinous extract from flow­er­ing tops and leaves of cannabis sati­va . it is most potent and smoked with tobac­co . in some coun­tries like Amer­i­ca , Cha­ras is called Hashish. 

Resin is obtained from the plant . The active prin­ci­ple in resins is THC , I.e. 9 Tetrahy­dro­cannabi­nol. It gives tem­po­rary feel­ing of well being and Happiness.

(d) Mar­i­jua­na

This is obtained from the dried flower and top leaves of the female plants of Cannabis sati­va . the most active ingre­di­ent of mar­i­jua­na is delta 9 ter­ahy­dro­can­abi­nol (Delta 9 THC) . it is smoked in Cig­a­rettes. Mar­i­jua­na May cause psychosis

Prod­uct of hemp plants raise the blood sug­ar lev­el and increase the fre­quen­cy of uri­na­tion . they are rel­a­tive­ly less harm­ful but reg­u­lar intake of these prod­ucts May lead to hero­in. Like addiction.

They bring about a state of well being (eupho­ria), excite­ment, some­times uncon­trolled laugh­ter and dila­tion of pupil of eyes . They are very harm­ful if tak­en along with alcohol.

These days cannabionoids are also being abused by some sport persons..

(v) Datu­ra and Belladona

Seeds of Datu­ra stra­mo­ni­um and aer­i­al parts of Atropa bel­ladona are mis­used for their hal­lu­cino­genic prop­er­ties. How­ev­er , even in slight excess they can cause death.

Syn­thet­ic Hallucinogens

• Save

(I) PCP (phen­cy­cli­dine piperidine)

It is wide­ly used in vet­eri­nary med­i­cine to briefly immo­bi­lize large ani­mals. PCP is avail­able to addicts as angel dust (white gran­u­lar powder,).

It has stim­u­lants, depres­sants, Hal­lu­cino­gens and anal­gesics prop­er­ties. High­er dose of PCP May pro­duce hyper­sali­va­tion , vom­it­ing , fever and even coma.

(ii) Meth­yl­ene­dioxy Metham­phet­a­mine, (MDMA)

MDMA has CNS exci­tant and Hal­lu­cino­genic properties. 

It increase com­mu­ni­ca­tion . MDMA has become pop­u­lar in Stu­dents under the name ‘ecsta­sy’ drug.