A dissociative, the state of being dissociated or separation, drug developed as an intravenous anesthetic that has been discontinued due to serious adverse effects. Dissociative drugs are hallucinogens that cause the user to feel detached from reality. PCP is an abbreviation of the scientific name, phencyclidine.
Street Names include Angel Dust, Boat, Hog, Love Boat, and Peace Pill. Common forms are white or colored powder, tablet, or capsule; clear liquid. PCP can be Injected, snorted, swallowed, smoked (powder added to mint, parsley, oregano, or marijuana).
PCP effects on the body vary greatly on different people. The effects are basically determined on how PCP is taken and the dosage. A low dose of PCP can have erratic, distinctive and dangerous effects such as the feeling of detaching from one’s body and surrounding making it difficult for a person using to recognize their body parts.
PCP is an anesthetic. Users can cause themselves harm without realizing it. When taking other substances such as weed (Marijuana) laced with PCP can lead to emotional instability and impaired thinking. Because PCP can cause temporary numbness, users often do abnormal and dangerous things such as jumping or trying to fly from a bridge or building.
Possible Health Effects
Short-term: Delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, problems thinking, a sense of distance from one’s environment, anxiety.
Low doses: Slight increase in breathing rate; increased blood pressure and heart rate; shallow breathing; face redness and sweating; numbness of the hands or feet; problems with movement.
High doses: Nausea; Vomiting; flicking up and down of the eyes; drooling; loss of balance; dizziness; violence; seizures, coma, and death. Long-term: Memory loss, problems with speech and thinking, loss of appetite, anxiety.
Other Health-related Issues: PCP has been linked to self-injury. There is also the risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases from shared needles.
Withdrawal Symptoms: Symptoms include headaches, increased appetite, sleepiness, depression.
Treatment Options: There are no FDA approved medications to treat addiction to PCP or other dissociative drugs.
Behavioral Therapies: More research is needed to find out if behavioral therapies can be used to treat addiction to dissociative drugs.
The information in this publication is for informational use only and has been taken from: National Institute for Drug Abuse https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse