From the Director

Drugs with street names like acid, angel dust, and vitamin K distort the way a user perceives time, motion, colors, sounds, and self. These drugs can disrupt a person's ability to think and communicate rationally, or even to recognize reality, sometimes resulting in bizarre or dangerous behavior. Hallucinogens such as LSD cause emotions to swing wildly and real-world sensations to assume unreal, sometimes frightening aspects. Dissociative drugs like PCP and ketamine may make a user feel disconnected and out of control.

In addition to their short-term effects on perception and mood, LSD is associated with psychotic-like episodes that can occur long after a person has taken the drug, and PCP and ketamine can cause respiratory depression, heart rate abnormalities, and a withdrawal syndrome. Use of LSD and other hallucinogens by secondary school students has declined since 1998, but ketamine and LSD are becoming more widely used at dance clubs and all-night raves by older teens and young adults.

NIDA research is developing a clearer picture of the dangers of these mind-altering drugs. We have compiled the scientific information in this report to inform readers and to strengthen prevention and treatment efforts.

Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D.
Director
National Institute on Drug Abuse

This report is also available in PDF format, Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs, [PDF format, 256 KB]

Also Available in Spanish

All materials appearing in the Research Reports Series are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission from NIDA. Citation of the source is appreciated.

To obtain printed copies of this report, please call or write the National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information, P.O. Box 2345, Rockville, MD 20852, 1-800-729-6686. NIDA Research Report - Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs: NIH Publication No. 01-4209, Printed March 2001. 1517357since 3/2/01.