Drug Education - Hallucinogens Paper

Casey Julson

Drug Education

Diane Burr

March 5th, 2018

Hallucinogens

There are three types of hallucinogens: Psychedelics, dissociative, and deliriants. They are all very different but all have the same hallucinogenic properties. I have done some research and am going to tell you about these kinds of hallucinogens.

 First off, there are psychedelics, which are definitely the most common hallucinogen out there. Psychedelics are marijuana, mushrooms, a weird drug called methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and LSD. Psychedelic drugs produce changes in consciousness that are generally confusing to yourself at first. The most common psychedelic drug, marijuana, can cause people to feel mild euphoria, increased awareness of external situations, increased hunger, and disruption of memory.

Next, I am going to talk about the second most common hallucinogen, dissociative. Examples of these are ibogaine, phencyclidine, ketamine, and dextromethorphan. This class of hallucinogens generally give you the same perceptual alterations as psychedelics, but give much more loss of feeling. The difference is in the fact that dissociative users feel depersonalizations, or feelings of being disconnected from one’s body. Another common feeling while on dissociatives is derealization, or the feeling that the things around you are “not real”.

Lastly, I am going to tell you about the least common psychedelic, deliriants. Examples of these are atropine, scopolamine, and diphenhydramine. I have honestly never heard of these, but I did some research and they are basically drugs that block acetylcholine from binding to the receptors in the brain. This causes vivid and very unpleasant hallucinations and can have really bad side-effects. There is reports of people killing themselves because of how intense their hallucinations are. People who use these drugs usually have no desire to use the drug again and will have unpleasant memories looking back on taking the drug.