What is PCP?

PCP, or phencyclidine, is a dissociative anesthetic that was developed in the 1950s as asurgical anesthetic. Its sedative and anesthetic effects are trance-like, and patients experience a feeling of being “out of body” and detached from their environment. Use of PCP in humans was discontinued in 1965, because it was found that patients often became agitated, delusional, and irrational while recovering from its anesthetic effects.

What are the street names/slang terms for PCP?

Angel Dust, Elephant Tranquilizer, Embalming Fluid, Killer Weed, Ozone, Peace Pill, Rocket Fuel, Supergrass.

What does it look like?

PCP is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water or alcohol. It has a distinctive bitter chemical taste.

How is it used?

PCP turns up on the illicit drug market in a variety of tablets, capsules, and colored powders. It is normally used in one of three ways — snorted, smoked, or eaten. When it is smoked, PCP is often applied to a leafy material such as mint, parsley, oregano, tobacco or marijuana.

What are its short-term effects?

At low to moderate doses, PCP can cause distinct changes in body awareness, similar to those associated with alcohol intoxication. Other effects can include shallow breathing, flushing, profuse sweating, generalized numbness of the extremities and poor muscular coordination. Use of PCP among adolescents may interfere with hormones related to normal growth and development as well as with the learning process. At high doses, PCP can cause hallucinations as well as seizures, coma, and death (though death more often results from accidental injury or suicide during PCP intoxication). Other effects that can occur at high doses are nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, flicking up and down of the eyes, drooling, loss of balance, and dizziness. High doses can also cause effects similar to symptoms of schizophrenia, such as delusions, paranoia, disordered thinking, a sensation of distance from one’s environment, and catatonia. Speech is often sparse and garbled. PCP has sedative effects, and interactions with other

central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines, can lead to coma or accidental overdose. Many PCP users are brought to emergency rooms because of PCP’s unpleasant psychological effects or because of overdoses. In a hospital or detention setting, they often become violent or suicidal, and are very dangerous to themselves and to others.

What are its long-term effects?

PCP is addicting; that is, its use often leads to psychological dependence, craving, and compulsive PCP-seeking behavior. People who use PCP for long periods report memory loss, difficulties with speech and thinking, depression, and weight loss. These symptoms can persist up to a year after cessation of PCP use. Mood disorders also have been reported.

What is its federal classification?

Schedule II

Source

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Click on the link below to download the fact sheet for this drug:

PCP Fact Sheet (PDF)

What is GHB?

Gamma-hydroxybutrate (GHB) is predominantly a central nervous systemdepressant.

What are the street names/slang terms for GHB?

G, Georgia Home Boy, Grievous Bodily Harm, Liquid Ecstasy.

What does it look like?

GHB can be produced in clear liquid, white powder, tablet, and capsule forms. It is colorless and odorless. GHB has a salty taste; however it is often diluted in liquids and virtually undetectable. GHB is often manufactured in homes with recipes and kits found and purchased on the Internet.

How is it used?

In powder form, measuring a dose is fairly straightforward. In liquid form, GHB comes in a wide variety of concentrations with a single dose ranging from a few drops to a full glass.

What are its short-term effects?

At lower doses, GHB can relieve anxiety and produce relaxation. Combining use with other drugs such as alcohol can result in nausea and difficulty breathing. GHB may also produce withdrawal effects, including insomnia, anxiety, tremors, and sweating.

What are its long-term effects?

As the dose increases, the sedative effects may result in sleep and eventual coma or death. GHB has reportedly been used in cases of date rape. Because GHB is odorless and tasteless, it can be slipped into someone’s drink without detection.

What is its federal classification?

Schedule I

Source

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) & National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Click on the link below to download the fact sheet for this drug:

GHB Fact Sheet (PDF)

 

What is Hashish?

 

Hashish is a cannabinoid, like marijuana. It consists of the THC-rich resinous material of the cannabis plant. The Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan/Afghanistan are the main sources of hashish. The THC content of hashish that reached the United States, where demand is limited, averaged 6 percent in the 1990s.

What does it look like?

 

Hashish is a reddish-brown to black colored resinous material of the cannabis plant, which is collected, dried, and then compressed into a variety of forms, such as balls, cakes, or cookie-like sheets.

How is it used?

 

Pieces are then broken off, placed in pipes and smoked.

What are its short-term effects?

 

Short-term effects of hashish include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch), trouble with thinking and problem solving, loss of motor coordination, increased heart rate, and anxiety. These effects are even greater when other drugs are mixed with hashish. A user may also experience dry mouth and throat.

What are its long-term effects?

 

Hashish smoke contains some of the same cancer-causing compounds as tobacco, sometimes in higher concentrations.

What is its federal classification?

 

Schedule I

Source

 

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)

Click on the link below to download the fact sheet for this drug:

 

Hashish Fact Sheet (PDF)

What is Khat?

Khat is a stimulant. For centuries, khat, the fresh young leaves of the Cathaedulis shrub, have been consumed where the plant is cultivated, primarily in East Africa and the Arabian peninsula. There, chewing khat predates the use of coffee and is used in a similar social context. Khat has been brought into the United States and other countries for use by emigrants from the source countries. It contains a number of chemicals among which are two controlled substances, cathinone and cathine. As the leaves mature or dry, cathinone is converted to cathine, which significantly reduces its stimulatory properties.

How is it used?

Khat is typically chewed like tobacco. The fresh leaves, twigs, and shoots of the khat shrub are chewed, and then retained in the cheek and chewed intermittently to release the active drug. Dried plant material can be made into tea or a chewable paste, but dried khat is not as potent as the fresh plant product.

Khat can also be smoked and even sprinkled on food.

What are its short-term effects?

Compulsive use may result in manic behavior with grandiose delusions or in a paranoid type of illness, sometimes accompanied by hallucinations.

What are its long-term effects?

Unknown.

What is its federal classification?

Schedule I

Source

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)

Click on the link below to download the fact sheet for this drug:

Khat Fact Sheet (PDF)