Missed Opportunities? Beneficial Uses of Illicit Drugs
Ross Coomber in The Control of Drugs and Drug Users, 2020
There are now dozens of known psychedelic drugs, some of them synthesized only in the last twenty years. Few have been tested seriously in human beings. Their effects are sometimes different from those of LSD, psilocybin, and other familiar substances. These differences may be significant for the study of the human mind and for psychotherapy, but we cannot analyze them properly without more controlled human research. In particular, there are certain psychedelic drugs that do not produce the same degree of perceptual change or emotional unpredictability as LSD or psilocybin. They can in no way be regarded as hallucinogenic. Among these is MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), a relatively mild drug that is said to give a heightened capacity for introspection, insight, and intimacy along with temporary freedom from anxiety and depression, without distracting changes in perception, body image, and the sense of self (Naranjo, 1975; Greer, 1983). Its effect lasts two to four hours and is usually fairly subtle and controllable.
Hallucinogens
G. Hussein Rassool in Alcohol and Drug Misuse, 2017
Tolerance builds up rapidly with LSD. Tolerance occurs because LSD accumulates in the body and a regular user will need to take a higher dose to achieve a “high”. However, the user does not go through the same process or type of experience as compared to other tolerance syndromes. Any tolerance developed quickly goes away once regular use is stopped. There is no physical dependence or withdrawal symptoms associated with recreational use of LSD. LSD is not considered an addictive drug since it does not produce compulsive drug-seeking behaviour, for example, the experiences of cravings associated with physical addiction. LSD can also cause cross-tolerance to other psychedelic drugs that may last from a few days to a week.
CNS Stimulants And Hallucinogens
S.J. Mulé, Henry Brill in Chemical and Biological Aspects of Drug Dependence, 2019
What psychedelic drugs exist besides LSD? There are the tryptamine derivatives; psilocybin, psilocin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), diethyltryp-tamine, and dipropyltryptamine, as well as the phenethylamine, mescaline. Quite recently a large number of agents chemically related both to mescaline and amphetamine, most of which were first synthesized by Shulgin,26 have come into widespread use. Shulgin systematically varied substituents of the amphetamine analogue of mescaline and was able to greatly enhance potency on a milligram basis. Thus, DOM (STP) differs from the mescaline analogues only in the location of the methoxy group, yet is 50 times as potent as mescaline.
Mystical Experiences in Retrospective Reports of First Times Using a Psychedelic in Finland
Published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2020
Samuli Kangaslampi, Aino Hausen, Tarina Rauteenmaa
During their acute effects, classic psychedelic drugs cause marked changes in perception, cognition, mood, and experience of self. They hamper cognitive functioning in areas such as attention (Hasler et al. 2004), decision-making (Kometer et al. 2012), as well as time perception and working memory (Wittmann et al. 2007). Their effects are often described as positive and uplifting, but can also be experienced as difficult, frightening, and uncomfortable (Carbonaro et al. 2016; Griffiths et al. 2006; Hasler et al. 2004; Strassman 1984). Despite the acute inebriating effects of psychedelics, evidence from both naturalistic studies and controlled experiments suggests possible positive long-term effects on well-being (Bouso et al. 2012; Schmid and Liechti 2018), mood, attitude, and behavior (Griffiths et al. 2018, 2011, 2008), mental health (Davis et al. 2019; Hendricks et al. 2015; Johansen and Krebs 2015; Krebs and Johansen 2013; Uthaug et al. 2019), as well as esthetic experience and relationship with the environment (Studerus et al. 2011). Pilot studies indicate psychedelics may also hold promise in the treatment of clinical-level depression, anxiety, or addictions (Bogenschutz et al. 2015; Carhart-Harris et al. 2018; Gasser, Kirchner, and Passie 2014; Griffiths et al. 2016; Grob et al. 2011; Palhano-Fontes et al. 2019; Ross et al. 2016).
Psilocybin and MDMA for the treatment of trauma-related psychopathology
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2021
Catherine I. V. Bird, Nadav L. Modlin, James J. H. Rucker
Classical psychedelic drugs include phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (psilocybin), dimethyltryptamine (DMT), d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and mescaline. They are agonists at serotonin receptors, with the subjective psychoactive effects dependent on partial agonism of the type 2 A serotonin receptor (Vollenweider & Kometer, 2010), which is predominantly expressed on layer V pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex (Hall et al., 2000; Saulin et al., 2012). Historical and present-day recreational, medicinal and religious use of plant-based psychedelics by different, geographically isolated human societies has been observed (El-Seedi et al., 2005; Nichols, 2020; Tupper, 2009). Some reports date this use extending back thousands of years, although this timeline is still debated. Subsequent to the serendipitous discovery and marketing of LSD in the Western world, from 1950 to the early 1970s, more than 1,000 clinical papers were published about the treatment of thousands of patients with psychedelics. Whilst these trials were suboptimal in many respects, a recent review of the pre-1970s literature concluded that they were likely to be safe when delivered in medically controlled settings and deserved further investigation with the benefit of modern paradigms of trial design (Rucker et al., 2018).
Novel psychotherapeutics – a cautiously optimistic focus on Hallucinogens
Published in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 2018
Alexander M. Sherwood, Thomas E. Prisinzano
Psychedelics represent one of the more studied classes of hallucinogens in terms of pharmacology and potential clinical utility [7]. The effects produced by psychedelic drugs are principally mediated through the serotonergic 5-HT1A/2A receptors, which are found widely in the central and peripheral nervous system, including the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and raphe nucleus, and have been shown to modulate attention, working memory, and cognition/perception. The common effects reported by users of psychedelics include alterations of sensory perception, ego loss, and increased awareness of the present leading to sometimes-profound personal insight and even mystical experiences [8]. The individual’s state of mind and the set and the setting of the experience have been hypothesized to largely influence the magnitude of each aspect of the psychedelic drug’s effects, and guides with specialized training are typically present to facilitate the experience in a clinical setting.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Altered State of Consciousness
- Hallucinogen
- Mdma
- Mescaline
- Psilocybin
- Salvia Divinorum
- Psychedelic Experience
- Psychedelia
- Altered State of Consciousness
- Lsd
- N,N-Dimethyltryptamine