PCP (Phencyclidine)
PCP As A Recreational Drug
The first reports of the recreational use of PCP originated from the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco in 1967, the summer of love.
During this period of time, people in the area were primarily using psychedelic drugs. LSD was the most popular of these drugs and most people were looking for similar types of experiences.
PCP is a dissociative drug, which means that the mind feels separated from the body. This was very upsetting to some people who were expecting an LSD like experience.
Many people were so shocked at the way they felt after taking PCP that they panicked and had bad trips. As a result, the use of PCP was almost non existent in Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco area within a year after its first use.
However, PCP was becoming available in other areas of the country and the number of case reports describing bad PCP experiences increased in other areas. Again usually because of bodily perception distortion.
All the hype and bad reports caught up with PCP, and by the end of the 1960s, experienced drug users were staying away from it. But in the early 1970s, the drug re-emerged, this time as a liquid and a crystalline powder and in tablet form.
The word was out on PCP and dealers were almost unable to give phencyclidine away under the PCP name. New names (angel dust being the most popular) and ways of distributing it were thought up.
Angel dust (white crystalline powder) was added to marijuana and originally sold as a potent new marijuana strain. Smoking angel dust was milder than taking PCP as a pill, and when smoked the effects were felt much faster.
Some people who tried the drug (knowing it as angel dust) liked it and continued to use it. Times had changed and people were looking for other types of drugs, besides psychedelics.
Angel dust gained popularity in the mid-late 1970's in many US cities. Popularity continued into the 1980's, but by the early 1990's PCP use was (and has continued to be) fairly low, when compared with other drugs.
PCP is fairly cheap to produce with a small market. It is the raw material used in many street drug swindles. PCP has been sold as THC, cannabinol, mescaline, psilocybin, LSD, amphetamine, cocaine, Hawaiian woodrose, and other psychedelics, or laced into low quality marijuana to make it appear to be more potent, and in non-psychoactive filler like parsley, tobacco, and talc.
In fact, in one study only 3 per cent of analyzed street drug samples that contained PCP were actually sold as PCP. THC, is the most frequent misrepresentation. This is why people usually have bad experiences on PCP. People were, and are taking a drug they were not expecting. A drug that can cause strange body feelings, that may be especially frightening when not expected.
A few of the other names PCP goes by includes angel dust (originally referred to a combination of heroin and cocaine), hog, elephant tranquilizer, killer weed, rocket fuel, squeeze, supergrass, and space base (when mixed with crack).
Use
PCP comes in many forms, including a tablet, capsule, liquid, spray, or crystal like power that can be swallowed, smoked, sniffed, snorted, or injected.
Many people, after using the drug once, will not knowingly use it again. Yet others use it consistently and regularly. The reasons often cited by users as factors in their continued use are, feelings of peace and/or strength. A numbing effect on pain, both physical and emotional is another reason why others say they continue to use it.
Users usually start to feel the effects of the drug in 2 to 5 minutes when it is smoked, and 30 to 60 minutes when taken orally. The user usually peaks 15 to 30 minutes after smoking (one and a half - two and a half hours if taken orally) and stays high for 4 to 6 hours (smoking) 6 to 24 hours (oral). Effects are usually gone in 24 to 48 hours.
Sensation is dissociated, some people lose track of their bodies and do not feel pain. Illusions and delusions are common, but not usually the sight and sound hallucinations produced by acid and other hallucinogenic chemicals.
Anxiety and, sometimes, outright hostility may be present (especially if the person doesn't know that they have taken PCP). Disrobing in public is seen in a small percentage of people.
PCP intoxication may give the user feelings of superhuman strength and invulnerability resulting from the dissociative properties of the drug.
Positive effects of PCP, reported by some users:
--- increased sensitivity to outside stimuli
--- disassociation of mind and body
--- mood elevation
--- high or drunk feeling
--- relaxation
--- euphoria
Negative effects of PCP, reported by some users:
--- perceptual disturbances
--- restlessness
--- disorientation
--- anxiety
--- paranoia
--- irritability
--- confusion
Positive effects are usually reported at low and moderate doses. Negative effects become more pronounced as the dose increases. Doses of 80mg were administered to some patients prior to surgery (during the human medical testing stage of the drug).
Dose size is usually described in the following terms:
low dose - 0mg to 5mg
moderate dose - 6mg to 10mg
high dose - over 10mg
At low to moderate doses, physiological effects of PCP include a slight increase in breathing rate and a more pronounced rise in blood pressure and pulse rate. Respiration becomes shallow, flushing and sweating are common. Generalized numbness of the extremities and muscular in-coordination also may occur. Psychological effects include distinct changes in body awareness, similar to those associated with alcohol intoxication.
At high doses of PCP, there is a drop in blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration. This may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, flicking up and down of the eyes, drooling, loss of balance, and dizziness. Psychological effects at very high doses can include illusions, hallucinations, and a feeling of being near death.
PCP can cause effects that mimic certain primary symptoms of schizophrenia, such as delusions, mental turmoil, and a sensation of distance from one's environment. Often speech is sparse and garbled.
Researchers have a four level classification of doses:
--- 1) Buzzed: not enough to interfere with everyday tasks.
--- 2) Wasted: co-ordination is affected.
--- 3) Ozoned: incoherent and immobile, but conscious.
--- 4) Overdose: unconscious but not in mortal danger.
TV And News Coverage
Whatever is said about people who use PCP on a regular basis, violent behavior should not be one of them. Studies of users show that violence if anything is at a lower rate for these people. Most users are surprised that PCP and violence are related.
You may have seen stories on the news about intoxicated PCP users snapping handcuffs and, unarmed, attacking, large groups of people or police officers.
Or to try to stop a train by standing in front of it, to grossly mutilate themselves and others, to climb into a polar bear's cave to take a picture, and to jump from windows or cliffs. For more info about media coverage of drugs go here.
This bizarre behavior is often violent, sometimes with gruesome mutilation of both the patient and his or her victim. Many of these violent acts are committed by drug users who were previously totally nonviolent individuals.
They are usually first time users who have taken a large dose, and/or may not even know that they have taken PCP. Because PCP is sold as various drugs, what a person consumes is not always the substance it was sold as.
In particular, most people who aren't expecting a dissociative anaesthetic can get very disturbed by the experience, that is why the drug didn't catch on when it was first used recreationally in San Francisco.
Many people find using PCP unpleasantly reminiscent of fever dreams. That, coupled with the lack of feedback from sensory and muscle input, can be a dangerous combination simply because people can injure themselves and not know it.
PCP has been used, to a lesser degree than Ketamine, in sensory depravation tanks and similar mind altering experiments. Some people report a prolonged feeling of 'living death' while undergoing such tests. This again, is because of the feeling of separation between bodily sensation and mind.
Supply
PCP had a brief period of popularity in the late 1960s, when it was trafficked as a magic peace pill. The drug enforcement administration reports that abuse of the drug resurfaced from 1975 into the late 1980s because of the low price, powerful effects, and the fact that it was being smoked.
From 1981 through 1985, trafficking of PCP escalated significantly, particularly among persons younger than 21. Narcotics agencies reports show that the number of PCP laboratories seized since the mid-1980s is considerably smaller than the high number reported in 1978.
Embalming fluid (the product used to delay rotting of human flesh prior to burial) is sometimes used to get high. A joint or cigarette is dipped in the fluid before being smoked. In most cases, unless you know the embalming fluid is pure, what you get on the street is usually mixed with some amount of PCP. If you want pure embalming fluid, you should see the undertaker in person.
In Conclusion
--- Smoking is the mildest way to ingest PCP. If you are intent on trying it for the first time, this is the suggested method.
--- Keep valium (5mg-10mg) handy to calm a person who is not handling the trip well.
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Books PCP:
The Dangerous Angel
Fairly comprehensive overview of PCP, although it is biased against drugs. A view of the history of PCP. From it's first synthesis as a surgical anesthetic to veterinary anesthetic to street drug. Describes the chemical properties of phencyclidine, the physical and psychological effects, and more.
PCP: The Dangerous Angel
PCP Related More PCP Articles