PSYC62H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Psychedelic Drug, Locus Coeruleus, Psychedelic Experience
Document Summary
Psychedelic drugs induce a reality-altering experience consisting of hallucinations, sensory distortions, or delusions. Classified into three general categories: hallucinogens, mixed stimulant-psychedelics, and dissociative anesthetics. Hallucinogens represent a large class of psychedelic drugs that produce hallucinations as their main pharmacological effects. The most representative of this drug class is lysergic acid diethylamide (lsd), which goes by the street name acid, window pane, and blotter. Other hallucinogens include psilocybin, mescaline, and dimethlytryptamine. Psilocybin is the main psychoactive constituent in hallucinogenic mushrooms belonging to the genus psilocybe. User refers to these mushrooms as magic mushrooms or shrooms. After oral administration, psilocybin rapidly converts to its active metabolite psilocin, a hallucinogenic substance that likely account for most of psilocybin"s effects. Mesacaline is found in peyote, a small, spineless cactus. Users obtain mescaline by chewing disk-shaped buttons within the cactus crown. Dimethyltrypatamine (dmt) s found in mimosa hostilis, virola calophylla and other hallucinogenic american plants.
