Hallucinogens 1

Question 0

What is phantastica

Answer 0

 phantas&ca are drugs capable of altering percep&ons
 person remains in communica&on with present world
 aware of both fantasy and reality simultaneously
 liAle physiological toxicity, mostly psychological effects

Question 1

What are the 4 types of hallucinogens

Answer 1

  indole hallucinogens
  catechol hallucinogens
      -amphetamine deriva&ves 
  an&cholinergics
  deliriants

Question 2

What is indolent hallucinogens

Answer 2

  serotonin has an indole backbone as does:
  LSD (synthe&c)
  psylocybin (mushrooms)
  lysergic acid amide (Morning Glory)
 bufotenin (toads)

Question 3

What are catechism hallucinogens

Answer 3

dopamine and noradrenaline have catechol backbones as do:
  mescaline (peyote cactus)
  MDA and MDMA (ecstasy)
  MDA - 3,4 methylenedioxyampehtamine
  an entactogen and pyschodelic 
  other amphetamine deriva&ves

Question 4

What is ergot

Answer 4

 a fungus that infects rye - contains lysergic acid
 in the Middle Ages in Europe, outbreaks of ergo&sm from
consuming infected grains
 severely constricted blood flow in limbs made the limbs feel like
they were burning (St Anthony’s Fire)
 lead to gangrene, loss of limbs (via vasoconstric&on)
 other symptoms included convulsions, delirium, hallucina&on
 in 944, an outbreak killed 40,000 people
 in 1951 a small French town “went mad overnight.” - including pets
 lysergic acid is a component of ergot fungus

Question 5

What is LSD

Answer 5

 lysergic acid was know to cause uterine contrac&ons
 Albert Hoffman of Sandoz Laboratories used it as a star&ng point from which to synthesize new medicines for childbirth
 aYer tes&ng one par&cular compound, lysergic acid diethylamide, felt very strange
 decided to deliberately administer a very small dose of 0.25 mg
 turns out it’s about 7 &mes normal dose
 had first LSD trip ever recorded

Question 6

How to use LSD

Answer 6

 drug companies were unsure how to market LSD
 gave it away in hopes someone could find a use for
it
 used to develop psychoses in animal models
 in general therapy to access the subconscious
 as a therapy adjunct for alcoholics (50% success rate claimed

Question 7

Explain LSD in the 1959s and 60s

Answer 7

 CIA contacted Hoffman regarding large-scale produc&on
 his company was offered $240,000 for 10 kg of LSD in 1953
 equivalent of 100 million doses (the deal never went through)
 the “hippy” movement of the 1960’s was a vocal proponent of LSD use
 they were an&-Vietnam war and an&-government
 one of the reasons LSD was targeted by the US government

Question 8

Who is Timothy Leary

Answer 8

 in the middle of all this, a Harvard professor of psychology became the poster child of LSD use
 Timothy Leary had originally experimented with hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of a legi&mate research project
 Leary and Richard Alpert used graduate students in their research projects and eventually turned to LSD
 Leary and Alpert were dismissed from Harvard
 Leary started the League of Spiritual Discovery
 had to take LSD to join
 was eventually jailed - escaped - then jailed again

Question 9

Explain the animal results with LSD

Answer 9

 animals cannot be trained to self- administer LSD or other hallucinogens (with some excep&ons)
 if given the op&on, will work hard at performing tasks that will stop the administra&ons
 no evidence that LSD or other hallucinogens are reinforcing (excep&on with deliriants)
 the reasons for taking are oYen very different than with other drugs of abuse

Question 10

What is the most common route of administration of LSD

Answer 10

 mostly oral
 LSD doses range from 10 - 300 micrograms
 consider one ounce ethanol = 23 g
if dose is 100 ug, then 1/230,000th of alcohol
 these “hits” usually absorbed onto blogng paper
 gel tabs - LSD in gela&n (windowpanes)
 microdots - on candies or small pills
 oYen taken at a dose that doesn’t induce full-blown hallucina&ons

Question 11

What are the patterns of use of LSD

Answer 11

 LSD does not seem to habit-forming
 very low on the abuse poten&al scale
 taken when opportunity arises or in certain social situa&ons (eg. concerts)
 set (expecta&on of user) and segng (environment) perhaps more important for this drug than any other - results in good or bad experience

Question 12

What s the metabolism and excretion of LSD

Answer 12

 effects begin 30 - 90 min aYer inges&on
 only 1% actually enters the brain
 extensively metabolized by liver
 half-life of approx 110 minutes but effects can last for longer than this (5 - 12 hours)

Question 13

What are the psychological effects of LSD

Answer 13

  visual hallucina&on
  synesthesia (mingling of senses)
  intense emo&on
  &me distor&on (&me passes slowly)
  distor&on of sense of body and objects
  mys&cal experiences

Question 14

What are the physiological effects of LSD

Answer 14

  because it is sympathomime&c it causes autonomic responses
  increased blood pressure
  vasoconstric&on
  swea&ng
  dilated pupils
  increased saliva&on

Question 15

What is the mechanism of LSD on receptors

Answer 15

 LSD is a weak par&al agonist at central 5HT2A, 5HT2B and 5HT2C receptors
 5HT2A and B are found in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex
 their ac&va&on changes gene expression in these regions
 other 5HT and dopamine receptors may play a small role

Question 16

What are the effect of LSD on NTs

Answer 16

 LSD increases the release of glutamate from glutamatergic neurons in the cortex
 5HT2 receptors may be presynap&c in this brain region and their ac&va&on leads to increased glutamate release
 especially in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPC) which is important for percep&on and informa&on processing
 MPC thought to be where emo&ons and meaning of things is experienced - interface between cogni&ve and emo&onal systems
 glutamate effects in the cortex thought to be one of the major contributors to hallucinogenic effects

Question 17

Explain the effects of LSD on fear

Answer 17

 as part of a fear centre, the locus coeruleus detects novelty in the environment
 LSD enhances the response of the LC to novelty and makes the ordinary seem extremely novel
 users report truly seeing or hearing for the first &me when using the drug

Question 18

Explain LSD effects in D2 receptors

Answer 18

 LSD will bind to dopamine type 2 (D2) receptors with high affinity and act as an agonist
 shown in the human striatum (part of brain containing the nucleus accumbens)
 known that over-s&mula&on of dopamine receptors can lead to hallucina&ons

Question 19

What are the harms of LSD

Answer 19

 no reported death from a true LSD overdose
 actually physiologically safe
 but may do unsafe things under the influence
 flashbacks - a sudden and unexpected return to the drugged state - usually only short las&ng, visual
 release from body fat? other theories?
 most prevalent when taking other drugs or under stress

Question 20

What are the tolerance effects if LSD

Answer 20

 develops quickly
 if taken repeatedly, complete tolerance in 2 - 3 days -
5HT2 receptors rapidly disappear
 within a week, sensi&vity returns
 become cross-tolerant to mescaline and psylocybin
 no withdrawal symptoms have ever been reported
 addic&on has never been shown to occur with LSD