BE A
PART OF
NOT APART
FROM
"...that where there is despair, I may bring hope;"
The Sober Life Project does not provide treatment for addiction or any other illness, does not claim to provide medical or psychological intervention for any disorder, nor does it diagnose addiction. The Sober Life Project is a public awareness clearing house for drug abuse and addiction information, resources, referrals and peer support only.
Hallucinogens
Hallucinogens are drugs that distort the way you perceive reality. They can cause you to see, feel and hear things that don’t exist, making it hard to communicate or think clearly. They can also cause rapid, intense emotional mood swings.1
Hallucinogens work by disrupting how your nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin interact throughout the brain and spinal cord.1 By changing the normal, healthy structure of serotonin in the body, hallucinogens twist and alter the way your brain processes your senses, feelings and visual information, loosening your grip on reality.
LSD (AKA: Acid, blotter, cubes, microdot, yellow sunshine, blue heaven, Cid): an odorless, colorless chemical that comes from ergot, a fungus that grows on grains.
Mushrooms (Psilocybin) (AKA: Simple Simon, shrooms, silly putty, sherms, musk, boomers): psilocybin is the hallucinogenic chemical found in approximately 190 species of edible mushrooms.
Mescaline (AKA: Cactus, cactus buttons, cactus joint, mesc, mescal, mese, mezc, moon, musk, topi): occurs naturally in certain types of cactus plants, including the peyote cactus.
The Risks
Taking any hallucinogens can cause you to experience anxiety, fear and paranoia, sometimes verging on psychosis (a complete loss of contact with reality). In this state of mind, it can be very easy to have a dangerous, or even fatal, accident.
Long-Term Effects
Though more common with LSD, all hallucinogens can cause flashbacksófeelings and thoughts that replay the effects of being on the drug weeks or even years after taking them. Since all hallucinogens disturb the normal functioning of the brain, they put you at risk of developing long-lasting psychoses or mental disorders.
The Bottom Line
The effects of hallucinogenic drugs are highly unpredictable. They depend on the amount taken and on your own unique personality and brain chemistry. And regardless of the effects being sought, these drugs almost always impair judgment, compounding their unpredictability, and making you vulnerable to dangerous or even fatal situations, in addition to the longer-term risks to your mental health.
Physical Effects
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Dilated pupils
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Higher or lower body temperature
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Sweating or chills (“goose bumps”)
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Loss of appetite
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Sleeplessness
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Dry mouth
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Tremors
Mental Effects
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Delusions
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Visual hallucinations
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An artificial sense of euphoria or certainty
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Distortion of one’s sense of time and identity
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Impaired depth perception
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Impaired time perception, distorted perception of the size and shape of objects, movements, color, sounds, touch and the user’s own body image
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Severe, terrifying thoughts and feelings
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Fear of losing control
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Panic attacks
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Flashbacks, or a recurrence of the LSD trip, often without warning long after taking LSD
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Severe depression or psychosis