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LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is one of
the major drugs making up the hallucinogen class of drugs. Hallucinogens
cause hallucinations-profound distortions in a person's perception of
reality. Hallucinogens cause their effects by disrupting the interaction
of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Distributed throughout
the brain and spinal cord, the serotonin system is involved in the control
of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems, including mood, hunger,
body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control, and sensory
perception.
Under the influence of hallucinogens, people see
images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem real but do not exist.
Some hallucinogens also produce rapid, intense emotional swings. One of
the most potent mood-changing chemicals, LSD, was discovered in 1938 and
is manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that
grows on rye and other grains.
Health Hazards
The effects of LSD are unpredictable. They
depend on the amount taken; the user's personality, mood, and
expectations; and the surroundings in which the drug is used. Usually, the
user feels the first effects of the drug 30 to 90 minutes after taking it.
The physical effects include dilated pupils, higher body temperature,
increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, loss of appetite,
sleeplessness, dry mouth, and tremors.
Sensations and feelings change much more dramatically
than the physical signs. The user may feel several different emotions at
once or swing rapidly from one emotion to another. If taken in a large
enough dose, the drug produces delusions and visual hallucinations. The
user's sense of time and self changes. Sensations may seem to "cross
over," giving the user the feeling of hearing colors and seeing sounds.
These changes can be frightening and can cause panic.
Users refer to their experience with LSD as a "trip"
and to acute adverse reactions as a "bad trip." These experiences are
long; typically they begin to clear after about 12 hours.
Some LSD users experience severe, terrifying thoughts
and feelings, fear of losing control, fear of insanity and death, and
despair while using LSD. Some fatal accidents have occurred during states
of LSD intoxication.
Many LSD users experience flashbacks, recurrence of
certain aspects of a person's experience, without the user having taken
the drug again. A flashback occurs suddenly, often without warning, and
may occur within a few days or more than a year after LSD use. Flashbacks
usually occur in people who use hallucinogens chronically or have an
underlying mental health problem; however, otherwise healthy people who
use LSD occasionally may also have flashbacks. Bad trips and flashbacks
are only part of the risks of LSD use. LSD users may manifest relatively
long-lasting psychoses, such as schizophrenia or severe depression. It is
difficult to determine the extent and mechanism of the LSD involvement in
these illnesses.
Most users of LSD voluntarily decrease or stop its
use over time. LSD is not considered an addictive drug since it does not
produce compulsive drug-seeking behavior, as do cocaine, amphetamine,
heroin, alcohol, and nicotine. However, like many of the addictive drugs,
LSD produces tolerance, so some users who take the drug repeatedly must
take progressively higher doses to achieve the state of intoxication that
they had previously achieved. This is an extremely dangerous practice,
given the unpredictability of the drug.
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