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HALLUCINOGENS.
Term Paper ID:28324
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Essay Subject:
Examines composition of LSD, mescaline, Ecstasy; their impact on people, consequences of use. Abstract.... More...
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8 Pages / 1800 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Examines composition of LSD, mescaline, Ecstasy; their impact on people, consequences of use. Abstract.
Paper Introduction:
LSD and Other Hallucinogens
Abstract
There are two different kinds of hallucinogens. Both LSD and MDMA (Ecstasy) are synthetic, made in laboratories, while mescaline is a non-human-made substance obtained from cactus. As peyote, it is ingested in religious ceremonies by Native Americans. Each of these substances has short-term effects, which are characterized as “high” and “psychedelic” experiences. In essence, they affect the brain and nervous system through the neurotransmitters, leading to alterations in the brains processing of information. They also activate different regions of brain, leading to visual and auditory hallucinations, and to feelings of pleasure, or paranoia, as the case may be. They can be fatal, with one use sometimes leading to drug toxicity or problems such as Mallory-Weiss syn
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As peyote, it is ingested inreligious ceremonies by Native Americans. For LSD, the regions activated included the lateral septum,large parts of the striatum, including the nucleus accumbens, and there wasa strong hybridization signal in the cerebral cortex, particularly in theupper layers and the ventral area of the periaqueductal gray.Consequences There are many long-term impacts of the use of hallucinogens. LSD and Other Hallucinogens Abstract There are two different kinds of hallucinogens. Besides the regions of the brainactivated by LSD, there was additional c-fos signal in the nucleus accumbescore and shell ad in the mamillary nuclei. In the short-term, MDMA can create confusion, depression,sleeplessness, paranoia, muscle spasms, and blurred vision. and Marek, G.J. (1998). In other words, MDMA can causelong-term problems for the user, which may lead to disability despite itswarm and fuzzy reputation as an easy and non-symptomatic high for youngpeople. Inthe case of LSD, this drug was first synthesized decades ago from lysergicacid diethylamide. It is an extract from thepeyote, which is ingested for its psychedelic impact.Impact In the context of religious ritual, mescaline produces ecstatic andshamanic effects which are contextualized. De La Torre et al.(2 ) explored its pharmacokinetics and metabolism in human beings. Thisappears to be a drug which is easy to make and is a drug that people oftenmake themselves (Hallucinogens, 1999).Composition According to Obrocki et al. LSDComposition There are different kinds of hallucinogens. Both botulism andMallory-Weiss syndrome are severe attacks upon the bodies system, which areoften fatal.Consequences Aghajanian et al. Western Journal of Medicine,17 (6), 328. Neuropsychopharmacology, 21(2 Suppl.), 16S-23S. They seem to damage the action ofneurotransmitters, affecting the way the brain receives, processes, andinterprets information. American Journal of Medicine, 1 7(2), 188-189. (1999). They have both short-termnegative impacts and long-term negative consequences for users, includinghallucinations, paranoia, psychotic behavior, brain damage, problems withmemory and learning, and flashbacks. Some of the drugs, likeLSD, are human-made, while others are natural. Berk, S.I., LeBlond, R.F., Hodges, K.B., Aibe, H., Schlechte, J.A.(1999). British Journalof Psychiatry, 175, 186-188. LSD impacts intakeof information, processing of information, and interpretation ofinformation. It creates hallucinations, as does LSD, by acting on thenerve center in the brain. This is particularly true ofthe nucleus accumbens.Consequences In the long-term, MDMA creates even worse problems. (1999) reported that research since the 195 s hasled to converging evidence that the two major classes of psychedelichallucinogens, the indoleamines like LSD, and the phenethylamines, likemescaline, have a common site of action. Hallucinogens: Mind-bending drugs. Acute injection of drugs with low addictive potential causes amuch higher c-fos expression in limbic brain areas than highly addictigdrugs. Long-term, chronic use of LSD is directly damaging to the brain and thecentral nervous system to the extent that the user may lose the capacityfor both speech and the visual processing of language. (1999). Introduction Although LSD is not as visible in the news or the popular culture asit was during the 196 s and 197 s, it is still one of the availablehallucinogens that people use and abuse. Long-term use tends to do more damage to the nervous system,leading to problems with memory, learning, language, and otherneurotransmitter irregularities, such as seizures. (1999), the main psychotropic agent ofecstasy is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). In other words, peyote can cause permanent damage to other systemsof the body besides the brain upon one-term use. Itcauses sleeplessness, agitation, and sometimes convulsions or seizures. References Aghajanian, G.K. It was used in many experimental settings, includingthe academic and the military, in order to learn its properties andapplications.Impact Essentially, LSD works by affecting the brains chemical messengersystem. Researchersbelieve that MDMA damages nerve cells in the brain affecting such things assleep, pain, memory, mood, and learning. (2 ). In general, the noradrenergic locuscoeruleus and the cerebral cortex are the primary regions where LSD andmescaline create their effects through their action upon the receptors.Again, the researchers emphasized that the effect of hallucioges uponglutamatergic transmission of the cerebral cortex may account for many ofits effects. However, with LSD, the chemicalchanges the functioning of the neurotransmitters so that the brain receivesinaccurate information in some instances (hallucinations) and also respondsto information inappropriately. One ofthe most common ones for long-time LSD users is termed the "flashback" inwhich the individual re-experiences the LSD high at a time when they arenot taking drugs. Brain Res. Both LSD and MDMA(Ecstasy) are synthetic, made in laboratories, while mescaline is a non-human-made substance obtained from cactus. and Zumwalt, R.E. Mol. There are other physiological effects of hallucinogens like LSD. (1999) in which a chronic LSD user developed a mesenteric mass,which was disabling in its effects on brain operation and user functioning. In yet anotherinstance, peyote ingestion was associated with botulism (Hashimoto et al.,1998). (1999) posited that MDMA caused neurotoxic lesions tothe serotonergic system, creating long-term changes in the cerebral glucosemetabolic rate. Current health, 22(7),17-19. Unfortunately, for the casual drug user, the drug still has manydeleterious effects. Erdtmann-Vourliotis et al. They can be fatal, with one use sometimesleading to drug toxicity or problems such as Mallory-Weiss syndrome andbotulism. Conclusion Despite the fact that each of the drugs produces a slightly differentkind of high, or experience, they all have similarly negative impacts onthe brain and on the central nervous system. (1999). andSchiemann, T. They suggested thatthis leads to the potential for ecstasy to have long-term negative effectson central neuronal activities in human beings. Obrocki, J., Buchert, R., Vaterlein, O., Thomasius, R., Beyer, W. De La Torre, R., Farre, M., Ortuno, J., Mas, M., Brenneisen, R.,Roset, P.N., Segura, J., Cami, J. Brain Res., 71(2), 313-324. As noted earlier, the study by Erdtmann-vourliotis et al. It isalso a natural, rather than created, substance. Although not aspotent an experience as LSD, nor as long lasting, the drug is ahallucinogen that produces many of the same effects on the user. Ecstasy - long-term effects on the human centralnervous system revealed by positron emission tomography. They discovered that in comparison with the control group, theglucose metabolic uptake of the ecstasy user group was negatively affectedin the amygdala, hippocampus, and Brodmanns area II. (1999) conducted a study comparing theactivation of pleasure centers and other areas in the limbic region of thebrain by drugs with high and low addictive potential. In the followingpages, the intention is to explore the composition of some hallucinogens,their impact on people, and the consequences of their use for individuals. Obrocki et al. Theydiscovered that it had differential impacts on different types of peopleand that the impact of the drug did not follow a linear progression ofeffects throughout the entire sample. The brain uses neurotransmitters to transmit messages throughnerve cells to the rest of the body. Hashimoto, H., Clyde, V.J., and Parko, K.L. In onereport, this was associated with Mallory-Weiss lacerations leading togastrointestinal hemorrhage (Nolte and Zumwalt, 1999). (1999)indicated that MDMA actually activated more regions of the brain than LSD,marijuana, cocaine, or morphine. There are occasions in which peyote ingestion is fatal. One case was reported byBerk et al. Forexample, it raises heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. Thus, paranoia is a common result of theuse of LSD in which the individual may be afraid of something that wouldnot normally arouse fear, like a tree. However, most drug use sincethe 196 s has been non-contextualized, although users have claimed to beseeking spiritual insight with use. In general, they are termedpsychedelic drugs because they impact the individuals nervous system. British Journal of ClinicalPharmacology, 49(2), 1 4-1 9. In essence, they affect the brain and nervous system throughthe neurotransmitters, leading to alterations in the brains processing ofinformation. Serotonin andhallucinogens. In general, this makes peoplefeel very ill. Nolte, K.B. Itmay block important feelings so that individuals are not aware that theyhave hurt themselves. New England Journal of Medicine, 339(3), 2 3-2 4. Botulism frompeyote. Ecstasy Ecstasy seems to be a drug of popular culture currently, and it hasappeared in the news in association with recent criminal behavior. In other words, while these drugs may not be addictive according tothe usual definition of the term, they are clearly rewarding to usersbecause they activate the most region of the brain that are directlyassociated with the experience of pleasure. They also activate different regions of brain, leading tovisual and auditory hallucinations, and to feelings of pleasure, orparanoia, as the case may be. Each of these substances hasshort-term effects, which are characterized as "high" and "psychedelic"experiences. It may be even more potent thanearlier varieties of LSD, and on the street, the chances of obtaining pureforms of it, or any of the hallucinogens, are very low. This represents fundamental damage to the nervoussystem, in that the neurotransmitters have been damaged to such an extentthat they randomly misfire or work improperly. The common site of action is inthe central nervous system, with the drugs acting as partial agonists at 5-HT2a and other 5-HT2 receptors. They studied this possibility by using PET with FDG withseven ecstasy users and seven subjects with no known history of illicitdrug use. Interestinglyenough, they learned that LSD and Ecstasy actually activated more of theseregions than the drugs with higher addictive potential, such as cocaine andmorphine. According tothe National Institutes of Health, these symptoms may last days or evenweeks after only a single dosage (Hallucinogens, 1999). (1999). Instead, small increases in thedose of MDMA ingested became disproportionate increases in MDMA plasmaconcentrations, leading to increased potential of MDMA toxicity.Impact on human beings Along with the visible hallucinogenic impact, there are invisiblephysiological impacts, which may be long lasting in their effects.Essentially, MDMA works on the serotonergic system. These communicate exterior reality tothe brain and determine interpretation. It is obtained from the peyote cactus and processedin order to produce the psychedelic potion. Erdtmann-Vourliotis, M., Mayer, P., Riechert, U., and Hollt, V.(1999). The brain would be processinginformation incorrectly and communicating a message of fear (Hallucinogens,1999). The visible effectsare energy, warmth, touching, peacefulness - at least for some - while forothers the reaction is paranoia and psychotic behavior. MescalineComposition Mescaline has a somewhat different history than other hallucinogensbecause it is associated with Native American religious ceremonies.
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