Developed before LSD, PCP, which stands for the complex and dangerous chemical phenylcyclohexylpiperidine, was originally used in the form of a surgical anesthetic. Because it provided a feeling of being out of one’s body, it became associated with other dissociative anesthetics. The detachment this drug provides its uses is only one of many reasons it lands people in residential drug treatment.
In studies performed on both animals and humans, it was shown to usually have such negative side affects as delirious states of being and extreme rage in humans. But for animals it proved to be a successful anesthetic.
The pill form came out in the sixties where it immediately began to be abused illicitly. There was a decline in use as its users started to become unsatisfied with how long it took the drug to work and how unstable it was. The rage fits often associated with the drug were and still are unpredictable. It went out of style just as fast as it had came into style.
Numerous names are also attributed to the drug, including superweed, rocket fuel, ozone, and others when it is in a powdered version of itself. Usually the powder is mixed with other drugs or substances that can be smoked, tobacco and marijuana chief among them. Through this technique, users can get an extremely quick hit. While in its powered form, it is also snorted like cocaine. Pills are still used today as well.
Snorting the drug, or smoking it, provide virtually the same effects. Its popularity as a drug originates from the way in which it works with the chemistry of the brain. The drug disrupts the place in the brain where the receptors play host for glutamate, a neurotransmitter. This neurotransmitter is responsible for how people perceive pain, emotion, and how their cogitative abilities work. Another neurotransmitter it affects is called dopamine. It is famous for its association in providing, with the help of other drugs, the high so many abusers chase and the need for drug rehab.
Part of what centers for treatment for drug addiction must deal with in PCP abusers, especially those with a long history of using the drug, is memory problems and severe depression. Such symptoms can last as long as a year or even more, depending upon the patient and the program.
