352 PCP
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule II (DEA no. 7471)
USA Availability:Prescription
Uses.This substance was invented in the 1920s, but not until the 1950s was
it introduced as a drug, intended as a human and veterinary anesthetic. Hu-
man medical use soon ended because of psychological effects discovered dur-
ing tests on patients. PCP is related toketamineand, like that substance, has
hallucinogenic qualities. Depending on how PCP is used, it can have stimu-
lant, depressant, or hallucinogenic actions. In monkeys PCP is about 10 times
stronger than ketamine.
Drawbacks.PCP can make people feel aloof from the world around them,
cause numbness, interfere with movement, and distort perception of time.
Hallucinations, floating sensations, euphoria, and mania can occur. People
may forget what they did while under the drug’s influence; such amnesia can
last for 24 hours after a dose. Although euphoric effects are well documented,
one group of researchers noted bouts of depression brought on by chronic use
of the substance, though not by intermittent use. Yet the same researchers also
found people successfully using the drug as an antidepressant, and animal
studies suggest PCP may have antianxiety properties. The substance reduces
appetite in dogs. Rats lost weight when they chronically received PCP.
Law enforcement authorities say the drug can make people hostile and give
them extra physical strength, and the same has been experienced by medical
personnel dealing with overdose emergencies. Researchers, however, have
generally not observed such results from PCP (although one of the very first
studies in the 1950s noted violent reactions from about 5% of surgery patients
who received the drug as an anesthetic). A study examining PCP cases at a
Los Angeles psychiatric hospital emergency room explicitly noted that wild
conduct among PCP patients was uncommon. Perhaps police simply have
more dealings with hostile individuals; for example,alcoholcan embolden
belligerent persons, but violence is not considered an inherent effect of alcohol.
Persons who become violent after taking PCP already have such a history
without the substance, and during a police encounter they may well be under
the influence of alcohol or other drugs as well. Military research found that
PCP hostility did not occur unless persons were under stress, and not all
stressed individuals reacted that way. The military study also found that psy-
chotic episodes did not occur with normal persons; someone had to be prone
to psychosis in order for such behavior to occur while using the drug (a find-
ing supported by other studies as well). In mice research PCPreducesviolent
behavior. Most species, including monkeys, act more docile after taking the
drug. Some violent human episodes are described as coming not from ag-
gression but from a PCP user’s panic when police or medical personnel try to
restrain the person. One group of addicts spoke of the substance lowering
inhibitions, which is not the same as causing violence, although an already
enraged person who loses inhibitions may engage in stormy behavior. In ad-
dition, users who attract attention from police or emergency medical person-
nel are not necessarily representative of recreational users in general, either in
personality or size of dose or reaction to the dose.
