Hallucinogens and Designer Drugs

Drug	Type	Acute Effects	Medical Complications
Ketamine	Dissociative anaesthetic	Sedation, delirium, hallucinations	Respiratory depression, dysrhythmias, seizures
Ecstasy	Serotonergic effects	Feelings of warmth, empathy	Dehydration (common at "raves"); hyperthermia
Phencyclidine	Dissociative anaesthetic	Delirium, delusions, hallucinations, sedation	Seizures, hyperpyrexia, hypertension, coma, rhabdomyolysis, violence
Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB)	GABA effects (neuroinhibitory)	Sedation, disinhibition, delirium	Prolonged, severe withdrawal in daily users: tremor, psychosis, delirium, seizures

Drug	Chronic Effects	Fetal Effects
Ketamine	Unknown	Possible neuro-developmental damage*
Ecstasy	?Long-term memory impairment	Possible cardiac, skeletal abnormalities
Phencyclidine	Memory impairment, depression	Possible neuro-developmental damage*
Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB)	Coma, respiratory depression	Possible neuro-developmental damage*
*Animal studies have found that intoxicating doses of NMDA antagonists and GABAmimetic drugs cause apoptotic neuronal cell death in developing brains. These drugs include alcohol, ketamine, phencyclidine, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and anticonvulsants.

This site last edited: June 2008