H A L L U C I N O G E N S
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs
National Institute of Justice
Research in Brief
Jeremy Travis, Director
October 1997
Note: This is an edited version of the document. The document was edited by Sgt. Thomas E. Page, LAPD, DRE.
Issues and Findings
Discussed in this Brief: The history of hallucinogen use in the United States, a comparison of past and present user groups, and the impact of today's use and distribution patterns on law enforcement and public health and safety.
Key issues: Psychedelic drugs figured prominently in the hippie culture of the 1960s and 1970s, but their popularity declined during the 1980s. Recent studies reveal that hallucinogen use is on the rise in the 1990s, particularly among young adults of the same socioeconomic class as those who embraced these substances in previous decades. While current hallucinogen users seem to have little involvement in criminal activities, their drug-taking behavior places them at risk of harming themselves or others.
Key findings: Five sources were used to study the resurgence of hallucinogen use in this country. Data from these sources indicate that:
Rise of Hallucinogen Use
by
Dana Hunt
According to the first National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) in 1972, 5 percent of Americans, almost all of them under the age of 18, had used psychedelics at least once; by 1979 lifetime prevalence was reported as 25 percent among young adults ages 18-25.
In the mid-1980s the use of psychedelics dramatically declined as cocaine became the drug of choice. However, by the early 1990s, interest in hallucinogens seemed to resurface among users whose demographic profile was similar to that of users in the 1960s--young men and women, often middle class, who typically declined to use heroin or cocaine. In addition to familiar hallucinogens, newer compounds have surfaced (see "Drugs Classified as Hallucinogens or Psychedelics").
Recent history of hallucinogen use
Hallucinogens are not new. Many naturally occurring substances such as peyote,
psilocybin, or mescaline have long been used in cultural and religious contexts, and
LSD was synthesized in Europe in the late 1930s. However, until the 1950s, when
psychiatric researchers investigated the possible therapeutic value of LSD, recognition
that certain drugs had hallucinogenic properties was very
limited.
LSD did not receive popular attention until the early 1960s when the late Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, his colleague at Harvard University, began experimenting with the drug on themselves, other academics, local artists, and students. In 1974 the National Institute of Mental Health concluded that LSD had no therapeutic use.
The interest in LSD during the 1960s also prompted users to seek out naturally occurring substances that produced the same experiential effects. In fact, a variety of substances in nature produce transitory visual or auditory distortion, e.g., cannabis, thornapple, peyote, and jimsonweed. One of the oldest hallucinogens known to Western scientists is mescaline, a derivative of the peyote cactus, used for centuries in natural medicines and religious ceremonies. Substances such as peyote, mescaline, and a variety of exotic fungi (e.g., psilocybin mushrooms) can be smoked, brewed in tea, chewed, and incorporated into food. In the 1960s users exchanged and published recipes for preparation of hallucinogens through popular publications of the era.
In 1974, 17 percent of all Americans reported they had used a hallucinogen in their lifetime. According to NHSDA, lifetime prevalence among the young adult population rose to 20 percent in 1977 and 25 percent by 1979.
Who is using hallucinogens now?
Until the late 1980s and early 1990s, hallucinogens appeared to be out of vogue as the
generation of original users aged. By 1982, 6 percent of adults over 26 years old
reported that they had used hallucinogens at least once, but fewer than 1 percent
reported use in the prior year. In 1992, however, drug ethnographers reporting to
Pulse Check began noticing increased availability of
hallucinogens in many areas of the country. At the same time, researchers studying the
emerging music and dance phenomena known as "raves" found LSD, MDMA,
ketamine, and 2C-B playing a significant part in these activities.
LSD has typically been the most commonly used hallucinogen, although a similar but smaller rise in the use of any hallucinogens is also apparent.
In recent years, increased hallucinogen use has been concentrated primarily among white students, a group that has the highest rates of use (both lifetime and annual) for hallucinogens, inhalants, and tranquilizers. According to the 1994 national survey of high school students, 8 percent of white seniors reported using LSD in the prior 12 months compared with less than 1 percent of African-American and 5 percent of Hispanic seniors. Use also appears to be related to socioeconomic status (SES). Data indicate that as the overall use level of LSD began to increase in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a positive relationship between socioeconomic status and use emerged. Students from the highest income groups are now twice as likely as those from the lowest SES group to have used LSD in the previous 12 months. This relationship, however, has nothing to do with price; the cost of hallucinogens is lower than that of both cocaine and heroin. Although interest in hallucinogens is resurgent, it is difficult to quantify use that continues beyond initial experimentation or to determine whether the rise in hallucinogen use is part of a general upswing in the use of all illegal drugs.
The overall increase in illicit drug use by teens and young adults is driven by significant growth in the use by high school students of marijuana, hallucinogens, and, to a lesser degree, crack cocaine. From 1993 to 1996, the percentage of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders who reported using marijuana in the previous year rose steadily, reaching 18 percent, 34 percent, and 36 percent respectively.
Daily use of marijuana also rose in all high school grades surveyed. As is true for marijuana, the figure in 1996 for prior-year use of hallucinogens continued to rise to levels statistically and significantly higher than 1995 levels among all grades.
The high school senior survey provides data on noncontinuation rates of drug use. Unfortunately, data show that many of these teens persist as users beyond experimentation. Since 1992 noncontinuation rates for LSD have been the lowest reported in 10 years; that is, more students are starting to use hallucinogens and fewer are stopping.
Not surprisingly, data on juveniles involved with the criminal justice system show even higher rates of illicit drug consumption. Use of all illicit drugs has increased in the 1990s, but use of LSD and stimulants has doubled.
Renewed interest in hallucinogens coincides with a perception of reduced risk and greater peer support for use. The high school survey data indicate a significant decline in the percentage of seniors who feel that trying LSD or using it regularly is a "great risk." In 1991, 90 percent of high school seniors reported that they disapproved of LSD use even once or twice. That number had dropped to 83 percent in 1994 and to 80 percent in 1996. The percentage of high school seniors who said none of their friends uses MDMA decreased significantly from 88 percent in 1990 to 76 percent in 1996.
For many years, little media coverage has been devoted to hallucinogens and fewer opportunities have existed to observe their adverse effects. This situation may have added to "generational forgetting" --today's teens knowing less than teens from the previous generation--to the point that hallucinogens surpass cocaine in popularity for all groups except Hispanics.
Although the NHSDA and MTF surveys show increases in hallucinogen use, particularly among the young, data from emergency rooms (ERs) across the country do not. The percentages of ER mentions for LSD or PCP in the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) are low (fewer than 0.01 percent); this has been the case throughout the past two decades. However, notable increases in ER mentions have been seen in four cities: Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Seattle. Although hallucinogens have long been known to produce some adverse reactions in users, particularly over time, the lower potency of today's hallucinogens may not produce acute incidents requiring emergency medical attention. There is increasing anecdotal evidence, however, that the lower dosage drug is simply being consumed more frequently than in the past.
Variations across the United States
Epidemiologists reporting to CEWG from New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Seattle,
Miami, and cities in Texas noted increased hallucinogen use. Other areas, such as
New Orleans and Denver, report that LSD is widely available for purchase, but
indicator data do not reflect any changes in use.
LSD is produced in domestic labs concentrated in Northern California and shipped by mail or couriers through what law enforcement officials describe as a well-established network of distributors. Pulse Check and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sources report that LSD is sold primarily in paper or blotter form, with each sheet divided into squares of single dose units containing approximately 25-60 micrograms of the substance. It may also be sold as "microdots" (small tablets) or in gelatin squares ("window panes"). A dose (approximately 55 micrograms) sells for $1-$10.
The unit dosages consumed by users in the 1990s are less concentrated than those taken in the 1960s--the heyday of LSD consumption--when dosages were typically 100-200 micrograms. In the San Francisco area, Pulse Check ethnographers report that users experience shorter "trips," lasting only a few hours, and milder hallucinogenic effects than was true of LSD trips 20 years ago. Interviews with rave-goers also indicate a milder and shorter effect from today's LSD. However, Miami CEWG data show that users may increase the number of doses to make up for reduced potency, thus producing new patterns of use. LSD may also be combined or sequenced with other drugs to enhance or extend its effect. For example, one study describes young users who practice "candy-flipping," or combining in sequence MDMA or methamphetamine with LSD.
Both Pulse Check and CEWG sources report user interest in naturally occurring hallucinogens such as peyote or mescaline. In the October 1994 Pulse Check, three sources reported that youths had come into emergency rooms exhibiting symptoms brought on by ingesting jimsonweed, a plant in the deadly nightshade family whose active ingredient, belladonna, has hallucinogenic properties. Even in relatively small quantities, however, it is generally toxic. Other drugs that have been mentioned in both sources include peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, and bufotenine, all of which have been relatively absent from the drug culture for many years.
New synthetic drugs have generated renewed interest in hallucinogen use. MDMA is one of the most popular of these newer drugs; other drugs that have surfaced in recent years include Nexus and ketamine. Ketamine use has been reported in New York for more than 2 years, and it is increasingly being used as a "club drug" in New Jersey, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Florida, and Georgia. Ketamine is packaged in baggies or capsules and sells for approximately $10-$20 per dose.
Hallucinogen use on college campuses
In October 1995 telephone surveys conducted with 59 college and university officials
knowledgeable about student drug use indicated that hallucinogens, particularly LSD
and psilocybin, are popular in many areas of the country. Of the campuses surveyed,
34 percent reported increasing hallucinogen use, 7 percent reported decreasing use,
and 39 percent reported no change. Exhibit 7 shows the drugs used most frequently on
campuses across the country. Alcohol and marijuana are the most commonly cited (83
and 78 percent, respectively). However, 44 percent of campuses reported student use
of hallucinogens; all cited LSD and 57 percent cited psilocybin and MDMA as the
specific hallucinogens students use. Many officials stressed that although hallucinogen
use was appearing on campus, it was still confined to a small segment of students and
dwarfed by marijuana and alcohol consumption. In several instances campus officials
also believe that, although hallucinogen use has only recently resurfaced, it may
already have peaked.
Unlike the 1960s when hallucinogens were identified with the more marginal or "hippie" culture, today hallucinogens are used among mainstream students.
Private campuses were as likely as public ones to report hallucinogen use, and religious schools were least likely to do so. Because of student accessibility to the off-campus urban club scene, larger campuses and institutions in urban areas reported the widest range of drug use.
Young users and treatment
Drug treatment programs across the United States that specialize in treating substance
abusers under 18 years old were surveyed about their current population of patients.
These sources said their clients use a variety of drugs, although alcohol, marijuana,
and hallucinogens (particularly LSD) are the most frequently abused substances. For
most youths in treatment, hallucinogen consumption is part of an extensive drug use
history; rarely do counselors see adolescents who abuse only hallucinogens. Anecdotal
reports from some counselors indicate as many as 80 percent of clients have used
hallucinogens; others report diagnosing as many as three or four cases per week of
adolescents with hallucinogen-related perceptual disorders. The anecdotal reports
attribute the visual system damage to the number of "trips" (including consecutive
multiple doses of LSD) that teens often take. The media have reported similar patterns
of abuse among young party-goers who ingest large amounts of Ecstasy (seven or
eight doses) that may result in long-term, harmful effects on mood, sleep, appetite, and
impulse control.
What are "club drugs"?
Hallucinogens are often reported as part of the "club drug scene"--a term that refers to
the use of particular drugs by teens and young adults who frequent music or dance
clubs geared to their age group. In general, these are the same youths found in the
campus survey: young, often fairly affluent men and women who have limited histories
of using drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Urban-area
ethnographic sources for Pulse Check report hallucinogen use among patrons of the
many nightclubs that cater to persons under 21 years of age. Many such clubs serve no
alcohol and can attract clientele as young as 13 or 14 years old. In New York City,
heroin or cocaine may also be part of the club drug scene, although this seems to be
the exception. The most frequently reported club
drugs are LSD, MDMA, Nexus, and ketamine. In fact, young club participants in Miami
actively scorn "harder" drugs but embrace LSD, MDMA, and other hallucinogens as
"safe."
A study conducted by Abt Associates Inc. in 1994 examined "raves," phenomena closely tied to the club culture and the drugs that may be used there. A rave is a large party where participants often dance all night to "house music," technically synthesized rhythms of 120-180 beats per minute played at earsplitting decibel levels. Raves were fashionable in Europe during the late 1980s and have become popular in the United States in recent years. They attract a predominantly middle-income audience, often high school and college students. Whereas they were once "underground" --the whereabouts of the events passed by word of mouth--raves are now openly advertised and discussed on electronic mail services.
Abt Associates Inc. researchers examined rave activity in New York and San Francisco, informally interviewing participants as well as organizers about various aspects of rave activity, including drug use. They found that the drugs most commonly associated with raves are marijuana and hallucinogens, although methamphetamines and alcohol were evident. Among the hallucinogens, MDMA and LSD were the most popular drugs--the ones some participants associated with the spiritual ethos attached to the events. As was true in the earlier era of hallucinogen use, some rave participants associated a range of benefits, including personal enlightenment, with the use of these drugs. The researchers also found that participants were unaware of the possible harm that repeated or uncontrolled use could produce.
Implications for law enforcement and public safety
The nature of different drugs (e.g., physical effects produced, costs) is often directly
linked to the problems they present for law enforcement. Stimulants (e.g.,
methamphetamines) and depressants (e.g., alcohol) produce unique
psychopharmacological effects (such as agitation, paranoia, or irritability) in users that
may make them more difficult for law enforcement officers to restrain. The expense of a
drug may also predict users' involvement with income-generating crimes. One
researcher characterizes three types of violence or crime associated with drugs:
Hallucinogens have not been linked to pharmacologic crime primarily because of their sedative effects. They cost relatively little ($1-$5 per unit dose) for the long-lasting results they produce, and their use is concentrated among middle- to upper-income youths with greater access to funds, a fact that reduces the likelihood that economically driven crime would be associated with their use.
The systemic violence connected to heroin and cocaine trafficking has not been found with hallucinogen trafficking. DEA reports that a relatively small number of producers and distributors located in Northern California have controlled the LSD market for a number of years. A handful of chemists, some of whom have been working since the 1960s and 1970s, synthesize the bulk of the drugs produced and distribute them throughout the country. Quantities are shipped from suppliers to known contacts (often on a prepaid basis) and distributed through established user networks. Although some local production of hallucinogens exists, the chemists or producers involved in such enterprises generally confine their products to local markets and therefore pose little threat to established traffickers. LSD may also be distributed at concerts, although ethnographic research indicates that much of the hallucinogen use associated with raves occurs prior to attendance.
Threats to the safety of users and those with whom they come in contact are major problems associated with hallucinogen use. Health risks for drugs such as MDMA include dehydration, appetite suppression, and heartbeat disruption. Adverse psychological reactions, which some users experience with high and/or repeated doses of hallucinogens, are well documented; they include psychotic episodes, panic disorder, and long-term sensory distortion.
In addition to health risks, concerns for public safety are related to hallucinogen use. The use of multiple substances is troubling. Any of the club drugs taken alone can impair motor skills; in combination they can produce deadly synergistic effects. The enduring effects of drugs such as LSD or MDMA can pose special problems. For example, ingestion of a drug with the potential to cause visual and auditory distortion lasting 10-12 hours may mean that the user will drive home from a party while still under its influence. The opinion of one experienced State police source quoted in the October 1994 Pulse Check reflects a concern shared by several respondents: "Kids think they're fine to drive, but their reaction time is all off, and they get into trouble."
Summary
As crack has been the drug of the inner city for a decade, hallucinogens appear to be a popular drug among today's young, more affluent users. All sources reported their popularity among nonminority high school and college users who often reside outside the inner cities. The drugs are relatively inexpensive, domestically produced, and part of a stable, noncompetitive distribution network. Despite law enforcement efforts to disrupt the production and distribution of hallucinogens, a small number of manufacturers have provided a relatively steady supply, distributed through local user networks, for more than 20 years. Although rising use may not pose severe threats to law enforcement, it does present problems for public health officials in terms of the health and safety of young users who are rediscovering this family of drugs.
Dana Hunt, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist with Abt Associates Inc. This study was conducted under cooperative agreement 94-IJ-CX-C007, awarded to Abt Associates Inc. by the National Institute of Justice.
NCJ 166607
Drugs Classified as Hallucinogens or Psychedelics
The terms "hallucinogen" and "psychedelic" refer to both synthetic and organic substances that can produce visual, auditory, and tactile distortions in users. The group of drugs so designated generally includes:
Hallucinogens are defined more by the effects they produce than by any common chemical structure. In part the term "hallucinogen" refers to a drug's ability to distort reality. Although persons with psychotic disturbances may hallucinate without an external stimulus, normal individuals can induce the same (but temporary) effect using hallucinogenic drugs. Hallucinogens as a group produce varying levels of visual, auditory, and tactile distortions and/or "out of body" sensations. As with all drugs, the intensity of effect depends not only on ingestion of a specific drug and dose but also on the user's perception or expectation of the experience.
Hallucinogens differ in several ways from other commonly abused drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Although their reality-distorting effects may make them attractive and rein force repeated usage, most hallucinogens are not physiologically addictive in the same way that opiates or even sedatives are; that is, if tolerance is established, hallucinogens do not produce long-term physiological craving after their effects have worn off. They also differ in the duration of drug action. Unlike the effects of cocaine, which last for only minutes, and those of heroin, which last for a couple hours, the active effects of hallucinogens can continue for several hours. Only methamphetamine can produce a similar long-lasting effect from a single ingestion.
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