Warning
This is an unofficial archive of PsychonautWiki as of 2025-08-11T15:14:44Z. Content on this page may be outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate. Please refer to the original page for the most up-to-date information.

PCP

From PsychonautWiki Archive
Revision as of 14:21, 21 October 2015 by >Josikins

Jump to navigation Jump to search
Template:Proofread

This article is a stub.

As such, it may contain incomplete or wrong information. You can help by expanding it.

PCP
Chemical Nomenclature
Common names PCP, Angel Dust, Sherman, Sernyl, Wet, Dust, Supergrass, Boat, Tic Tac, Zoom
Substitutive name Phencyclidine
Systematic name 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine
Class Membership
Psychoactive class Dissociative
Chemical class Arylcyclohexylamine
Routes of Administration

WARNING: Always start with lower doses due to differences between individual body weight, tolerance, metabolism, and personal sensitivity. See responsible use section.


Smoked
Dosage
Threshold 1 mg
Light 2 - 4 mg
Common 4 - 8 mg
Strong 8 - 12 mg
Heavy 12 mg+ Heavy doses may result in psychosis and mania.[1]
Duration
Total 4 - 6 hours
Onset 2 - 20 minutes
Come up 20 - 40 minutes
Peak 2 - 3 hours
Offset 1 - 2 hours
After effects 4 - 48 hours
Oral
Dosage
Threshold 1 mg
Light 3 - 5 mg
Common 5 - 10 mg
Strong 10 - 15 mg
Heavy 15mg+ Heavy doses may result in psychosis and mania.[2]
Duration
Total 4 - 8 hours
Onset 30 - 90 minutes
Come up 40 - 120 minutes
Peak 2 - 3 hours
Offset 1 - 2 hours
After effects 4 - 48 hours



Insufflated
Dosage
Threshold 1 mg
Light 2 - 4 mg
Common 4 - 8 mg
Strong 8 - 15 mg
Heavy 15mg+ Heavy doses may result in psychosis and mania.[3]
Duration
Total 4 - 6 hours
Onset 3 - 30 minutes
Come up 30 - 90 minutes
Peak 2 - 3 hours
Offset 1 - 2 hours
After effects 4 - 48 hours






DISCLAIMER: PW's dosage information is gathered from users and resources for educational purposes only. It is not a recommendation and should be verified with other sources for accuracy.

Interactions
MXE
Caffeine
Opioids
DOx
Amphetamines
MDMA
Cocaine
Alcohol
Benzodiazepines
SSRIs
2C-T-x
ΑMT
5-MeO-xxT
DXM
GHB
GBL
Tramadol
MAOIs

Phencyclidine, commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as Angel Dust, pharmaceutically as Sernyl, and by many other names,[3] is a dissociative drug. PCP was brought to market in the 1950s as an anesthetic pharmaceutical drug but was taken off the market in 1965 due to the high prevalence of dissociative hallucinogenic side effects. Likewise ketamine was discovered by Parke-Davis researchers as a better-tolerated derivative for use as an anesthetic pharmaceutical drug. Since this time a number of synthetic derivatives of PCP have been sold as dissociative drugs for recreational and non-medical use.[4]

In chemical structure, PCP is a member of the arylcyclohexylamine class, and, in pharmacology, it is a member of the family of dissociative anesthetics. PCP works primarily as an NMDA receptor antagonist, where it blocks the activity of the NMDA receptor. As an addictive drug, PCP is associated with compulsive abuse.[1][4][5][6]

As a recreational drug, PCP may be ingested orally, smoked, insufflated or injected.[7]

Chemistry

This chemistry section is incomplete.

You can help by adding to it.

Pharmacology

Pharmacology

PCP acts as an NMDA receptor antagonist. NMDA receptors allow for electrical signals to pass between neurons in the brain and spinal column; for the signals to pass, the receptor must be open. NMDA receptor antagonists close the NMDA receptors by blocking them. This disconnection of neurons leads to loss of feeling, difficulty moving, and eventually an almost identical equivalent of the famous “k-hole”.

PCP also acts as a dopamine-reuptake inhibitor and a serotonin reuptake inhibitor with alleged µ-opioid affinity and typical dissociative effects. This provides an explanation for its euphoric and often stimulating effects.

Subjective effects

This subjective effects section is a stub.

As such, it is still in progress and may contain incomplete or wrong information.

You can help by expanding or correcting it.

The effects listed below are based upon the subjective effects index and personal experiences of PsychonautWiki contributors. The listed effects will rarely (if ever) occur all at once, but heavier dosages will increase the chances and are more likely to induce a full range of effects.

Physical effects

The subjective physical effects of PCP can be broken down into several components which progressively intensify proportional to dosage. These are described below and generally include:

Cognitive effects

The general head space of PCP is often described as particularly euphoric and clear-headed in comparison to that of DXM and ketamine. The specific cognitive effects can be broken down into several separate subcomponents which are listed and described below:

Visual effects

Suppression

This substance does not enhance visual stimuli; instead, it tends to degrade and decrease visual aptitude in a variety of ways which generally include:

Distortions

PCP exhibits a full array of dissociative distortions and alterations in visual perception which generally includes:

Hallucinatory states

At high doses, PCP can produce a full range of high level hallucinatory states in a fashion that is less consistent and reproducible than that of many other commonly used psychedelics. These effects include:

Auditory effects

The auditory effects of PCP are common in their occurrence and exhibit a range of effects which commonly includes:

Toxicity and harm potential

The toxicity and long-term health effects of recreational PCP use do not seem to have been studied in any scientific context and the exact toxic dosage is unknown. This is because PCP is a research chemical with very little history of human usage. Anecdotal evidence from people who have tried PCP within the community confirm that there do not seem to be any negative health effects attributed to simply trying this drug at low to moderate doses or using it sparingly (but nothing can be completely guaranteed).

Tolerance and addiction potential

In terms of PCP tolerance, similar to any other NMDA antagonist, this can take weeks to build up for some, but for others it can take merely a single night of heavy use. Once a physical tolerance to PCP has set itself in, it can often take a month or more to reset itself.

PCP has a fairly high potential to be abused. It does not seem to physically addictive, but can become habit-forming, meaning that it could potentially be used multiple days in a row if somebody chooses to do so. There have been multiple reports across the internet of people becoming seriously addicted daily users of this substance so serious precautions and considerations should be taken before trying this substance.

Reports of compulsive redosing during high dose trips resulting in overdoses have also been reported. This can be prevented by keeping PCP far away from oneself whilst under its influence. Addiction can be avoided by manually limiting one's usage of the drug. It’s worth noting, however, that as with most hallucinogens, many users note that the desire to use them can actually decrease with use.

Urinary tract effects

In terms of its long-term health effects when used repeatedly and with excess for extended periods of time, PCP seems to exhibit almost identical bladder and urinary tract problems to those found within ketamine.

  • Urinary frequency - Urinary frequency is the need to empty the bladder every few minutes.
  • Urinary urgency - This can be described as a sudden, compelling need to urinate.
  • Urinary pressure - This is experienced as a constant sensation of fullness in the bladder that is unrelieved by urination.
  • Pelvic and bladder pain - Pain can develop suddenly and severely, particularly as the bladder fills with urine.
  • Hematuria - Hematuria is visible blood in the urine.
  • Incontinence - This is the leakage of urine.

All of these, however, can easily be avoided by simply not using PCP on a daily or even weekly basis and manually limiting one's usage of the substance.

Dangerous interactions

Warning: Many psychoactive substances that are reasonably safe to use on their own can suddenly become dangerous and even life-threatening when combined with certain other substances. The following list provides some known dangerous interactions (although it is not guaranteed to include all of them).

Always conduct independent research (e.g. Google, DuckDuckGo, PubMed) to ensure that a combination of two or more substances is safe to consume. Some of the listed interactions have been sourced from TripSit.

  • Stimulants - Both stimulants and dissociatives carry the risk of adverse psychological reactions like anxiety, mania, delusions and psychosis and these risks are exacerbated when the two substances are combined.
  • Depressants - Because both depress the respiratory system, this combination can result in an increased risk of suddenly falling unconscious, vomiting and choking to death from the resulting suffocation. If nausea or vomiting occurs, users should attempt to fall asleep in the recovery position or have a friend move them into it.

See also

References

This article does not cite enough references.

You can help by adding some.