PCP (Phencyclidine)

What Is PCP (Angel Dust)?

PCP is a chemically made substance. It’s a combination of a stimulant (upper), depressant (downer), hallucinogen, and anesthetic (sedative). People most often take this drug to chase the high that can make you feel detached from your body.

Phencyclidine was originally developed in the 1950s as an anesthetic for surgery. It was discontinued for medical use because it caused patients to become agitated and hallucinate.

The nickname PCP comes from the drug’s chemical structure: 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl) piperidine. PCP is chemically similar to the drug ketamine.

What does PCP look like?

PCP is made of a white crystalline powder and tastes bitter. You can find it in tablets, capsules, powder, or liquid form. In some cases, the drug is dyed in different colors.

Besides angel dust, other commonly used street names for the drug include ozone, rocket fuel, amp, shermans, wack, crystal, and embalming fluid. Because PCP was once used as an animal tranquilizer, it has nicknames like horse tranquilizer (or horse tranq), hog, and elephant. If it’s mixed with cannabis, you might hear it called killer joints, fry, lovelies, wets, or waters.

How Is PCP Used?

People often dissolve the powder or liquid in alcohol or water. They might drink it or inject it into a vein. Or they might snort or smoke the powder or swallow it as tablets and capsules.

In some cases, people mix PCP with tobacco, various cannabis products, or even mint and oregano.

How long does it take PCP to kick in?

The answer will depend on how much PCP is in your body and how you ingested the drug. Most people usually take it in small doses. If you:

• Inject it in liquid form with a needle, you might start to notice the drug’s effects in 2-5 minutes
• Smoke it, you might need up to 5 minutes to feel high, but the intense rush might peak around the 15- to 30-minute mark
• Take it by mouth (whether as a pill or capsule or mix it with food or drink), you’ll wait longer for the drug to kick in. It’ll take up to 30 minutes to feel any effects. But the hallucinogenic effects might last anywhere from 2 to 5 hours.

Most users (70%) inhale PCP (by smoking or snorting) because the effects are quick without the problems of using needles.

After use, it might take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours to come off a high from PCP.

PCP Effects

PCP might make you feel euphoric, happy, and joyful. You might experience beautiful visions, a sensation of floating, and feel fearless. But angel dust also has a lot of negative effects.

PCP side effects

When you use PCP in any form, how you react to the drug depends on how much of it you’ve taken.

Low to moderate doses. This is usually 1 to 5 milligrams. It’s the most commonly used amount and can give a similar feeling to being drunk. It can cause physical side effects like:

• Numbness
• Slurred speech
• Lack of muscle coordination and balance
• Impaired concentration or speech
• Racing heartbeat
• Excessive sweating
• Rapid, involuntary eye movements
• Blank stares

High doses. Doses between 6 and 10 milligrams can cause serious mental and physical side effects like:

• Hallucinations
• Flashbacks
• Shallow breathing
• High temperature
• High blood pressure
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Dizziness
• Drooling

When you take a higher dose of angel dust, it might cause you to have strange behaviors and postures, such as spasms that cause you to arch your back, head, and neck. You might also have tremors and act violently.

If you take more than 20 milligrams at once, it can cause you to overdose and lead to serious problems like seizures, a coma, or even death. Often, death is not caused directly by the drug but rather from your behavior while on the drug. People on PCP have walked into traffic or jumped from buildings, for instance.