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14 HALLUCINOGENS: ECSTASY, LSD, AND KETAMINE

An example of LSD blotter paper, in a photo taken by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The ruler is in centimeters, showing how tiny each dose actually is.

According to the most recent statistics compiled by the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), nearly 1 million people aged 12 or older used a hallucinogen for the first time in 2014. During that same period, for that same age group, 287,000 used LSD for the first time, and 609,000 used Ecstasy.

HOW DO HALLUCINOGENS WORK?

Although the exact nature of how hallucinogens affect the brain is not known, most hallucinogens contain nitrogen and are classified as alkaloids . Alkaloids are often found in poisons. Many hallucinogenic drugs mimic several neurotransmitters that the body creates naturally, including serotonin, acetylcholine, or catecholamine. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that allow brain cells, or neurons, to communicate with each other. Serotonin is a chemical that scientists believe regulates a