Hallucinogens (LSD): what are the effects?
The effects of any drug (including hallucinogens) vary from person to person. How hallucinogens affect a person depends on many factors, including the person's size, weight and health, how much and how the drug is taken, whether the person is used to taking it and whether other drugs are taken.
The effects of hallucinogens also depend on the environment in which the drug is taken and the mood and expectations of the person taking it. For example, whether the person is in a good mood or feeling anxious, is alone, with others or at a party.
More than any other drug, the effects of hallucinogens vary greatly from person to person, and from occasion to occasion. It is hard to know how the hallucinogenic experience, or ‘trip’, will turn out and if someone will experience the adverse effects of hallucinogens (a ‘bad trip’).
Immediate effects
The effects of hallucinogens can last several hours and vary considerably depending on the specific type of hallucinogen. Some of the typical effects of hallucinogens include:
- blurred vision;
- increased breathing rate;
- euphoria;
- sense of relaxation and feeling of well-being;
- hallucinations and distorted sensory processing, including visual, auditory, body, time and space perception;
- disorganised thoughts, confusion and difficulty concentrating, thinking or maintaining attention;
- anxiety, agitation, paranoia and feelings of panic;
- dizziness;
- impaired co-ordination;
- increased heart rate and blood pressure;
- nausea and vomiting;
- increased body temperature and sweating, which may alternate with chills and shivering; and
- numbness.
‘Bad trips’
Sometimes a person may experience the adverse and negative effects of hallucinogens and have what is called a ‘bad trip’.
They may experience strong feelings of anxiety, paranoia, panic or fear. The hallucinations can be unpleasant, such as feeling like insects are crawling on the skin, or they can be so intense that the person feels they are losing control.
Feelings of panic, paranoia and fear can lead to risky behaviour that can cause injury, such as running across a busy street or jumping out of a window.
The reasons for ‘bad trips’ are not known. Usually, the negative feelings disappear when the drug wears off. However, there have been reports of people experiencing hallucinations, bizarre behaviour and paranoia for several days after taking the drug. Occasionally, these effects can last weeks or even months.
Long-term effects
The most consistent long-term effect of hallucinogen use is the flashback. Days, weeks or even years later, some people re-experience the effects of the drug. The person may see intense colours and experience hallucinations. Flashbacks can be triggered by the use of other drugs, or by stress, fatigue or physical exercise. The flashback experience can range from being pleasant to producing severe feelings of anxiety. They are usually visual and last for a minute or 2.
Long-term, frequent use of some hallucinogens may impair aspects of memory and selected cognitive functions. It may also be linked to personality and mood changes.
Some people may experience a ‘drug-induced’ psychosis after using hallucinogens. This can occur after a single dose or after chronic use, and is characterised by hallucinations, delusions and bizarre behaviour. These episodes may last several hours, or longer for some people.
Higher doses and overdose
Higher doses of hallucinogens can increase the immediate negative effects.
Deaths exclusively from acute overdose of LSD, magic mushrooms and mescaline are extremely rare. Deaths generally occur due to suicide, accidents and dangerous behaviour, or due to the person inadvertently eating poisonous plant material.
A severe overdose of PCP and ketamine can result in respiratory depression, coma, convulsions, seizures and death due to respiratory arrest.
For more information, please click on the Australian Drug Foundation's DrugInfo Clearinghouse web site link below.
Last Reviewed: 21 March 2007
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