M.o.M. - PCP

PCP or phencyclidine is a dissociative drug first synthesized in 1956. It was used as an anesthetic under the name “Sernyl”, but was discontinued in 1965 after increasing reports of patients emerging from their anesthesia in an agitated hallucinatory state. It has since been seen as a drug of abuse under names like “angel dust”, “wet”, “sherm”, or “dippers”. In modern times it most frequently encountered as the freebase oil dissolved in solvent, which is soaked onto cigarettes or plant material and then smoked. Users report a state of mental dissociation, mania, stimulation, and at higher doses, anesthesia and vivid open eye visuals. This drug has become near-mythical as some craven poison that drives people into an unequenchable fury. The combination of mania, anesthesia, and hallcinatory psychosis have indeed led to instances of extreme behavior and violence, but the vast majority of use is much more mundane.
Ketamine, now an FDA approved treatment for depression, is from the same structural class as PCP, and has similar pharmacological action (noncompetitive antagonism of the NMDA receptor). We are currently investigating other compounds with similar structure or activity to PCP for their potential as antidepressants, anesthetics, neuroprotectives, anticonvulsants, and more!