Psychedelic Substances

• 03 May 2023

For Prelims: Psychedelic Substances, Psychiatry, NDPS Act 1985, Depression, Drug Trafficking.

For Mains: Psychedelic Substances and their implications.

Why in News?

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the use of Psychedelics in the clinical and research domain of Psychiatry.

• In India, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 prohibits the use of psychedelic substances.

What are Psychedelics?

• About:
  • Psychedelics are a group of drugs that alter perception, mood, and thought processing while a person is still clearly conscious. Usually, the person’s insight also remains unimpaired.
  • Psychedelics are non-addictive and non-toxic. Compared to illicit drugs, psychedelics cause much less harm to the end user.
    • The two most commonly used psychedelics are d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin.
    • Less common ones include mescaline, found in the North American peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii), and N,N-dimethyltryptamine, the principal component of the South American ceremonial sacrament ayahuasca.
• Impact on Body after Consumption: Users of psychedelic substances report changes in perception, somatic experience, mood, thought processing, and entheogenic experiences:
  • Perceptual distortions most commonly include the visual domain.
    • An intriguing phenomenon called synaesthesia may occur, where the sensory modalities cross and the user may ‘hear colour’ or ‘see sounds’.
  • Somatic experiences may include the visceral, tactile, and interoceptive (body’s internal state) domains.
  • Mood changes may include elation, euphoria, anxiety, and paranoia.
  • Entheogenic experiences include transcendental spiritual experiences.
• Issues:
  • An overdose requires cardiac monitoring and supportive management in a low-stimulus and reassuring environment.
  • Synthetic psychedelics (such as 25I-NBOMe) have been associated with acute cardiac, central nervous system, and limb ischaemia, as well as serotonin syndrome.
    • There have also been reports of death attributed directly to synthetic psychedelic use.
• Treating Depression:
  • In November 2022, the results from a phase II psilocybin trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial found that a single 25-mg dose of psilocybin reduced Depression scores over three weeks in people with treatment-resistant depression.
  • These findings were more recently replicated in a phase IIB trial, which found that a single dose of 25 mg psilocybin improved measures of depression severity, anxiety, and functioning.

What is Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985?

• It was enacted in 1985 and deals with drugs and their trafficking in the country.
  • The act has since been amended thrice in 1988, 2001, and 2014.
• The Act prohibits the production, manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation & consumption of many narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, including cannabis, heroin, opium etc. The law,
  • However Bhang is not prohibited under the Act.
• Section 20 of the NDPS Act lays out the punishment for the production, manufacture, sale, purchase, import and inter-state export of cannabis, as defined in the Act. The prescribed punishment is based on the number of drugs seized.
• It also provides for the death penalty in some cases where a person is a repeat offender.

Source: TH