How is it Used?

Xylazine can be administered orally, injected, or inhaled. It is often used in veterinary medicine to sedate large animals such as horses and cattle. Illicit use of xylazine typically involves injecting the drug or inhaling the fumes from heated xylazine tablets.

What are the Effects?

Short-Term Effects:

The short-term effects of xylazine use can include sedation, dizziness, and nausea. Xylazine can also cause respiratory depression, which can be life-threatening. In some cases, xylazine can cause seizures, muscle twitching, and loss of consciousness.

Long-Term Effects:

There is limited information available on the long-term effects of xylazine use in humans. However, animal studies have suggested that prolonged use of xylazine can lead to physical and psychological dependence, as well as a range of physical health problems. These can include respiratory problems, liver and kidney damage, and cognitive impairment. Chronic use of xylazine can also lead to mood disturbances, such as depression and anxiety.

What does it Look Like?

Xylazine is typically found in liquid or powder form. The specific appearance will depend on the manufacturing process and intended use.

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Cut-Off Levels (ng/mL)

1000 ng/mL (Urine)

How is it Used?

Clinicians usually only prescribe tricyclic antidepressants after other drugs have failed to relieve depression. Tricyclic antidepressants help keep more serotonin and norepinephrine available to your brain. These chemicals are made naturally by your body and are thought to affect your mood. By keeping more of them available to your brain, tricyclic antidepressants help elevate your mood.

Some tricyclic antidepressants are also used to treat other conditions, mostly in off-label uses. These conditions include obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic bedwetting. In lower doses, cyclic antidepressants are used to prevent migraines and to treat chronic pain. They are also sometimes used to help people with panic disorder.

What are the Effects?

Tricyclic antidepressants treat depression, but they have other effects on your body as well. They can affect automatic muscle movement for certain functions of the body, including secretions and digestion. They also block the effects of histamine, a chemical found throughout your body. Blocking histamine can cause effects such as drowsiness, blurred vision, dry mouth, constipation, and glaucoma. These may help explain some of the more troublesome side effects associated with these drugs. Tricyclic antidepressants are more likely to cause constipation, weight gain, and sedation then other antidepressants. However, different drugs have different effects. 

Common Symptoms

• • dry mouth
  • dry eyes
  • blurred vision
  • dizziness
  • fatigue
  • headache
  • disorientation
  • seizure
  • drowsiness
  • constipation
  • urinary retention
  • sexual dysfunction
  • low blood pressure
  • weight gain
  • nausea

Cut-Off Levels (ng/mL)

300 ng/mL (Urine)

How is it Used?

PPX has been prescribed, usually in pill form, to treat mild to moderate pain. Since 2009 products containing PPX have been removed from US markets because of the it’s in effectiveness as a pain reliever and the harmful, and sometimes, fatal side effects, along with the high chance of abuse and misuse.

What are the Effects?

PPX can produce similar euphoric effects much like opioids which has led to the misuse and abuse of the drug. It is ineffective and treating and relieving pain leading to a high-risk for dependency and addiction. It can have adverse effects such and heart complications such as arrhythmia as well as drowsiness, shallow breathing, and altered behavior, especially in patients with history of depression and substance abuse. The effects of PPX can be heightened when mixed with other medications.

Common Symptoms

• shallow breathing

• slow heartbeat

• feeling light-headed

• fainting

• confusion

• hallucinations

• unusual thoughts or behavior

• seizure (convulsions) 

• jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes).

• feeling dizzy or drowsy

• nausea

• vomiting

• stomach pain

• constipation

• headache

• muscle pain

• blurred vision

• mild skin rash.

Cut-Off Levels (ng/mL)

300, 500, 1000 ng/mL (Urine)

How is it Used?

PCP is available in a variety of tablets, capsules, and colored powders, which are either smoked, taken orally or by the intranasal route (“snorted”).

Smoking is the most common route when used recreationally. The liquid form of PCP is actually PCP base often dissolved in ether, a highly flammable solvent. For smoking, PCP is typically sprayed onto leafy material such as mint, parsley, oregano, or marijuana. PCP may also be injected. The effects of PCP can last for 4 to 6 hours.

What are the Effects?

Pharmacologically, PCP is a noncompetitive NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor antagonist and glutamate receptor antagonist, but also interacts with other receptor sites, and may have effects with dopamine, opioid and nicotinic receptors.

Many believe PCP to be one of the most dangerous drugs of abuse. A moderate amount of PCP often causes users to feel detached, distant, and estranged from their surroundings.

• Numbness of the extremities, slurred speech, and loss of coordination may be accompanied by a sense of strength and invulnerability.
• A blank stare, rapid and involuntary eye movements, and an exaggerated gait are among the more observable effects.
• Auditory hallucinations, image distortion, severe mood disorders, and amnesia may also occur.
• Acute anxiety and a feeling of impending doom, paranoia, violent hostility, a psychoses indistinguishable from schizophrenia.

High doses of PCP can also cause seizures, coma, and death (often due to accidental injury or suicide during PCP intoxication). Psychological effects at high doses include delusions and hallucinations. Users often refer to the experiences from hallucinogens as a “trip”, or calling an unpleasant experience a “bad trip.”

PCP has sedative effects, and interactions with other central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines, can lead to coma or accidental overdose. Many PCP users are brought to emergency rooms because of PCP’s unpleasant psychological effects or because of overdoses. In a hospital or detention setting, they often become violent or suicidal, and are very dangerous to themselves and to others. They should be kept in a calm setting and should not be left alone.

Common Symptoms

• slight increase in breathing rate
• rise in blood pressure and pulse rate
• shallow respiration
• flushing and profuse sweating occurs.
• a drop in blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration.
• nausea, vomiting
• blurred vision
• flicking up and down of the eyes
• drooling
• loss of balance and dizziness
• violence, suicide
• memory loss
• difficulties with speech and learning
• depression
• weight loss that can persist up to a year after stopping PCP use.

Cut-Off Levels (ng/mL)

300, 500, 1000 ng/mL (Urine)

How is it Used?

What are the Effects?

Common Symptoms

• increased wakefulness and physical activity
• decreased appetite
• faster breathing
• rapid and/or irregular heartbeat
• increased blood pressure and body temperature 
• extreme weight loss
• addiction
• severe dental problems
• intense itching, leading to skin sores from scratching
• anxiety
• changes in brain structure and function
• confusion
• memory loss
• sleeping problems
• violent behavior
• paranoia—extreme and unreasonable distrust of others
• hallucinations—sensations and images that seem real though they aren’t

Cut-Off Levels (ng/mL)

200, 300 ng/mL (Urine)

50, 300 ng/mL (Saliva)

How is it Used?

What are the Effects?

Common Street Names