Angel Dust Renaissance: The Resurgence of PCP Addiction

The Rolling Stone article on Aaron Hernandez marked the first time many had thought about PCP for years. Originally released as a surgical analgesic and anesthetic in 1963, the drug was pulled from the clinical market only two years later due to “adverse collateral symptoms,” including delusions, dissociation, and agitation. As an illicit drug, however, it flourished, quickly gaining tremendous popularity with both hardcore drug users and middle-class high school kids alike, due to its ability to produce euphoria. By 1979, “7% of high school seniors reported having taken it in the past year.” However, the euphoric effects of PCP are found only in low doses; in higher doses, the drug can produce a host of unpleasant and dangerous effects that include catatonia, seizures, “schizophrenia-like states,” extreme, irrational violent behavior, including unusually gory murders and acts of self-mutilation, and death. The anesthetic qualities of the drug allow users to endure great physical trauma without feeling pain, sometimes resulting in serious injuries sustained during use going undiscovered for days at a time, and contributing to its reputation for enabling extraordinary physical feats. Through the 70s, “angel dust was the stuff of legend among police officers for the almost superhuman strength and aggressiveness of people they encountered under its influence.” By the late 1980s, however, the drug had largely fallen out of favor as other drugs, including crack cocaine and crystal meth, overtook the illicit drug market.

Today, many people erroneously believe that PCP is a relic of the past. But in some areas, PCP use has remained relatively common, accounting for approximately 10% of positive drug tests upon arrest in cities like Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Baltimore. In cities where PCP use dropped to negligible levels in the 1990s, law enforcement officials and addiction treatment professionals now say that the drug is re-emerging. According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), PCP-related ER visits rose from 14,825 to 75,538 between 2005 and 2011, an increase of over 400%. Meanwhile, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that “the number of past-year initiates of PCP aged 12 or older was 90,000, up from the 2011 estimate of 48,000.” Most of these new users are young, looking for an affordable high the goes beyond pot, and purchase the drug in a form called “wet,” a liquid tincture used to soak tobacco, marijuana, mint, or tea leaves and smoked. As Nelly, a former PCP user, told The Daily Beast, “I got tired of weed and for a minute wet was cool, it was something new, it was a good way to escape. Smoking wet is another level.” Wet, like other forms of PCP, can produce everything from mild euphoria to hallucinations to frightening delusions, and as users seek greater highs by increasing doses and combining PCP with other drugs, the potential for disaster looms ever closer.

For Nelly, PCP addiction never resulted in violence. However, its violent potential and destructive nature quickly became apparent as he experienced extreme hallucinations and other psychological disturbances that endured even when he wasn’t taking the drug. “I heard voices, they would tell me to do things I didn’t want to do, commit crimes, hurt people, stuff like that.” The psychotic effects remained long after he stopped taking PCP altogether, and part of his recovery includes pharmacological treatment to give him the emotional stability needed to lead a productive and fulfilling life. Having experienced the damage of PCP, he is committed to maintaining his hard-won sobriety. “If I go back out there and start smoking wet again, I’m a dead man.”