Hallucinations drug uses

Three of the reasons for our restless experimentalism are clear. In the first place, normal consciousness is not always pleasant. In mental illness, the impulse to alter consciousness via drugs that reduce hallucinations or elevate mood is easy to understand and to accept. Short of that, many of us feel entitled to those holidays from conscientious consciousness that a martini, a glass of wine, or a can of beer affords. 

This normalizing account of hypnagogic hallucinations lends itself nicely to explanation in terms of AIM and hence to integration with those spontaneous and induced alterations in conscious state that interest us most. For example, an exaggeration of the normal tendency to hallucinate at sleep onset is seen in narcolepsy, as well as with the use of clinical and recreational drugs that alter the M axis of the AIM model in ways that promote REM sleep phenomena, including the intense dreaming often associated with it. 

Moreover, the absence of the release of serotonin in the brain has been correlated with the initiation of hallucinations. This is not to say that we can manipulate our diet to so undermine serotonin release as to experience a hallucination. We cannot. But certain drugs that will initiate this effect, and their action, as well as the experiences they produce, can tell us something about the normal function of serotonin in the brain. 

The brain is a complex organ responsible for the coordination and regulation of all of the activities in life. Individual cells of the brain are called neurons (Figure 4.2). Neurons communicate with one another and with the rest of the body to allow us to think, feel, and perform physical actions. Inhalants and other drugs of abuse after this basic and necessary communication between neurons to produce their effects, such as euphoria, hallucinations, and sedation. 

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