# PCP and Religion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 28, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pcp-and-religion/296553 "2005-03-28T04:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pcp-and-religion/296553/1 "2005-03-28T04:15:06Z")
Did anyone else notice that fully one third of examples of violent incidents possibly attributable to PCP in [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050325.html) involved religion? Are we looking in the wrong direction here? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pcp-and-religion/296553/2 "2005-03-28T13:53:57Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Did anyone else notice that fully one third of examples of violent incidents possibly attributable to PCP in [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050325.html) involved religion? > > Are we looking in the wrong direction here? 😉 90% of them involved men. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pcp-and-religion/296553/3 "2005-03-28T19:23:43Z")
Hmm…I run 2 websites specifically about dextromethorphan (DXM), and know a lot about that drug. DXM is a dissociative anaesthetic like PCP. DXM often causes religious ideation and delusions. Thus it wouldn’t surprise me that PCP does also. And, DXM has occasionally caused violence. I currently have on [coricidin.org](http://coricidin.org) news reports of 2 murders committed by people abusing Coricidin. (Coricidin contains DXM and the anticholinergic drug chlorpheniramine maleate.) I also have’t got around to adding on that site news reports of a recent case where a man was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 3 people who while high on Coricidin. They were his ex-wife, son, and child that woman had from another man. He not only killed them, he even hacked out the hearts of all three of them. Dissociatives can cause extreme violence. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pcp-and-religion/296553/4 "2005-03-29T13:28:40Z")
It doesn’t surprise me at all that dissociatives would cause that sort of violence, at least self-violence. I remember once taking too much Robitussin when I was about 8, and it’s certainly obvious why this type of drug is called “dissociatives” (or “dissociative anesthetics” as I think they used to be called). And I only took something like twice the normal dose, so I’m sure the effect wasn’t all that strong. But it sure had an effect – it was as though what I thought of as “me” was something completely separate from my brain and body – Cartesian dualism made glaringly real. I remember pinching myself and scratching myself and although I could feel it, and it hurt, it was like it was happening to an inanimate object rather than to me like it would normally feel. I didn’t progress to gouging out my eye or slicing off my face, but it doesn’t surprise me that people do that kind of thing on dissociatives.