# What can PCP (over)does really make you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 11, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-pcp-over-does-really-make-you-do/131851 "2002-10-11T18:35:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-pcp-over-does-really-make-you-do/131851/1 "2002-10-11T18:35:12Z")
Based on [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=139063) Cafe Society thread, I thought I’d ask for the Straight Dope on PCP. It was common, if apocryphal, knowledge in my high school days that PCP could give a crazied user thereof superhuman strength and the ability to ignore pain, so that it might take ten men to subdue him. In the linked thread, there’s a discussion of a terrible excess that a user of PCP underwent as depicted on _CSI_. Also in that thread, there are several deprecating comments, suggesting that the PC menace is not possibly as serious as the show pretended it was, and an analogy made to _Reefer Madness_ the famous movie which predicted dire, even fatal, consequences for marijuana users. So - what are the true possible effects of PCP use? - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-pcp-over-does-really-make-you-do/131851/2 "2002-10-11T19:49:28Z")
PCP blocks glutamate NMDA receptors. One theory of schizophrenia that has been supported by work with PCP is that these receptors or their agonists are deficient in schizophrenics. In most cases, the main symptom is the mild dissociative state sought by the user. In extreme cases (overdose or sensitivity) other symptoms of schizophrenia may temporarily appear, including paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, and insensitivity to pain. I can see how such a person, if provoked or confronted, might get very violent and very difficult to subdue. However, I have a hard time seeing how these symptoms could cause you to chow down on a friend unless you already have a borderline personality. While not the best, these links may help: > **[Error 404](http://www.sonoma.edu/error-404)** > > We're sorry, the page or file you requested is not available. You may have typed its address incorrectly, or it may have been moved or deleted. To search for the missing page or find a related page, please use one of these options: Start from the... [http://www.furman.edu/~jgrisel/Psychopharmacology/Unit%203/14.%20SCHIZOPHRENIA.ppt](http://www.furman.edu/~jgrisel/Psychopharmacology/Unit%203/14.%20SCHIZOPHRENIA.ppt) [http://www.drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs/64.pdf](http://www.drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs/64.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-pcp-over-does-really-make-you-do/131851/3 "2002-10-11T22:28:22Z")
A hip-hop ‘artist’ was recently arrested for killing a woman and literally ripping at her face and lungs with his teeth while high on PCP… Is CSI one of those shows that bases its episodes loosely on real events? I seem to recall it being that way, and if so, I’d guess this was the basis for that episode… [http://www.bet.com/articles/0,,c3gb2980-3641,00.html](http://www.bet.com/articles/0,,c3gb2980-3641,00.html)