What Is The Difference Between Psychoactive And Psychedelic Drugs

 Psychoactive drugs and psychedelic drugs have been talked about by researchers and have been used by teens for a very long time. However, many people don't truly understand what they are or what the difference is. According to researchers, psychoactive drugs are a more broad classification of drugs, which includes an entire range of different drugs.

In fact, any drug that affects the central nervous system is considered to be a psychoactive drug, which means that a large group is included. Psychedelic drugs are simply one of the classifications within the wider classification. Therefore, a psychedelic drug is one of the smaller classifications within the broader classification of psychoactive drugs.

Psychoactive Drugs

These types of drugs, as mentioned above, affect the central nervous system. They typically affect behavior and cognition in subjects that use them. There are several different sub classifications of these drugs however, which affect the body and behavior slightly differently. Though each of these classifications will affect arousal, thought, mood, and perception, they can do so differently. For example, some of these types of drugs will improve the mood of the user while others will cause negative outcomes.

The classifications, which are used, are sedatives and hypnotics, stimulants, opiates and hallucinogens and psychedelics. As mentioned they each cause different outcomes. A sedative or hypnotic, for example, tends to cause lowered brain activity and sleep. As the name suggests, these types of drugs make the individual more relaxed and calm or sedated. On the other hand stimulants tend to cause arousal and increase activity in the user. Opiates tend to give a feeling of euphoria or an intense happy feeling as they slow down the brain and entire system.

There are many different types of drugs, which fall into each of these categories, and teens have been known to abuse many of them. Some drugs within each classification have medicinal uses and are considered to be safe when used as directed. These can include medications such as Xanax, Demerol, caffeine or Valium. Others are considered illegal in all doses and have no medicinal use. These would be drugs such as cocaine or opium. All of these drugs can also cause very dangerous side effects up to and including death of the user when used in large amounts or used incorrectly.

Psychedelic Drugs

The final category of psychoactive drugs is psychedelic drugs. These are drugs that produce hallucinations of some type. There are many different types of drugs, which are used for this from peyote to ecstasy and LSD. These types of drugs are slightly different from other forms of psychoactive drugs. The main reason for this difference is that, the vast majority of psychedelic drugs are actually not lethal. This means that, even when taken in very large doses they do not kill the user; however they can cause permanent mental and physical damage.

The only real use for these drugs is to produce these hallucinations, which, depending on the drug, can be done by different processes. For example, some psychedelic drugs alter norepinephrine transmissions while others alter serotonin.

There are, however, some types of these drugs that are more harmful. These are called cholinergic psychedelics and they have the ability to cause many of the same problems that other forms of drugs can cause. Since all psychoactive drugs affect the central nervous system this could cause trouble with mood, behavior and brain activity which could result in slower decision making, bad decision making and of course a variety of health problems.

Source: http://www.biologyreference.com/Po-Re/Psychoactive-Drugs.html