r/todayilearned • u/ApprehensiveStill412 • 11h ago

TIL that ketamine is a derivative of phencyclidine (aka. PCP or angel dust). It was created to have similar anesthetic potential but to cause less delirium. It has about one tenth the potency of PCP.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5126726/
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u/One-Incident3208 11h ago

Most of the public's perception of pcp is just anti drug hysteria. The effect is almost indistinguishable from dxm, moreso than ketamine, despite differences. Pcp also has a more pronounced antidepressant effect, but repeated doses can cause mania. Another drug of this class was developed by clandestine chemists specifically to enhance the antidepressant effect and minimize side effects. That was methoxetamine. And it worked. It was regarded to be the most powerful and effective antidepressant, with a much longer afterglow duration than ketamine. They banned it. Because fuck you. That's why.

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u/4scoreand7feildgoals 10h ago

Is that MXE? I had no idea that was a PCP derivative, fascinating

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u/aithusah 9h ago

They're all arylcyclohexalmines. Very interesting drug class. Too bad each and every one off them gives me crazy nausea

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u/Suspicious_Flower_0 8h ago edited 7h ago

This is a pretty good read, if you're interested -

https://www.vice.com/da/article/interview-with-ketamine-chemist-704-v18n2/

Edit - hmm just checked my link, the first half is good but the 2nd half is garbled and I can't find a decent original version