PCP still number one drug for triggering psychotic horror shows

Although Bath Salts get most of the news headlines, according to a recent article in The Fix, PCP is still the number one cause of grisly psychotic episodes, especially in East Coast cities. The article has accounts of users murdering their own children, mutilating themselves, and attacking police. It also claims that PCP users who wind up in emergency rooms often take days to recover from catatonia and weeks to recover from internal injuries and broken bones.

This sounds like a typical media scare piece, they even refer to PCP as "wet" throughout the entire article, which is annoying. But the subhead of this article is oddly sympathetic.

The scariest drug on the street, "wet" makes a few users commit grotesque murders that even cops can't stomach. Crackdowns are getting ugly. What will it mean for the many people who use PCP safely?

The article says that police have formed a zero tolerance policy towards PCP users, calling them "zombies" to dehumanize them, and that the media is quick to pile on these characterizations. But it also says this is unfair to people who use PCP safely.

Many users protest that they’re unfairly tarred, that PCP can be used safely and responsibly. "Hell, no, I ain't never beat up on no cops," says Jared, a 25-year-old North Philadelphia heroin dealer and wet user for the past three years. "When I smoke wet I don’t even hallucinate, and I've definitely never had a bad trip like you read about in the papers where dudes be jumping out of windows and shit."

Jared admits that he once had a bad reaction to the drug, but the situation didn't escalate into anything that would make the evening news. "I was smoking once with these three dudes and I got paranoid real bad," he tells me. "Like suddenly I just knew these dudes were about to roll me so I started thinking that I had to get them first. I was definitely getting homicidal. But I just left, you know. I didn't hurt nobody."

So keep that in mind kids. When you get all psychotic and paranoid from smoking wet, don't go all homicidal and shit. Just chill.