What Happens in an Overdose of PCP

PCP, short for phencyclidine, is a powerful drug that changes how the brain senses the body and the world around it. It was first developed as a medical anaesthetic, a drug meant to block pain during surgery, but it was withdrawn from that use because it caused severe confusion, agitation and frightening mental effects. Since then it has been sold illegally, often as a powder, a tablet or a liquid, and it is sometimes mixed into other drugs without the person taking it knowing that PCP is there at all. That uncertainty is part of what makes it so dangerous. Nobody taking an illegal drug can be sure how strong it is, what else is in it, or how their own body will react to it on that day.

An overdose of PCP does not look like simply falling asleep. It is a violent disruption of the brain and the body at the same time. The person may become extremely agitated and confused, lose all sense of where they are, feel no pain, and behave in ways that frighten everyone nearby. At the same time, inside the body, the temperature can climb to a dangerous level, the muscles can break down, the heart can beat too fast or too irregularly, and breathing can become shallow or stop. Seizures can occur. The kidneys can fail. In the worst cases, the person dies, sometimes within hours, sometimes after days in hospital when organs that were damaged during the overdose never recover.

This article explains, in plain words, what happens in an overdose of PCP: how the drug works in the brain, why a large amount turns dangerous, what the warning signs look like, and why an overdose is always a medical emergency. It is general information only, not individual medical advice. It does not explain how to use, make or obtain PCP, and it does not give doses or instructions of any kind. If someone may have taken too much PCP, or is showing any of the signs described here, emergency help should be called at once, because minutes matter and waiting to see if things improve on their own can be fatal.

What PCP Does in the Brain

PCP belongs to a group of drugs called dissociatives. That word describes its main effect: it disconnects a person from their own body and from reality. Under its influence, the world can feel distant, strange or unreal, and the person’s own arms and legs can feel as if they belong to someone else. This happens because PCP blocks a chemical messenger system in the brain that is involved in learning, memory and the sense of what is real. When that system is blocked, the brain cannot process information in its normal, orderly way. Thoughts become jumbled, time feels distorted, and ordinary sounds or sights can seem threatening or meaningless.

At lower amounts, this disconnection can make a person feel numb, detached or dreamlike. They may stare blankly, speak slowly, or struggle to follow a simple conversation. They may feel as if they are floating, or as if the room is moving around them. Their sense of pain is reduced, which sounds harmless but is not, because pain is the body’s warning system. A person who cannot feel pain may injure themselves badly without noticing, fall from a height, walk into traffic, or keep moving on a broken limb. They may also become clumsy and lose their balance, which adds to the risk of falls and head injuries.

As the amount in the body rises, the effects become far more severe. The confusion deepens into a state where the person cannot recognise familiar faces, cannot understand where they are, and cannot make sense of what people are saying to them. They may believe things that are not true, hear voices, or see things that are not there. This is not a pleasant dream. For many people it is terrifying, and the terror itself makes them more agitated, more likely to run, to fight, or to try to escape from dangers that exist only in their mind. The brain is no longer able to tell the difference between a real threat and an imagined one, and that loss of judgement is one of the most dangerous parts of a PCP overdose.

Why a Large Amount Turns Dangerous

One of the hardest things about PCP is that there is no safe amount, and no reliable way to predict how a particular amount will affect a particular person. The strength of illegal PCP varies enormously from one batch to another, and it is often mixed with other substances, so a person may take far more than they intended without realising it. A person who has used PCP before may also react differently on a different day, because tiredness, hunger, stress, alcohol, other drugs, or an underlying health problem can all change how the body handles it. What felt manageable one time can be overwhelming the next.

The drug also stays in the body for a long time. Its effects can last for many hours, and in an overdose they can last for a day or more. That long duration matters, because it means the body is under strain for far longer than with many other drugs. The heart keeps working too hard, the temperature keeps rising, and the brain keeps receiving distorted signals hour after hour. A person who looks as if they are calming down may become agitated again as the drug continues to act, and a person who seems to have fallen asleep may actually be losing consciousness in a dangerous way rather than sleeping normally.

Another reason an overdose is so dangerous is that PCP affects several systems in the body at once. It does not only change thinking. It raises blood pressure and heart rate, it raises body temperature, it changes breathing, and it can cause the muscles to become rigid or to twitch uncontrollably. When several of these problems happen together, each one makes the others worse. A fast heartbeat and a high temperature together put enormous strain on the heart. Rigid muscles generate more heat, which pushes the temperature higher still. Confusion and agitation make it harder for the person to stay still, to drink water, or to accept help. It is this combination, rather than any single effect, that makes a PCP overdose so hard for the body to survive.

Heat, Seizures and Collapse

One of the most serious dangers in a PCP overdose is a sharp rise in body temperature. The drug can interfere with the brain’s ability to control temperature, while agitation and rigid, twitching muscles generate extra heat at the same time. The person may feel hot to the touch, sweat heavily, or become flushed and restless. If the temperature keeps climbing, it can damage the brain, the liver and the kidneys, and it can cause the muscles themselves to break down. When muscle tissue breaks down, it releases substances into the blood that can block the kidneys and stop them working. This is a life-threatening complication, and it can develop even after the person seems to have survived the worst of the confusion.

Seizures are another serious risk. A seizure is a sudden burst of uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain, and it can cause the body to shake violently, the jaw to clench, and the person to lose consciousness. During a seizure the person cannot breathe properly, they may bite their tongue, and they may injure themselves by falling or hitting nearby objects. Seizures in a PCP overdose are a sign that the brain is in serious distress, and they need urgent medical care. They can also happen more than once, and repeated seizures can cause lasting damage to the brain.

Collapse can follow in several ways. The person may fall because their legs give way, because a seizure throws them to the ground, or because their blood pressure drops suddenly after being dangerously high. They may lose consciousness and be unable to protect their own airway, which means vomit or saliva can block their breathing. They may stop breathing altogether if the brain’s control of breathing is overwhelmed. Any of these can be fatal without quick help, and that is why an overdose should never be treated as something to sleep off. The body is not resting. It is failing, and it needs trained medical care.

Confusion, Agitation and Losing Touch With Reality

In an overdose, the mental effects of PCP often become extreme. The person may become intensely agitated, shouting, struggling, or trying to run away. They may be convinced that people around them are trying to harm them, and they may react with violence to anyone who tries to hold them still or help them. This is not a choice they are making calmly. Their brain is misreading everything it sees and hears, and fear is driving their behaviour. The strength that sometimes appears in this state is not a superpower. It is the result of the brain no longer sending the normal signals that limit effort and warn of pain, combined with a flood of stress hormones that push the body to keep moving when it should stop and rest.

At other times, the same person may swing the other way and become blank, unresponsive or stuporous, staring ahead without reacting to their name or to pain. Family members sometimes mistake this for sleep, but it is not sleep. A sleeping person wakes when spoken to loudly or shaken gently. A person in a stupor from PCP may not wake at all, or may wake only briefly before sinking back. Their breathing may be slow and shallow, their skin may be pale or sweaty, and their pupils may be unusually large or small. This quiet, unresponsive state is just as dangerous as the loud, agitated one, because it can mean the brain is shutting down.

Hallucinations and false beliefs are common in an overdose, and they add to the danger in practical ways. A person who believes they can fly may try to jump from a window or a balcony. A person who believes the room is on fire may run into traffic. A person who believes their own body is not theirs may injure themselves trying to escape it. These are not rare, dramatic exceptions. They are the direct result of a brain that can no longer judge what is real, and they are one of the reasons that a person in a PCP overdose should never be left alone, even for a few minutes, while help is on its way.

Breathing and the Heart Under Strain

PCP puts the heart under heavy strain during an overdose. The heart rate often rises sharply, and blood pressure can climb to levels that strain the walls of blood vessels and the heart muscle itself. For a healthy young person this is already dangerous. For someone with an undiagnosed heart problem, high blood pressure, or a heart weakened by earlier drug use, it can be far worse. The heart may begin to beat irregularly, which means it is no longer pumping blood efficiently around the body. In the worst cases, the heart can stop altogether, and without immediate resuscitation the person will die.

Breathing is affected in several ways at once. The drug can depress the brain’s control of breathing, so breaths become slow, shallow or irregular. Agitation and muscle rigidity make breathing harder, because the chest muscles cannot move freely. If the person vomits while confused or unconscious, they may breathe vomit into their lungs, which can cause choking or a serious lung infection. If they are lying face down or in an awkward position while unconscious, their airway can become blocked without anyone noticing. Any of these can reduce the oxygen reaching the brain, and the brain is damaged very quickly when it is starved of oxygen.

The combination of heart strain and breathing problems is what makes a PCP overdose so unforgiving. The heart is working harder while the lungs are delivering less oxygen, so the body is caught in a trap: demand is up and supply is down. The kidneys, the liver and the brain all suffer when blood flow and oxygen fall, and damage to those organs can continue even after the drug itself has started to wear off. This is why hospital care after an overdose often lasts for days, and why a person who survives may still face a long recovery, with follow-up care needed for organs that were injured during those hours.

Warning Signs Nobody Should Ignore

The warning signs of a PCP overdose can appear gradually or suddenly, and they should never be dismissed as the person simply being intoxicated. Extreme agitation, aggression or panic that does not settle is one sign. So is confusion that is far worse than usual: the person cannot say where they are, cannot recognise people they know well, or cannot follow the simplest instruction. Blank staring, slurred or nonsensical speech, and an inability to stay awake are all serious signs, especially if the person cannot be woken by calling their name or shaking them gently.

Physical signs are just as important. Skin that feels very hot to the touch, heavy sweating, or a flushed face can point to a dangerous rise in temperature. Rapid breathing, very slow breathing, or pauses between breaths are all reasons to call for help at once. A pulse that feels very fast or irregular, chest pain, or complaints of feeling as if the heart is pounding are also urgent. Twitching, jerking movements, rigid muscles, or a full seizure are emergencies in themselves. Vomiting, especially in a person who is confused or unconscious, is dangerous because of the risk of choking.

There are also signs that are easy to miss. A person may become unusually quiet after a period of agitation, and those around them may feel relieved, thinking the worst has passed. In fact, that quietness can mean the person is slipping into unconsciousness. A person may say they feel fine, or ask to be left alone, while their body is clearly in trouble. Their judgement is not reliable in this state, so what they say should not override what can be seen: hot skin, strange breathing, confusion, or an inability to stay awake. When any of these signs are present, the right response is to call emergency services immediately and stay with the person until help arrives.

An Overdose Is a Medical Emergency

A PCP overdose is a medical emergency, and there is no safe way to manage it at home. There is no home remedy, no amount of water or food, and no period of sleep that makes it safe. The person needs trained medical staff, monitoring equipment, and medicines that can only be given in a hospital. Calling emergency services is the single most important thing anyone nearby can do, and it should be done as soon as an overdose is suspected, not after waiting to see whether the person improves. The earlier help arrives, the better the chances of survival and the lower the risk of lasting organ damage.

While waiting for help, there are a few practical things that can reduce the risk. Stay with the person and keep talking to them calmly, if they can hear you. Try to keep them safe from sharp objects, traffic, heights and water. If they are agitated, do not try to hold them down by force unless there is no other way to stop them harming themselves, because struggling raises their temperature and heart rate further and can injure both the person and anyone trying to restrain them. If they are unconscious but breathing, they should be placed on their side if it is safe to do so, so that vomit can drain from the mouth rather than blocking the airway. If they stop breathing, emergency services will advise what to do on the phone, and that advice should be followed exactly.

It is also important to be honest with the medical staff about what happened. Tell them what the person took, as far as it is known, when they took it, and whether alcohol or any other drug was involved. Medical staff are there to treat the person, not to punish them, and accurate information helps them choose the right care quickly. Fear of trouble with the law stops some people from calling for help, and that delay has cost lives. In many places there are protections for people who call for help in a drug emergency, and even where those protections are unclear, the risk of not calling is far greater. A life is worth more than any worry about embarrassment or consequences.

What Happens Afterwards

Surviving a PCP overdose does not mean the danger is over. The drug can remain active in the body for many hours, and its effects can return in waves even after the person seems to have improved. Hospitals therefore keep overdose patients under observation, sometimes for a day or more, checking their temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and kidney function. Blood tests can show whether the muscles have broken down or the kidneys have been injured. Some patients need fluids through a drip, medicines to control seizures or blood pressure, and cooling measures to bring their temperature down. Others need help with breathing until their brain recovers enough to control it on its own.

The days after an overdose can be confusing and frightening for the person and their family. Memory of the event is often patchy or absent, and the person may feel anxious, low, or ashamed about what happened and how they behaved. Some people experience ongoing confusion, poor sleep, or mood changes for days or weeks afterwards. The brain needs time to recover from the chemical disruption, and that recovery cannot be rushed. Rest, regular meals, and avoiding further drug use are important, but so is support from family, friends, or a health professional who understands drug-related harm.

For some people, an overdose becomes a turning point. It is a stark warning that the drug is not under their control, and that the next time could be worse. For others, the risk continues, especially if the reasons they were using PCP in the first place have not changed. Either way, the period after an overdose is a good time to talk to a health professional about support, treatment options, and ways to reduce the risk of it happening again. That conversation is not about blame. It is about staying alive, and about giving the body and the brain the best chance to heal from an experience that came very close to ending a life.

Follow-up care after an overdose often matters more than people expect. A person who leaves hospital may still need blood tests to check that the kidneys have recovered, and they may need to be seen again if their temperature, breathing or thinking do not return to normal. Some people find that their memory is patchy for weeks, that they tire easily, or that they feel anxious in situations that never bothered them before. These are not signs of weakness. They are signs that the brain and body are still healing, and they deserve patience rather than pressure to return to normal at once. A health professional can explain what to expect, what to watch for, and when to seek help again, and that guidance can make the recovery period far less frightening for the person and their family.

There is also a practical question that families often ask, which is what to do if it happens again. The answer is the same as the first time: call emergency services immediately, stay with the person, and tell the medical staff what happened. Do not assume that because the person survived once, they will survive again, and do not try a different approach at home in the hope that it will work better. Keep a note of what the person took, if it is known, and of any medicines or health problems they have, so that information is ready if it is ever needed in a hurry. Preparation does not mean expecting the worst. It means being ready, so that fear does not turn into delay when minutes matter most.

My Take:

I will start with the thing I feel most strongly about this topic, because it is the thing that could save a life. A PCP overdose is not a bad trip that someone can sleep off. It is a medical emergency, and the difference between calling for help straight away and waiting an hour can be the difference between a person surviving and a family planning a funeral. I know that sounds blunt, but I think bluntness is justified here. Too many people hesitate because they are embarrassed, or afraid of trouble, or convinced the person will be fine in the morning. The body does not work on that timetable. While someone is deciding whether to call, the temperature is still rising, the heart is still racing, and the brain is still being starved of oxygen. The call costs nothing. The delay can cost everything.

What worries me most is how unpredictable this drug is. With some substances, people at least have a rough idea of what a normal amount looks like, even if that amount is still harmful. With PCP bought illegally, there is no such guide. One batch can be weak and the next can be far stronger, and it can be mixed into something else entirely, so the person has no idea they have taken it at all. That means an overdose can happen to someone who did not mean to take a large amount, and did not mean to take PCP in the first place. I find that deeply unfair. A person should not die because a powder in a bag was stronger than the last one, or because a drug they bought was not the drug they thought it was. But that is the reality of the illegal drug market, and pretending otherwise helps no one.

I also think about the fear that drives the behaviour in an overdose, because it changes how I see the person in the middle of it. When someone in this state is shouting, running, or pushing people away, it is easy to see them as violent or dangerous, and to step back. But their brain is telling them that they are in terrible danger, that the people around them are threats, that the room itself is not real. They are not choosing to be frightening. They are frightened, and their judgement has been taken away from them. That does not mean anyone nearby should put themselves in harm’s way, and it does not excuse harm caused in that state, but it does mean the person deserves medical help, not judgement. They are ill, not evil, and the right response is an ambulance, not anger.

The quiet cases stay with me just as much as the loud ones. A person who has become blank, still and unresponsive can look peaceful, and the people around them may feel relieved that the shouting has stopped. I think that is one of the most dangerous misunderstandings in drug emergencies. Stillness after agitation is not always recovery. It can be the brain shutting down, the breathing slowing, and the body slipping towards a point from which it cannot come back on its own. If someone cannot be woken, if their breathing is slow or uneven, if their skin feels very hot, that is not a person sleeping it off. That is a person who needs help now, and every minute spent watching and hoping is a minute in which the damage gets worse.

Heat is the danger I think people understand least, and it frightens me the most. Most people know that a seizure or a stopped heart is an emergency, but fewer people realise that a body temperature that climbs too high can destroy the kidneys, the liver and the brain from the inside, quietly, even while the person is still alive and breathing. The muscles breaking down and poisoning the kidneys is not something you can see from the outside. There is no dramatic moment to warn you. It happens while the person is hot, restless and confused, and by the time the kidneys stop working, the damage is already severe. That is why I keep coming back to the same point: a hot, confused, agitated person after PCP needs a hospital, not a cold shower and a wait-and-see approach.

I have thought a lot about the families in these situations, because they are the ones who live with the aftermath either way. If the person survives, the family has to watch them recover, deal with the confusion and the shame, and wonder whether it will happen again. If the person does not survive, the family has to live with the questions that never get answered: could we have called sooner, could we have done something different, did we miss a sign? Those questions are cruel, and they do not fade quickly. I think the honest answer to give families is that calling early is the one thing that genuinely improves the odds, and that nobody should carry guilt for not knowing how to treat an overdose at home, because nobody is expected to. That is what emergency services are for. The only mistake is not calling.

I do not believe that scare stories alone stop people using drugs, and I will not pretend that this article will. People use PCP for complicated reasons: curiosity, pressure from others, a wish to escape stress or pain, or a habit that has grown beyond their control. Fear of an overdose is one reason to stop, but it is rarely the only reason, and it is rarely enough on its own. What I do believe is that honest information helps people make safer choices when they are in a situation they did not plan for. Knowing that a hot, confused, unresponsive person needs an ambulance, and knowing not to leave them alone, are practical facts. They do not require a lecture. They require someone to have read them, remembered them, and acted on them at the right moment.

There is also a question here about how we talk about drug users in general, and I want to be clear about where I stand. I do not think a person who has taken PCP deserves to die for it, and I do not think their life matters less because of a bad decision. Every person in an overdose is someone’s child, someone’s brother or sister, someone’s friend. The medical staff who treat them do not ask whether the person deserved help. They give it, because that is what medicine is for. I think the rest of us should take the same view. If you are with someone who is in trouble, your job is not to judge how they got there. Your job is to call for help and stay with them until it arrives. Everything else can wait.

I think prevention matters, but I think it has to be honest to work. Telling young people simply to say no, without explaining what the real risks are, has never been enough. They need to know that PCP is not like other drugs, that its effects last for many hours, that it can make a person lose touch with reality completely, and that an overdose can damage the kidneys and the brain in ways that do not heal quickly. They need to know that mixing it with alcohol or other drugs makes it far more dangerous, and that taking a drug from someone you do not fully trust means you do not know what you are taking at all. That is not a moral lecture. It is practical information, and it respects the reader enough to tell them the truth.

For someone who has survived an overdose, I think the days afterwards deserve more attention than they usually get. It is easy to assume that once the person is out of hospital, the story is over. It is not. They may feel confused, anxious, or ashamed. They may have gaps in their memory. They may be afraid to talk about what happened, and afraid that everyone around them is judging them. That is a lonely place to be, and loneliness is one of the things that pushes people back towards drug use. A calm conversation, without blame, can make a real difference. So can a visit to a health professional, not to be scolded, but to talk about what support is available and how to reduce the risk of it happening again. Recovery is not just about the body healing. It is about the person feeling safe enough to ask for help.

I also want to say something about the people who do call for help, because they do not get enough credit. Calling an ambulance for someone who has overdosed takes courage, especially if you are afraid of the police, or afraid of what the person’s family will say, or afraid that you will be blamed for being there. But that call is the single most important action in the whole situation. Medical staff can do a great deal once they arrive, but they cannot do anything if nobody calls them. If you have ever made that call, or if you would make it, I think you should be proud of that. You did the right thing in a frightening moment, and that matters more than any fear you felt while doing it.

I think it also helps to know what happens when the ambulance arrives, because fear of the unknown stops some people from calling. The paramedics will check breathing, pulse, temperature and blood pressure, and they will ask what the person took and when. They may give oxygen, cool the person down, or treat a seizure on the spot. In hospital, the person will be monitored closely, given fluids, and watched for kidney problems and heart rhythm changes. None of this is punishment. It is the ordinary, careful work of keeping a body alive while a powerful drug slowly leaves it, and the staff who do it have seen this situation many times before. They are not there to judge the person or the people who brought them in. They are there to help, and the sooner they can start, the more they can do.

There is one more risk I want to name plainly, because it is often overlooked. A person who survives one overdose is at higher risk of a second one, especially if nothing changes afterwards. The reasons are simple. They may take the same drug again from the same source, with the same unknown strength. They may take more, believing that because they survived once, they can survive again. They may mix it with alcohol or another drug to chase a stronger effect. Tolerance is not protection, and surviving once is not proof of safety. It is luck, and luck runs out. That is why the period after an overdose matters so much, and why a conversation about support, treatment, and ways to stay safe is not an optional extra. It is part of the treatment, and it should happen while the memory of how close things came is still fresh.

I also want to speak directly to young readers, because PCP is often first encountered in social settings, at parties or through friends, where saying no feels harder than saying yes. If someone offers you a drug and you do not know what is in it, or how strong it is, or what it will do to you, the honest answer is that you do not know, and that not knowing is itself the risk. You do not need a lecture to understand that. You need to know that a single decision on a single night can end with a hospital bed, a seizure, or a funeral, and that the people offering the drug will not be the ones living with the consequences. Your family will. You will. Walking away from an unknown drug is not cowardice. It is the smartest decision you can make in that moment, and it is a decision you will never regret.

Finally, I want to leave the reader with the simplest version of everything in this article, because in an emergency nobody has time to remember a long list. If someone has taken PCP and they are extremely agitated, very confused, very hot, breathing strangely, having a seizure, or cannot be woken, call emergency services immediately. Stay with them. Keep them safe from traffic, heights and sharp objects. Do not leave them alone. Tell the medical staff honestly what happened. That is it. You do not need to know how to treat an overdose. You need to know how to get help, and how to stay until it comes. I hope nobody reading this ever needs to use that knowledge. But if they do, I hope they remember it, and I hope they act on it without hesitating, because hesitation is the one thing in an overdose that nobody can afford.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can PCP overdose damage the brain?

Yes. A PCP overdose can damage the brain in several ways. The drug itself disrupts the brain’s normal chemical signalling, which causes confusion, hallucinations and loss of judgement. At the same time, a high temperature, seizures, and reduced oxygen from breathing problems can injure brain cells directly. Some of that damage improves as the person recovers, but severe or prolonged oxygen loss, repeated seizures, or very high temperature can leave lasting problems with memory, concentration and mood. That is one reason why quick medical help matters so much.

What happens in an overdose of PCP?

In an overdose of PCP, the person may become extremely agitated and confused, lose touch with reality, hallucinate, or become blank and unresponsive. Their body temperature can climb to a dangerous level, their heart can beat too fast or irregularly, and their breathing can become slow, shallow or irregular. Seizures can occur, muscles can become rigid or break down, and the kidneys can be damaged. In the worst cases, breathing or the heart can stop. It is a medical emergency that needs hospital care.

What should you do in a PCP overdose?

Call emergency services immediately and stay with the person until help arrives. Keep them safe from traffic, heights, sharp objects and water. If they are unconscious but breathing, place them on their side if it is safe to do so, so vomit can drain from the mouth. Do not try to hold a very agitated person down by force unless there is no other way to stop them harming themselves, because struggling raises temperature and heart rate further. Tell medical staff honestly what the person took and when, so they can give the right care quickly.

Why do PCP overdoses happen?

PCP overdoses happen because the strength of illegal PCP varies widely, it is often mixed with other drugs, and people may take more than they intended or take it without knowing it was there. Tiredness, alcohol, other drugs and underlying health problems can also change how the body reacts. The drug lasts for many hours, so the strain on the brain, heart and body continues for a long time. There is no safe amount, and no reliable way to predict how a particular amount will affect a particular person on a particular day.

What are the signs of a PCP overdose?

The signs include extreme agitation, aggression or panic, severe confusion, hallucinations, slurred or nonsensical speech, and an inability to stay awake or be woken. Physical signs include skin that feels very hot, heavy sweating, rapid or very slow breathing, a fast or irregular pulse, chest pain, rigid or twitching muscles, vomiting, and seizures. A person who becomes unusually quiet after a period of agitation may be slipping into unconsciousness, which is just as serious. Any of these signs means emergency help should be called at once.

Can PCP cause a fatal overdose?

Yes, PCP can cause a fatal overdose. Death can result from seizures, a dangerously high body temperature, kidney failure from muscle breakdown, irregular heartbeats, breathing stopping, or choking on vomit while unconscious. The risk is higher when PCP is mixed with alcohol or other drugs, when the amount taken is large, or when help is delayed. Because the drug’s effects last for many hours, the danger does not pass quickly. A fatal outcome is possible even in someone who has used PCP before without serious harm.

Sources

This article is general information only. It is not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your health, talk to a qualified health professional.