Dangerous Old Drug Causing Serious New Problems [AUDIO]

Twenty-five years ago, a dangerous and unpredictable drug called PCP rose to prominence, and drug experts now report it's making a comeback in the Garden State.

"Looking at emergency department records between 2011 and 2012, we see the number of people being treated for PCP, or angel dust, rose 37 percent," said Steven Liga, executive director of the Middlesex County chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. "Last year, there were 75,000 individual admissions to the emergency department related to PCP."

Liga said PCP is very unusual because a user's mood can range anywhere from mellow to psychotic, all depending on whether the drug acts as an anesthetic, depressant, hallucinogen, or stimulant within that person's body.

"You could really be mellow and relaxed, or you could find yourself naked, running down the street screaming, or wake up in a jail cell with several broken bones because you attacked somebody," Liga said. "It's a nasty drug, and I think most people who were around in the '80s wouldn't go near the stuff."

So why is PCP making a comeback? A general rise in hallucinogen use may be to blame.

"Those types of highs are getting more popular, but what many people don't seem to understand is, with PCP you are not in your right mind," Liga said. "Your mind is not connected to your body, you're going to experience things differently, you'll hear things differently, you'll see things that aren't there. It's got a bad reputation for a very good reason."