The subjective effects of drugs are related to the kinds of feelings they produce, such as euphoria or dysphoria. One of the methods that can be used to study these effects is the drug discrimination procedure. Many researchers have been trying to elucidate the mechanisms that underlie the discriminative stimulus properties of abused drugs (e.g., alcohol, psychostimulants, and
opioids). Over the past two decades, patterns of
drug abuse have changed, so that club/
recreational drugs such as
phencyclidine (PCP), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (
MDMA),
ketamine, and
cannabinoid, which induce perceptual distortions, like
hallucinations, are now more commonly abused, especially in younger generations. In particular, the abuse of
designer drugs, which aim to mimic the subjective effects of psychostimulants (e.g.,
MDMA or
amphetamines), has been problematic. However, the mechanisms of the discriminative stimulus effects of hallucinogenic and dissociative
anesthetic drugs are not yet fully clear. This chapter focuses on recent findings regarding hallucinogenic and dissociative
anesthetic drug-induced discriminative stimulus properties in animals.