Trihexyphenidyl (Artane) Abuse: Euphoriant and Anxiolytic

Abstract

Trihexyphenidyl (benzhexol, Artane) is an anticholinergic drug widely used among the psychiatric population in order to control extrapyramidal symptoms from the use of anti-psychotic drugs. In addition to the many well-known somatic and psychiatric side effects caused by the drug (Shader and Greenblatt, 1971), including toxic psychosis, trihexyphenidyl has been reported as causing a euphoriant effect (Bolin, 1960; Jellinek, 1977; Parker, 1978; Rubinstein, 1978; Shader and Greenblatt, 1971; Goggin and Solomon, 1979). Benztropine and biperiden are known to have caused similar phenomena (Jellinek, 1977; Stephens, 1967). Trihexyphenidyl is known as an hallucinogenic agent amongst thrill-seeking adolescents (Rouchell and Dixon, 1977) and among prisoners in the US who abuse the drug either orally or by smoking it as a powder mixed with tobacco (Woody and O'Brien, 1974).