Which pair of drugs are dissociative anesthetics?

• A. PCP and Ketamine
• B. MDMA and LSD
• C. Heroin and Morphine
• D. THC and CBD

Answer: (A)

Disassociative anesthetics are drugs that create a trance-like state with analgesia and amnesia by dissociating perception from sensory input. The classic examples are PCP and ketamine. Both mainly block NMDA receptors, which disrupts glutamatergic signaling in the brain and leads to the characteristic dissociated, detached experience often described with these drugs. Ketamine is still used clinically as a dissociative anesthetic and analgesic, while PCP is a well-known prototypical dissociative with serious side effects that limit medical use. The other options involve substances whose primary actions are different: MDMA and LSD are psychedelics (psychedelic/entactogen effects via serotonin systems), heroin and morphine are opioids (mu-receptor–mediated analgesia and euphoria), and THC and CBD are cannabinoids (psychoactive and medicinal effects through endocannabinoid receptors). Therefore, the pair that best fits dissociative anesthetics is PCP and ketamine.