ANGEL DUST

noun Sometimes written angels' dust (Drugs) In the slang of drug users, the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine hydrochloride or PCP (see PCP°). Etymology: Formed by compounding. The drug was originally taken in the form of a powder or dust; it may be called the dust of angels because of the supposedly heavenly visions that it produces, although it has been claimed that the reason is that the drug was first distributed illegally by Hell's Angels. History and Usage: Angel dust was popular in the drugs subculture of the sixties (when the term was sometimes used to refer to drug mixtures such as cocaine, heroin, and morphine, or dried marijuana with PCP). In the eighties angel dust enjoyed a short-lived revival as one of the preferred drugs of the new psychedelia associated with acid house; the term became the usual street name this time round for PCP, which also had a large number of other slang names such as cornflakes, goon, hog, loopy dust, and rocket fuel. She could've been on something...Acid, angel dust. Elmore Leonard Glitz (1985), p. 69 PCP or 'angel dust', a strong anaesthetic which came after LSD in 1960s drug fashions...has recently emerged anew. Now they call it 'rocket fuel' in Chicago and mix it with peanut butter. Sunday Times 24 Mar. 1985, p. 12 'Angel dust', one of the most dangerous street drugs ever created, may soon have a new role--in treating heart attack and stroke victims. Observer 12 Mar. 1989, p. 32