It is known that certain drugs such as amphetamines, ketamine and phencyclidine may lead to quite complex hallucinations. As with many other circumstances these hallucinations may actually feel very real to the person who has experienced them, but like all hallucinations they are not grounded in reality. It has therefore been suggested that the near death experience may also be a similar type of hallucination. The way that these drugs work is by attaching like a specific 'key' onto certain specific receptors found on the brain which then activates those receptors and mediates their effects. For example ketamine and phencyclidine (LSD) attach to the previously mentioned, N-methyl-D aspartate (NMDA) receptor and it is by activating this receptor in a specific part of the brain that they are thought to lead to the complex hallucinations.

Although we certainly know that certain drugs can cause hallucinations, there is actually very little evidence to back up the view that NDE is caused by drugs. The main reason for this is that there have been very many cases in which the experience had occurred in people who had not taken any drugs and nor had they had any drugs administered to them by doctors or nurses. For example there are many cases of people who have had NDEs just before an accident such as falling off the side of a mountain or being involved in a car accident. In hospital settings there have also been many cases of patients who have not had specific drugs given to them but yet have had NDEs. In the study carried out in Southampton which has been referred to elsewhere, all the patients who had survived a cardiac arrest were divided into two groups based upon whether they had had a NDE or not. Both sets had been given the same medication, however some of the patients had experienced an NDE while others had not. Therefore it is unlikely that drugs could have been responsible for the experience as one would then expect all the patients to have had the same experience.