Mescaline, phencyclidine (PCP) and psilocybin are potent hallucinogenic drugs strongly affecting both human and animal behavior. However, these compounds have not been previously investigated in zebrafish (Danio rerio), rapidly gaining popularity as a model in psychopharmacology research. Here, we examine the effects of mescaline, PCP and psilocybin in multi...
Pharmacologic and toxic effects of xenobiotics, such as drugs of abuse, depend on the genotype and phenotype of an individual, and conversely on the isoenzymes involved in their metabolism and transport. The current knowledge of such isoenzymes of frequently abused therapeutics such as opioids (oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, fentanyl, buprenorphine, tram...
IntroductionThe use of illicit drugs by students and the possible psychological repercussions in this population of young adults is an important public health issue. While some data in the literature suggest a relationship between cannabis and the occurrence of mental health disorders, and in particular psychotic illnesses, epidemiologic surveys have shown t...
IntroductionProblems associated with the increasing abuse of plant-derived psychoactive substances have recently attracted attention. This study involved bioanalytical and clinical examinations of intoxication cases suspected to be linked to such plant materials.MethodsUrine samples were collected at emergency wards in Sweden from patients who either admitte...
Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) is a novel ionization technique that provides for the rapid ionization of small molecules under ambient conditions. To investigate the trend of non-controlled psychotropic plants of abuse in Japan, a rapid screening method, without sample preparation, was developed using DART-time of flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) for pl...
A validated method for the simultaneous analysis of multiple hallucinogens, chlorpheniramine, ketamine, ritalinic acid, and several metabolites is presented. The procedure comprises a sample clean-up step, using mixed-mode solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography (LC)-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Chromatographic separation was achieved ...
ObjectivesUntil recently, routine toxicological analysis of some hallucinogens in biological material posed problems which were only resolved after the introduction of modern analytic systems into toxicological laboratories. The most frequent hallucinogens in clinical and forensic toxicology can be grouped as: cannabinoids, tropane alkaloids, N,N-dimethyltry...
UnlabelledVery recently, after a long-lasting, worldwide moratorium on research of hallucinogenic agents, a good number of advanced countries have been revising their position, and start to approve testing the physiological and therapeutic effects of hallucinogens in human subjects. The purpose of this article is to review safety information available in the...
Hallucinogens. Nichols DE. Pharmacol Ther. 2004;101:131-181National Institute on Drug Abuse Web Site. Available at http://www.drugabuse.govThe Psychopharmacology of Hallucinogens. Abraham HD, Aldridge AM, Gogia P. Neuropsychopharmacol. 1996;14:285-298Toxic Psychoses as Pharmacological Models of Schizophrenia. Potvin S, Stip E, Roy J. Curr Psychiatr Rev. 2005...
Psilocin was identified in a urine specimen collected during a routine driving under the influence of drugs investigation, the first for this laboratory. The subject did not exhibit any response to an automobile crash, indicating the he may have been unaware of the severity of the situation or his immediate surroundings. The urine specimen gave a positive re...
ABSTRACT A comparison of personality factors on scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) was conducted with a sample of adolescents referred to a residential substance abuse treatment program. A total of sixty adolescents identified with hallucinogen (n = 20), cannabis (n = 20), or methamphetamine (n = 20) as their drug o...
We report the case of a 25-year-old, hepatitis C-infected man, who presented with severe rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure, and later developed posterior encephalopathy with cortical blindness after the ingestion of magic mushrooms. Conventional respiratory and cardiovascular support including mechanical ventilation, continuous veno-venous hemodialysis ...
Substance abuse is a major health and behavioral concern in college students. Alcohol and marijuana are the most commonly abused drugs on college campuses. Others include tobacco, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, gamma-hydroxybutyrate, flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), lysergic acid, ketamine, methamphetamine, phencyclidine, cocaine, and psilocybin mushrooms. This...
After the immunisation of rabbits with a psilocin-specific immunogen, polyclonal antisera were obtained. With these antisera a competitive, heterogeneous radioimmunoassay for the detection of psilocin was developed. As tracer a derivative of psilocin was synthesised, which contained a tritiated CH(3) group. The antisera showed a specific reaction with psiloc...
It is usually believed that drugs of abuse are smuggled into the United States or are clandestinely produced for illicit distribution. Less well known is that many hallucinogens and dissociative agents can be obtained from plants and fungi growing wild or in gardens. Some of these botanical sources can be located throughout the United States; others have a m...
This study was performed on a representative sample of the Danish population in order to investigate the connection to the use of psychoactive drugs and quality of life (QOL) by way of a questionnaire-based survey. The questionnaire was mailed in February 1993 to 2,460 persons aged between 18 and 88, randomly selected from the CPR (Danish Central Register), ...
Driving under the influence of drugs is an issue of growing concern in the industrialized countries as a risk and a cause for road accidents. In forensic toxicology, the increasing number of samples for determination of drugs in blood is mainly due to zero-tolerance laws in several countries and well-trained police officers who can better recognize drivers u...
Substances capable of changing the functions of the central nervous system are widely distributed in plant kingdom, and many of them were discovered by ancient food-gatherers at the dawn of humanity. In the Old World only a few substances producing euphoria or altered states of consciousness and having habit-forming properties are still widely used. They are...
A review of techniques used to screen biological specimens for the presence of drugs was conducted with particular reference to systematic toxicological analysis. Extraction systems of both the liquid-liquid and solid-phase type show little apparent difference in their relative ability to extract a range of drugs according to their physio-chemical properties...
The concentration effect of automated on-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) in combination with HPLC and very sensitive electrochemical detection was employed for the determination of N-ethyl-4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-amphetamine (HMEA, the main metabolite of the ecstasy analogue MDE), delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 11-nor-delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol-carbo...
