A unifying mechanism for abused drugs has been proposed previously from the standpoint of electron transfer. Mescaline can be accommodated within the theoretical framework based on redox cycling by the catechol metabolite with its quinone counterpart. Electron transfer may play a role in electrical effects involving the nervous system in the brain. This approach is in accord with structure acti...

OBJECTIVE Previous studies, focusing on the effects of abused drugs, have used mice or rats as the main animal models; the present study tries to introduce a simple animal model. For this propose, we investigated the effects of oral morphine consumption by parents on the development of larvae, pupae and imago in Drosophila Melanogaster (D. Melanogaster). MATERIALS AND METHODS In this experime...

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are an emerging class of abused drugs that differ from each other and the phytocannabinoid ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their safety and cannabinoid-1 receptor (CB1R) pharmacology. As efficacy represents a critical parameter to understanding drug action, the present study investigated this metric by assessing in vivo and in vitro actions of THC, two well-charact...

PURPOSE The goal of these studies was to determine the relationship between prescribed use of opioid analgesics and their non-medically related use (abuse) at a regional level across the country. METHODS To gather information about prescription drug abuse, we asked 233 drug abuse treatment specialists to provide us Quarterly reports on the number of cases of prescription opioid analgesic abus...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the incidence of physical and sexual abuse in a sample of adult and adolescent pregnant women and to determine the relationship between abuse and maternal complications and infant birth weight. METHODS One thousand eight hundred ninety-seven women were screened for abuse during pregnancy. Maternal complications and infant birth weight were obtained by record review. RE...

AIM To assess the perpetrators of sexual abuse in childhood, forms of simultaneous abuse, and characteristics of the families of origin, and the possible effects of abuse on health in adult life. METHODS A cross sectional study conducted between 1998 and 2002 included a random group of 936 inpatients (723 women) aged (mean+/-standard deviation) 41.0+/-2.5 years at the psychosomatic clinic in ...

Numerous agents with anxiolytic or stimulant effects have the potential to be overused, and their misuse is associated serious side effects. In Saudi Arabia, estimated percentage of Saudis who abuse drugs around 7–8% age range 12–22 years. Methamphetamine, captagon, tramadol, heroin, cannabis/cannabinoids been proven most commonly abused in methamphetamine being at top list. The present study f...

In recent years, smoking or inhalation of drugs has become a popular route of administration among drug users. Various drugs of different classes have been abused by inhalation or smoking, including phencyclidine (PCP), cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana. This increased popu-larity of smoking drugs has resulted from the fast onset of drug action and fears related to contracting acq...

Zipeprol and dextromethorphan are abused together by young people in Korea to obtain a stronger hallucinogenic effect. Because large amounts of these drugs are taken for this reason, nine fatal poisonings due to zipeprol and dextromethorphan have been reported since 1993. In this paper, the concentration of drugs in the postmortem blood and gastric contents of these victims is examined. The det...