AIMS (i) To describe illegal drug use patterns in an adolescent normal population sample with special emphasis on MDMA, ecstasy; (ii) to investigate where ecstasy is introduced in a hypothesized drug use sequence, and (iii) to contrast the predictors of ecstasy use with those of other illegal substances. Special attention was given to the relationship to subcultural music preferences and house-...

Several clinical data indicate that depression is frequently comorbid with psychostimulant (cocaine, amphetamines) addiction. This short review summarizes preclinical results and observations showing how reward processes are modified in animal models of depression, and which depression-like effects are induced in experimental animals withdrawn from chronic treatment with psychostimulants.

Cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines and derivative substances so as hallucinogens and other drugs with psychotomimetic properties has reached an extensive misuse often producing psychotic reactions similar to primary psychotic disease like schizophrenia. In particular cannabis and cocaine use by young people has been increased during these years, and the age of first use is dramatically decreased [...

The potency of hallucinogenic amphetamine derivatives of the 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-alkylphenyl)-2-aminopropane type drops dramatically when the length of the 4-alkyl substituent exceeds propyl or when the substituent is branched. This investigation was directed toward evaluating changes in behavioral and biochemical pharmacology resulting from introducing chirality into the 4-alkyl group of such a...

Flephedrone is an analogue of cathinone - chemically similar to ephedrine, cathine and other amphetamines. Conformations of all isomers of flephedrone have been studied at the quantum-chemical level. Calculations have been performed using DFT and MP2 methods with two basis sets - 6-31G and 6-31G(d,p). Results show that there are low energy conformers for the ortho, meta, and para isomers that a...