A basic neuropsychological test battery was given to 64 adolescents (57 males and seven females; mean age = 15.5) divided in two groups: (1) drug-abusers ("experimental group," n = 26), and (2) non drug-abusers ("control group," n = 38). Psychoactive substances included marijuana, "crack," solvent inhalation, gasoline sniffing, and alcohol. The following tests were used: (1) language, (2) perce...

Moves to legalize marijuana highlight the urgency to investigate effects of chronic marijuana in the human brain. Here, we challenged 48 participants (24 controls and 24 marijuana abusers) with methylphenidate (MP), a drug that elevates extracellular dopamine (DA) as a surrogate for probing the reactivity of the brain to DA stimulation. We compared the subjective, cardiovascular, and brain DA r...

Drug abuse is an alarming problem in Bangladesh where there are 1.7 million drug abusers (1). The number is increasing greatly over recent years. Among drug abusers, intravenous drug use has the potential to turn a slow HIV epidemic into an explosive and devastating one, as was observed in Thailand and northern India (2,3). Drug use shortens life expectancy, decreases productivity, increases ab...

Comorbidity of substance abuse disorders (SUD) and psychiatric disorders is one of the most important areas of investigation in contemporary drug abuse treatment research. This study examined the impact of psychiatric comorbidity on the treatment of 182 adolescent drug abusers in a randomized clinical trial comparing family and individual cognitive-behavioral therapy. Three distinct groups of a...

The search for a genetic vulnerability gene for substance abuse has focused on dopaminergic genes, including the DRD4 receptor. In addition to clear biological mechanisms in substance abuse, many studies have found a psychological attentional bias to drug-related stimuli in substance users. This study aimed to determine whether a DRD4 gene polymorphism is associated with such attentional biases...

This paper analyses data on 2,226 cases of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection detected during the years 1970 to 1987. Of those where information on risk-group was available (1,301), infection among intravenous drug-abusers accounted for the largest proportion (49%). Most became infected during and since an outbreak of hepatitis B and Delta hepatitis which originated in this group in 1980. A comp...

BACKGROUND Chronic drug abuse and sexual dysfunction specifically erectile dysfunction may lead drug abusers to seek over-the-counter or non-prescription medications, out of which Sildenafil citrate, sold as the trade name of Viagra® can be considered as a prime and important treatment. Therefore, the research purpose was to draw a comparison and review the role of methamphetamine abuse and sil...

OBJECTIVES Inadvertent intra-arterial injection of flunitrazepam tablets intended for intravenous use by drug abusers has devastating effects. We report here on the clinical outcome of 16 drug abusers developing critical limb ischaemia after flunitrazepam injection. METHODS Treatment combined immediate analgesia and anticoagulation, long-lasting local thrombolysis and vasodilatation, antibiot...

There is much evidence now to support the view that drug abusers, particularly those who seek treatment, are poorly psychologically adjusted (Braucht et al., 1973). The contributory factors and nature of this poor psychological adjustment vary widely. It seems unlikely now that there is any one specific set of psychological traits or psychiatric disorder which differentiates the drug abuser fro...

a group of high school students attended 7 educational sessions for a preventive drug abuse program. the students were exposed to drug abusers and their families. drug abusers and their families informed the subjects about the consequences of addiction in their life: how they became addicted and how the addiction worsened their psychosocial life. moreover their families explained to students th...