Research on psychedelic substances

Psychedelics

Psychedelics (serotonergic hallucinogens) are powerful psychoactive substances that alter perception and mood and affect numerous cognitive processes. They are generally considered physiologically safe and do not lead to dependence or addiction. Their origin predates written history, and they were employed by early cultures in many sociocultural and ritual contexts. After the virtually contemporaneous discovery of (5R,8R)-(+)-lysergic acid-N,N-diethylamide (LSD)-25 and the identification of serotonin in the brain, early research focused intensively on the possibility that LSD and other psychedelics had a serotonergic basis for their action. Today there is a consensus that psychedelics are agonists or partial agonists at brain serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptors, with particular importance on those expressed on apical dendrites of neocortical pyramidal cells in layer V. Several useful rodent models have been developed over the years to help unravel the neurochemical correlates of serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor activation in the brain, and a variety of imaging techniques have been employed to identify key brain areas that are directly affected by psychedelics. Recent and exciting developments in the field have occurred in clinical research, where several double-blind placebo-controlled phase 2 studies of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in patients with cancer-related psychosocial distress have demonstrated unprecedented positive relief of anxiety and depression. Two small pilot studies of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy also have shown positive benefit in treating both alcohol and nicotine addiction. Recently, blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography have been employed for in vivo brain imaging in humans after administration of a psychedelic, and results indicate that intravenously administered psilocybin and LSD produce decreases in oscillatory power in areas of the brain's default mode network.

Psychoactive substances--some new, some old: a scan of the situation in the U.S

New synthetic drugs are appearing as old hallucinogen psychedelic drugs are reappearing. This article combines the findings from a variety of datasets to characterize the users in terms of gender, age, drug use patterns, and adverse results, as well as provide an overview of the changes in formulations of these drugs and the impact of legal controls. Methods. Data from Monitoring the Future and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health are analyzed, along with the national DAWN emergency room admissions, Texas poison control center cases, and Texas treatment data, along with national forensic laboratory results. Results. Users of the synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, phenethylamines, tryptamines, LSD, MDMA, and mushrooms tended to be young and male. They differed in terms of race and ethnicity. The effects of the drugs differed in terms of emergency room outcomes and poison center reports, and the treatment data showed they were similar in terms of education level, employment, and legal problems. Conclusion. Combining the different data sources provided a first picture of the characteristics of these users and their needs. Creditable descriptions on the risks of these drugs should be disseminated. Intervention programs should be targeted to these young users and new neuropsychobiological deficits from some of these drugs should be monitored. Because of the ever-changing chemical combinations to stay legal and the need for information on content and dosage, a more effective approach may be needed basing control on the effects of the substances rather than their changing chemical composition.