Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant preparation, traditionally consumed in sacred ceremonies by indigenous North-Westerner Amazonian countries like Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador. It is fundamental to carefully balance benefits/risks related to the ayahuasca intake, both during ceremonies and experimental settings. The aim is at evaluating and comparing the potential therapeutic benefits...
BACKGROUND: A research on mood disorder pathophysiology has hypothesized abnormalities in glutamatergic neurotransmission, by suggesting further investigation on glutamatergic N-methyl-Daspartate (NMDA) receptor modulators in treating Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Esketamine (ESK), an NMDA receptor antagonist able to modulate glutamatergic neurotransmission has been recently developed as an...
The critical spread and dissemination of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), particularly among the most vulnerable youngsters, may pose a further concern about the psychotic trajectories related to the intake of new synthetic drugs. The psychopathological pattern of the "new psychoses" appears to be extremely different from the classical presentation. Therefore, clinicians need more data on...
Despite the continuous advancement in neurosciences as well as in the knowledge of human behaviors pathophysiology, currently suicide represents a puzzling challenge. The World Health Organization (WHO) has established that one million people die by suicide every year, with the impressive daily rate of a suicide every 40 s. The weightiest concern about suicidal behavior is how difficult it is...
Currently different classes of psychoactive substances are easily available for abuse, including several hundred novel psychoactive substances (NPS). Some of these drugs occur naturally in plants and animals or are chemically modified from plant or animal compounds and have been abused by humans over millennia. Recently, the occurrence of a new "drug culture" (e.g., psychonauts) who consume a...
Hallucinogen-persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is a syndrome characterized by prolonged or reoccurring perceptual symptoms, reminiscent of acute hallucinogen effects. HPPD was associated with a broader range of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)-like substances, cannabis, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), psilocybin, mescaline, and psychostimulants. The recent emergence of novel...
Over the last decade, the 'traditional' drug scene has been supplemented - but not replaced - by the emergence of a range of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), which are either newly created or existing drugs, including medications, now being used in novel ways. By the end of 2014, in excess of 500 NPS had been reported by a large number of countries in the world. Most recent data show,...
Indeed, a range of evolutionary mechanisms, such as: optimal foraging, costly signaling, and reproduction at the expense of health may all cooperate to explain the recent spread and diffusion of the NPS market, and this may represent a reason of concern.
There are increasing levels of concern relating to the rapidly evolving novel psychoactive substances/NPS and web markets' scenarios. The paper aims at providing an overview of the clinical pharmacological issues related to some of the most popular NPS categories, e.g. stimulants and hallucinogens. NPS intake is typically associated with the imbalance of a complex range of neurotransmitter...
Introduction Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) is a syndrome characterized by prolonged or reoccurring perceptual symptoms, reminiscent of acute hallucinogen effects. HPPD was associated with a broader range of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)-like substances, including cannabis, MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), psilocybin, mescaline and other psychostimulants....
Novel psychoactive substances include synthetic cannabinoids, cathinone derivatives, psychedelic phenethylamines, novel stimulants, synthetic opioids, tryptamine derivatives, phencyclidine-like dissociatives, piperazines, GABA-A/B receptor agonists, a range of prescribedmedications, psychoactive plants/herbs, and a large series of performance and image enhancing drugs. Users are typically...
INTRODUCTION: Venlafaxine is one of the most frequently prescribed antidepressants worldwide, despite its toxicity risk in overdose. Furthermore, the molecule has been recently identified at the EU-wide level as one of the novel psychoactive substances. This paper aims at investigating the potential of misuse, taking into account both the existing literature and the analysis of the misusers'...
Within online drug fora communities, there are some "educated and informed" users who can somehow provide reliable information on psychoactive compounds and combinations. These users, also called "e-psychonauts," may possess levels of technical knowledge relating to a range of novel psychoactive substances (NPS). The present project aimed at identifying and describing the e-psychonauts'...
In the online drug forum communities there are some 'educated and informed” users who can provide somehow reliable information on psychoactive compounds/combinations. These users, also called 'e-psychonauts”, may possess levels of technical knowledge relating to a range of ”novel psychoactive substances“ (NPS). Our project aimed at identifying and describing what available in terms of the...
Purpose – “Spice” products are synthetic cannabimimetics (SC; also called “synthetic cannabinoids”)-based designer drugs used as a legal alternative to cannabis for their very strong tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-like effects. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of more recent clinical and pharmacology/toxicology findings relating to SC and describe how they could impact on health,...