High-dose MDMA tablets and variable-purity cocaine and ketamine samples are commonly encountered by drug checking services and police forces in the United Kingdom and Europe. At the time of writing, there are few simpleto-operate field-portable technologies that provide semi-quantitative information on MDMA tablet dosage or cocaine and ketamine purity at the point of sampling. We previously...
3,4-Methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA;'ecstasy') produces prosocial subjective effects that may extend to affiliative feelings towards the self. Behavioural techniques can produce similar self-directed affiliation. For example, compassionate imagery (CI) and ecstasy reduce self-criticism and increase self-compassion to a similar extent, with the effects of CI enhanced in the presence of...
The clerodane diterpenoid salvinorin A (1), the main active component of the psychotropic herb Salvia divinorum, has been reported to be a potent agonist at the kappa-opioid receptor. Computer modeling suggested that splendidin (2) from S. splendens, as well as related compounds, might possess similar activities. In the present study, this hypothesis was tested by determination of the binding...