Addiction
February 10, 2007
Matthew Hickman, Peter T. Vickerman, John Macleod et al.
97 citations
AIMS: To estimate long-term trends in cannabis use and projections of schizophrenia assuming a causal relation between cannabis use and schizophrenia. METHODS: Trends in cannabis use were estimated from a national survey, 2003; and incidence of schizophrenia was derived from surveys in three English cities, 1997-99. A difference equation cohort model was fitted against estimates of...
Addiction
January 15, 2007
Harold A. Pollack, Peter H. Reuter
7 citations
Recent studies have increased long-standing concerns that cannabis use can trigger or exacerbate psychosis and schizophrenia. Widely publicized, these findings have led to calls for tougher laws and/or more aggressive enforcement of prohibitions against cannabis use and distribution [1]. The findings may be confounded by unobserved factors. Even if they prove broadly correct, these findings...
Addiction
December 20, 2006
Robert S. Gable
240 citations
ABSTRACT Aim To extend previous reviews by assessing the acute systemic toxicity and psychological hazards of a dimethyltryptamine and β‐carboline brew (ayahuasca/hoasca) used in religious ceremonies. Method A systematic literature search, supplemented by interviews with ceremony participants. Results No laboratory animal models were located that tested the acute toxicity or the abuse potential...
Addiction
October 10, 2006
Toshihiko Matsumoto, Takayuki Okada
29 citations
'Foxy' is a widely used street name for a hallucinogenic drug containing the tryptamine derivative 5-methoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine (5-MeO-DIPT). The US Drug Enforcement Administration classified 5-MeO-DIPT as a Schedule I substance in 2004 [1]; the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has also restricted this substance since April 2005, according to the Narcotics and...
Addiction
August 8, 2006
J. G. Ramaekers, K. P. C. Kuypers, N. Samyn
90 citations
ABSTRACT Background 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is currently one of the most popular drugs of abuse in Europe. Its increasing use over the last decade has led to concern regarding possible adverse effects on driving. The aims of the present study were to investigate the acute effects of MDMA on actual driving performance during the intoxication and withdrawal phase. Methods...
Addiction
July 8, 2006
Roland W. Freudenmann, Florian Öxler, Sabine Bernschneider‐reif
201 citations
ABSTRACT Background Little is known about the origin of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy). The most commonly repeated statement in the medical literature is that MDMA was synthesized by the German pharmaceutical company Merck in 1912 in order to develop an appetite suppressor. Aim To reconstruct the true story of the first known description of MDMA at Merck using the original...
Addiction
March 24, 2006
Chelsea A. Baylen, Harold Rosenberg
214 citations
ABSTRACT Aim Although several relatively recent reviews have summarized the neuropsychiatric effects associated with chronic ecstasy use, there is no published comprehensive review of studies on the acute subjective effects (ASEs) of MDMA/ecstasy. Design The present study reviewed the prevalence, intensity and duration of ASEs collected from 24 studies that provided frequency data on the...
Addiction
February 27, 2006
Euphrosyne Gouzoulis‐mayfrank, Jörg Daumann
189 citations
ABSTRACT Background The popular dance drug ecstasy (3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine: MDMA and some analogues) causes selective and persistent neurotoxic damage of central serotonergic neurones in laboratory animals. Serotonin plays a role in numerous functional systems in the central nervous system (CNS). Consequently, various abnormalities including psychiatric, vegetative, neuroendocrine...
Addiction
July 15, 2005
Rainer Thomasius, Kay Uwe Petersen, P. Zapletalova et al.
54 citations
ABSTRACT Background Ecstasy use has often been found to be associated with psychopathology, yet this research has so far been based largely on subjective symptom ratings. Aims To investigate whether ecstasy users suffered from long‐term psychopathological consequences. Measurements We compared the prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version IV (DSM‐IV) mental disorders in 30 current...
Addiction
April 22, 2005
B Mirken, Mitch Earleywine
10 citations
Fergusson and colleagues assert that their results from a New Zealand cohort ‘add to the growing body of evidence that regular cannabis use may increase risks of psychosis’[1]. In fact, their study raises more questions than it answers. One obvious question is raised by their use of ten items from Symptom Checklist 90 as the only assessment tool for symptoms of psychosis. The items assessed...
Addiction
October 1, 2004
N. C. Stefanis, Philippe Delespaul, Cécile Henquet et al.
ABSTRACTAims To investigate the effect of exposure to cannabis early in adolescence on subclinical positive and negative symptoms of psychosis.Design Cross‐sectional survey in the context of an ongoing cohort study.Setting Government‐supported general population cohort study.Participants A total of 3500 representative 19‐year olds in Greece.Measurements Subjects filled in the 40‐item Community...
Addiction
September 15, 2004
Stanley Zammit, Glyn Lewis
20 citations
Evidence for an association between cannabis use and psychosis continues to accumulate. A number of population-based longitudinal studies have found that cannabis use is associated with the later development of psychotic symptoms or psychotic diagnoses [1–6]. Studies of subjects with schizophrenia show associations between cannabis use and increased levels of positive symptoms [7,8] as well as...
Addiction
September 15, 2004
David M. Fergusson
6 citations
The report by Stefanis et al. (2004) adds to the evidence linking the heavy use of cannabis with increased risks of psychosis or psychotic symptoms. The advantages of this study include: a large and representative sample; measurement of multiple dimensions of psychotic symptoms; statistical control for reverse causality mediated via distress; and adjustment for comorbid depression. The study...
Addiction
June 2004
Robert S. Gable
To determine the acute lethal toxicity of a range of psychoactive substances in terms of the dose customarily used as a single substance for non-medical purposes. A structured English-language literature search was conducted to identify experimental studies and clinical reports that documented human and non-human lethal doses of 20 abused substances that are distributed widely in Europe and...
Addiction
March 25, 2004
Zerrin Atakan
2 citations
Sir—Does cannabis use cause a psychotic illness? About 150 years ago this question was already being asked, particularly recognizing the risk of ‘madness’ among young people, while at the same time the practice of using cannabis as a ‘medicine for insanity’ was being carried out in asylums (Mills 2003). It is interesting that over a century later the same question still remains unanswered,...
Addiction
February 20, 2003
Erkki Vuori, John A. Henry, Ilkka Ojanperä et al.
113 citations
ABSTRACT Four deaths following the ingestion of moclobemide and MDMA (‘ecstasy’) are described. The probable cause of death in each case was serotonin syndrome as a result of an interaction between the two drugs. As none of the victims had been prescribed moclobemide it seems that each had taken the drug to enhance the effects of MDMA, with fatal consequences. Warnings are needed against...
Addiction
December 1, 2002
Jon C. Cole, Mike Bailey, Harry Sumnall et al.
149 citations
ABSTRACT Aims To examine the variation in the content of ecstasy tablets seized in the north‐west of England during 2001 and to compare it to the UK average from 1991 to 2001. Measurements All tablets submitted to the Forensic Science Service in the north‐west of England during 2001 were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC‐DAD). The mean MDMA...
Addiction
December 1, 2001
Diana J Walker, James P Zacny
To determine effects of ethanol-use history and ethanol pretreatment on abuse liability of nitrous oxide (N(2)O). Placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over design evaluating effects of N(2)O, 0% (100% O(2), placebo) and 30% (in O(2)), in the presence of three doses of ethanol: 0 g/kg (placebo), 0.35 g/kg and 0.7 g/kg. Subjects sat in a reclining chair in a hospital laboratory. Eight healthy...
Addiction
November 1, 2001
Mitch Earleywine
57 citations
AIMS: Koro, an acute panic reaction related to the perception of penile retraction, was once considered limited to specific cultures. The disorder has appeared as part of a panic response to cannabis, but only in citizens of India. This study looked for cannabis-induced Koro in Americans. DESIGN: Given the relative rarity of cannabis-induced Koro, this work focused on individual case studies....
Addiction
September 1, 2001
Murray E. Jarvik
5 citations
In this occasional series we record the views and personal experience of people who have specially contributed to the evolution of ideas in the Journal's field of interest. Murray Jarvik's long and fruitful career in research and teaching spans the 50-year period beginning before the explosion of interest in psychopharmacology up to the present. His studies on LSD, among the first ever...
Addiction
July 1, 2001
Sarah Riley, Charlotte James, Danielle Gregory et al.
172 citations
Aims . To describe the patterns of drug use at dance (rave) events in terms of prevalence, frequency, type of drugs used, patterns of use, access and risk‐associated behaviours. Design . Self‐selecting participant‐completed survey. Setting . Three dance events in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Participants . One hundred and twenty‐two drug users (57% males, 43% females), 90% of whom were in...
Addiction
May 1, 2001
Helen Valerie Curran, Lisa Monaghan
Aims. Ketamine, a non‐competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, produces acute impairments of working, episodic and semantic memory along with psychotogenic and dissociative effects when a single dose is given to healthy volunteers. In recreational users, Curran & Morgan (2000) showed that ketamine produced the same acute effects but that 3 days after ingestion, ketamine users showed persisting...
Addiction
December 1, 1999
James P Zacny, Debra J Janiszewski, P Sadeghi et al.
To characterize the reinforcing, subjective and psychomotor effects of sevoflurane, a volatile anesthetic, across a range of subanesthetic concentrations in non-drug-abusing humans. In addition, a concentration of nitrous oxide was included in the design in order to compare and contrast behavioral effects of a gaseous to a volatile anesthesic. Repeated measures, double-blind, placebo control...
Addiction
July 1, 1997
Valerie H. Curran, Ross A. Travill
283 citations
Abstract Aims. Recreational use of ± 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ‘ecstasy’) is widespread. The present study aimed to examine both the acute and residual effects of this drug on users' mood and cognitive Junction. Design and participants. A parallel group design was used to compare 12 participants who reported having taken MDMA with 12 participants who reported having consumed only...
Addiction
August 1, 1994
A N Chowdhury, N K Bera
Koro in the background of drug abuse is quite rare. The present report of Koro during the first experience with cannabis is the only account of its kind in the world Koro literature to date. The nature and extent of this genital depersonalization is discussed.