BACKGROUND: The increasing number of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) constitutes a challenge for public health agencies and researchers worldwide. Scientific studies about NPS and their users are limited and there is a need to explore the general motivations for NPS use but also to examine if and how the motivations differ between substances from separate effect classes. The aim of the...
Salvia divinorum, a sage plant with leaves that can produce a psychoactive high, has been used for hundreds of years for its psycho-mimetic effects in religious rituals in South America. Salvia has now become popular mainly with adolescents and young adults for the short-lived relatively pleasant experiences many consider a "legal high" and its ready availability through Internet purchases. The...
Background The use of the hallucinogen ibogaine as an anti-addiction agent has been described in several case reports, dating back to the eighties. The anti-addiction properties of ibogaine have been confirmed in a large body of animal work. Ibogaine has been shown to be effective in reducing withdrawal severity and substance use for a variety of substances, including cocaine and opiates....
Modulation of growth factor signaling pathways in the brain represents a new experimental approach to treating neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and addiction. Neurotrophins and growth factors exert synaptic, neuronal, and circuit level effects on a wide temporal range, which suggests a possibility of rapid and lasting therapeutic effects. Consequently, identification of...
Addictive disorders are very common and have devastating individual and social consequences. Currently available treatment is moderately effective at best. After many years of neglect, there is renewed interest in potential clinical uses for classic hallucinogens in the treatment of addictions and other behavioral health conditions. In this paper we provide a comprehensive review of both...
Of the 1.4 million Americans who sustain traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) each year up to half experience substance use disorders (SUDs). This often leads to various issues such as increased rates of mental health problems and delay or lack of return to full employment. The purpose of this program evaluation was to describe Vinland National Center's (Vinland's) client and staff perceptions of a...
Cases of people experiencing disturbed consciousness or dyspnea, causing traffic accidents, or requiring ambulance transport to hospital due to abuse of law-evading chemical substances have become a serious social problem in Japan. Most law-evading herbal products are marketed as incense or herbs and consist of finely chopped, dry vegetative matter mixed with chemical substances (drugs)....
The aim of the study was to determine the effect of Mindfulness Meditation on the Quality of Life (QOL) of alcoholics. A quantitative experimental evaluative approach was adapted and pre-experimental research design (one group pre-test – post-test design) was used. The sample consisting of 30 alcoholics in the selected de-addiction centre chosen by purposive sampling technique. Tools used were...
Nitrous oxide (N2O), a long-standing anesthetic, is known for its recreational use, and its consumption is on the rise. Several case studies have reported neurological and psychiatric complications of N2O use. To date, however, there has not been a study using standardized diagnostic procedures to assess psychiatric comorbidities in a patient consuming N2O. Here, we report about a 35-year-old...
Despite reports of apparent benefits, social and political pressure beginning in the late 1960s effectively banned scientific inquiry into psychedelic substances. Covert examination of psychedelics persisted through the 1990s; the turn of the century and especially the past 10 years, however, has seen a resurgent interest in psychedelic substances (eg, LSD, ayahuasca, psilocybin). This chapter...
Abstract The abuse of drugs is a widespread and growing issue, both in United States and Europe, as a number of synthetic drugs have raised popularity over the past years for recreational use. Moreover, the nature of addiction is often debated as either a lifestyle choice that may underline a physiological vulnerability, or a chronic brain disease with remarkable epigenetic, neurodevelopmental...
Opioid use disorders (OUD) translate into major health, social, and economic consequences. Opioid agonist medications, which generally require long-term administration, are the mainstay pharmacological treatment of OUD. However, a large proportion of individuals with OUD either refuse or fail to respond to these therapies. Ibogaine, a naturally occurring substance found in the Tabernanthe iboga...
The ibogaine derivative 18-methoxycoronaridine (18-MC) has been found to decrease self-administration of morphine, nicotine and alcohol in rats after systemic injection. However oral dosing is the preferred route clinically. The current study evaluated the effect of oral 18-MC dosing in rats on alcohol and nicotine self-administration. For the nicotine study, young adult female Sprague-Dawley...