It has been suggested that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) causes damage to the serotonergic system, and that this damage results in cognitive and mood impairments. To examine the effect of chronic MDMA usage on a wide battery of cognitive tests and psychological abilities and processes. In the present study, the performance of 17 participants with a history of MDMA use was...
Cortical information processing requires an orchestrated interaction between a large number of pyramidal cells and albeit fewer, but highly diverse GABAergic interneurons (INs). The diversity of INs is thought to reflect functional and structural specializations evolved to control distinct network operations. Consequently, specific cortical functions may be selectively modified by altering the...
Efficient reuptake of synaptically released glutamate is essential for preventing glutamate receptor overstimulation and neuronal death. Glutamate transporters play a vital role in removing extracellular glutamate from the synaptic cleft. This study analyzed the expression of the glial (GLAST) and neuronal (EAAC1) subtypes of glutamate transporter in the cerebellum of male and female offspring...
Depersonalisation disorder is characterised by prominent depersonalisation and often derealisation, without clinically notable memory or identity disturbances. The disorder has an approximately 1 : 1 gender ratio with onset at around 16 years of age. The course of the disorder is typically long term and often continuous. Mood, anxiety and personality disorders are often comorbid with...
In the last decade, a large number of studies using Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active principle derivative of the marijuana plant, or cannabinoid synthetic derivatives have substantially contributed to advance the understanding of the pharmacology and neurobiological mechanisms produced by cannabinoid receptor activation. Cannabis has been historically used to relieve some of...
This Pulse Check is a report of national trends in illicit drug abuse and drug markets in the United States. The report draws on conversations with ethnographers and epidemiologists working in the drug field, law enforcement agents, and drug treatment providers across the United States. Information from each of these sources is summarized in narrative form broken down by drug type and presented...
This study employed the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate the factors underlying intentions to use and use of LSD, amphetamine, cannabis, and ecstasy over 6 months in a sample of students ( N = 461). The TPB provided good predictions of both intentions (mean R 2 = .49) and behavior (mean R 2 = .45). Descriptive norms explained additional variance in intentions for all the drugs,...
Long-term abuse of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive constituent of marijuana, produces behavioral and metabolic signs of frontal cortical dysfunction in humans; these effects persist even after short-term abstinence. Based on a preliminary finding that repeated administration of THC to rats reduces basal frontal cortical dopamine turnover (Jentsch et al. [1998]...
Prologue 1. Addicted to Nothingness: Narcotics and Literature 2. The Voice of the Blood: Transcendentalism and Anesthetic Revelation 3. The Time of the Assassins: Cannabis and Literature 4. Induced Life: Stimulants and Literature 5. The Imaginal Realms: Psychedelics and Literature Epilogue Bibliography Notes Acknowledgments Illustration Credits Index
The rewarding properties of the psychoactive constituents of marijuana, termed "cannabinoids," may reflect actions on synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Furthermore, long-term changes in these synapses may support the addictive process. Excitatory and inhibitory synapses are acutely inhibited by cannabinoids in the NAc, and endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids) play a...