Contemporary Drug Problems
September 1, 2019
Hannes Kettner, Natasha L. Mason, Kim P. C. Kuypers
50 citations
Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are compounds designed to mimic the effects of existing recreational drugs (classical psychoactive substances [CPS]), while eluding established legal frameworks. Little is known about their effects and potential harms, rendering the increasing number of NPS a challenge to policy makers and researchers alike. Quantitative studies on the motives underlying NPS...
Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience
June 30, 2019
David Nutt
131 citations
This article covers the renaissance of classical psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and LSD plus 3,4-methylene dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA-ecstasy) in psychiatric research. These drugs were used quite extensively before they became prohibited. This ban had little impact on recreational use, but effectively stopped research and clinical treatments, which up to that point had looked very...
Interactive science
June 21, 2019
Andrey Viktorovich Antsyborov, Irina Vladimirovna Dubatova
1 citation
Appearing not long ago, new psychoactive substances (designer drugs), including synthetic cannabinoids, derivatives of cathinone, phenethylamines, new stimulants, synthetic opioids, tryptamine derivatives, phencyclidine, piperazine, the GABA (A/B) receptors agonists, have become a serious problem for consumers and for physicians. Consumers of these substances are attracted primarily by the...
Practical Neurology
June 13, 2019
Charis Wong
1 citation
In the wake of recent changes to legislation on cannabinoid prescribing we decided to discuss Drugs – without the hot air 1 (figure 1) for the latest Edinburgh Neurology Book Club. Written by David Nutt, Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology, this book provides his account of how he became the ‘scientist who was sacked’ by the UK Home Secretary, after comparing the risks of harm from...
Psychiatric News
February 28, 2019
Nick Zagorski
New research suggests that, if used properly, psychedelic compounds may be able to help patients with treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders. Psychedelic compounds such as LSD and magic mushrooms were the subject of a good deal of psychiatric research in the first half of the 20th century. This all changed in 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act, which in...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
January 24, 2019
Kim P. C. Kuypers, E. B. de Sousa Fernandes Perna, Eef L. Theunissen et al.
13 citations
The phenethylamine 4-fluoroamphetamine (4-FA) is a so-called novel psychoactive substance with a chemical structure resembling that of amphetamine and MDMA. Since 4-FA users report their subjective experience ranges between the effects induced by amphetamine and MDMA, and it is known that both substances can produce an altered state of consciousness, this study tests whether 4-FA induces a...
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
January 16, 2019
Birgitte Sonne
The professional ecstatic is a religious specialist, who has become recognized as a person able to carry out an ecstatic ritual, corresponding with the local cultural expectations in force. The ecstatic ritual per se comprises a number of persons, i.e. it is a collective ritual. Part of the criteria that may be employed as a measure of the professional ecstatic's social status, is covered by...
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
January 16, 2019
Åke Hultkrantz
The Spirit Lodge is a variety of shamanism characterized by its divining functions. Herein lie its limitations: the shamanistic trance is there, and so are the helping spirits, but the curing activity so typical of shamanism is absent, or principally absent. The act of divining shows a certain affinity with the shamanistic pole-climbing performances and may originally have been related to...
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
January 16, 2019
Gunnel André
When speaking of prophets in our culture, we usually have the Old Testament classical prophets in mind. At the mention of prophetic ecstasy the immediate reaction is often, "That would be Saul and the asses or Elijah and the prophets of Baal". A sharp distinction is often made between the so-called primitive prophets and the classical prophets. Bearing in mind that the Chronicles mention...
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
January 16, 2019
Per-Arne Berglie
This paper describes a short study of the séances and trance-performances of three Tibetan spirit-mediums (dpa' bo) from a refugee-community in Nepal. The field-work on which this study is based was carried out in a Tibetan refugee-village in Nepal during 1970 and 1971. For each dpa' bo: dBang phyug, Sri gcod, and Nyi ma don grub, a summary of personal thoughts and beliefs concerning possession...