Psychoactive drug

History and Regulation of Psychoactive Drugs:

• Psychoactive drug use has a long history, dating back over 10,000 years, with cultural evidence spanning 5,000 years.
• Alcohol, a widely-used psychoactive drug, had a global market exceeding $1 trillion in 2013.
• Governments globally responded to drug use by criminalizing them, with examples like Prohibition in the United States.
• Ethical concerns exist regarding the clinical overuse and marketing of psychoactive drugs.
• Popular campaigns advocating for decriminalization or legalization of certain drugs, like cannabis, are ongoing.
• Some countries have shifted towards harm reduction approaches in dealing with illicit drug use.
• The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, signed in 1961, influences drug legality globally.

Purposes and Uses of Psychoactive Drugs:

• Psychoactive substances serve various purposes across cultures, including medicinal, social, nootropic, and sleep aid uses.
• Caffeine, the most widely consumed psychoactive substance, is used by 90% of North American adults daily.
• Psychoactive drugs are categorized based on their pharmacological effects, such as anxiolytics, empathogen-entactogens, stimulants, and depressants.
• Anesthesia, pain management, mental disorders, recreation, and ritual/spiritual practices are common uses of psychoactive drugs.
• Anxiolytics reduce anxiety symptoms, while empathogen-entactogens alter emotional states.
• Stimulants increase wakefulness and productivity, while depressants have a calming effect on the nervous system.
• Psychoactive drugs are administered via various routes like oral ingestion, injection, rectal administration, and inhalation.

Effects and Neurotransmitter Systems of Psychoactive Drugs:

• Psychoactive drugs alter perception, mood, cognition, and behavior by changing the nervous system function.
• Misuse, dependence, and addiction to psychoactive drugs have led to legal measures and moral debates.
• Each drug acts on specific neurotransmitters or neuroreceptors in the brain, affecting neurochemistry.
• Drugs can be agonists, increasing neurotransmitter activity, or antagonists, reducing activity.
• Exposure to drugs can lead to changes in neuron structure and function.
• Sensitization and desensitization play roles in drug dependence and addiction.
• Addiction and drug dependence are linked to rewarding and reinforcing properties, such as the mesolimbic dopamine pathway activation.

Medical and Recreational Uses of Psychoactive Drugs:

• Psychoactive drugs are widely used for medical treatment, including anesthesia, pain management, and mental disorders.
• Recreational use of psychoactive substances like caffeine, alcohol, and LSD alters mood and perception.
• Some substances are used to treat addictions and have varying effects on the brain.
• Classes of recreational drugs include stimulants, hallucinogens, hypnotics, and opioid analgesics.
• Hallucinogens have been used for religious purposes since ancient times, with examples like peyote cacti and Amanita muscaria mushrooms.
• Different countries have varying laws and enforcement on psychoactive drugs, with some being more lenient in enforcing drug laws.

Animal Consumption and Performance Enhancement:

• Animals consume psychoactive plants, animals, berries, and fermented fruit, indicating a co-evolution with psychoactive substances.
• The FDA in the US regulates all drugs, including psychoactive ones, while the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 regulates recreational drugs.
• Performance-enhancing drugs have been studied for creating super soldiers and their impact on soldier performance.
• Studies on drug identity change processes, substance-induced psychoses, and the transition to schizophrenia shed light on the effects of psychoactive drugs.
• Pharmacological studies explore the effects of various substances like antioxidants in bananas, St. John’s wort as a natural antidepressant, and the antiaddictive actions of Ibogaine.

Psychoactive drug Data Sources