Good read for all who take / have an interest in drugs

[Ceres]

Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental - JULY 2015 - Volume 30, Issue 4

Pages i–i, 209–328

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hup.v30.4/issuetoc

Why all stimulant drugs are damaging to recreational users: an empirical overview and psychobiological explanation (pages 213–224)

Deaths of individuals aged 16–24 years in the UK after using mephedrone (pages 225–232)

Is there any difference in patterns of use and psychiatric symptom status between injectors and non-injectors of mephedrone? (pages 233–243)

Methoxetamine-related deaths in the UK: an overview (pages 244–248)

Olanzapine as the ideal “trip terminator”? Analysis of online reports relating to antipsychotics' use and misuse following occurrence of novel psychoactive substance-related psychotic symptoms (pages 249–254)

Venlafaxine as the ‘baby ecstasy’? Literature overview and analysis of web-based misusers′ experiences (pages 255–261)

Injecting eye-drops: a mini-review on the non-clinical use of tropicamide (pages 262–264)

Psyclones: a roller coaster of life? Hidden synthetic cannabinoids and stimulants in apparently harmless products (pages 265–271)

Greater sexual risk-taking in female and male recreational MDMA/ecstasy users compared with alcohol drinkers: a questionnaire study (pages 272–275)

Enhancing sexual desire and experience: an investigation of the sexual correlates of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) use (pages 276–284)

Prenatal cocaine exposure and child outcomes: a conference report based on a prospective study from Cleveland (pages 285–289)

Developmental outcomes of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy)-exposed infants in the UK (pages 290–294)

Novel psychoactive substances: use and knowledge among adolescents and young adults in urban and rural areas (pages 295–301)

Profiling online recreational/prescription drugs' customers and overview of drug vending virtual marketplaces (pages 302–318)

Detecting a signal in the noise: monitoring the global spread of novel psychoactive substances using media and other open-source information (pages 319–326)

 

[Ceres]

the abstract from the article about mxe related deaths for example says

Methods

Fatalities involving MXE were extracted from the database of the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths, which receives information on drug-related deaths from Coroners in the UK and Islands (Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey) and other data suppliers.
Results

Eight cases, received by 3 September 2013, in which MXE was found at post-mortem and/or directly implicated in the death and/or mentioned in the Coroner's verdict are described. The median age at death was 27 years, with the majority of White ethnicity (6/8) and male (7/8). MXE was used together with other substances in 7/8 cases. MXE was found at post-mortem in all cases, directly implicated in the deaths of four and likely to have had an influence in two.

 

[Ceres]

abstract on article about drug users self medicating with olanzapine (antipsychotic) to terminate bad trips / psychotic episodes :

Objective

The pharmacological self-management of novel psychoactive substance (NPS)-induced psychopathological consequences represents a fast growing phenomenon. This is facilitated by the frequent sharing of NPS intake experiences online and by the ease of access to a range of psychotropic medications from both the online and street market. Olanzapine is anecdotally reported by Web users to be the most frequent self-prescribed medication to cope with NPS-induced psychoses. Hence, we aimed here at better assessing olanzapine use/misuse for this purpose.
Methods

Exploratory qualitative searches of 163 discussion fora/specialized websites have been carried out in four languages (English, German, Spanish, and Italian) in the time frame November 2012–2013.
Results

Most NPS-users allegedly self administer with olanzapine to manage related psychotic crises/“bad trips”. This may be typically taken only for a few days, at a dosage range of 5–50 mg/day.
Conclusions

Only a few research studies have formally assessed the effectiveness of olanzapine and indeed of other second-generation antipsychotics to treat NPS-induced psychosis. Olanzapine was suggested here from a range of pro drug websites as being the “ideal” molecule to terminate “bad trips”. Health professionals should be informed about the risks related to olanzapine misuse. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

 

[Don Luigi]

I never would have thought that venlafaxine was used recreationally, or be classed as NPS. I remember taking 150mg when I was very young and uneducated ( I thought anti-depressants = happy ). I couldn't sleep that night and weed stopped working for two days. I felt horrible!

 

[koneko]

Thank you Ceres, this information is greatly appreciated.

It could do with being more "digestible" for a wider audience iykwim - Can anyone here do that?

Mods / eadders?

 

[steewith2ees]

I never would have thought that venlafaxine was used recreationally, or be classed as NPS. I remember taking 150mg when I was very young and uneducated ( I thought anti-depressants = happy ). I couldn't sleep that night and weed stopped working for two days. I felt horrible!

I dont think they are classfiying olanzepine as an NPS, they are just stating that some 'NPS's can cause bad trips (i.e. 1-PLSD) and olanzepine is being mis-used to abort the trips due to its antipsychotic properties.

 

[Chatative]

Deaths of individuals aged 16–24 years in the UK after using mephedrone (pages 225–232)

Interested to read in the abstract that other substances were used in 87% of the deaths with 60% of the other substances being implicated in the deaths. I would be quite interested to know what these other substances were as I'm sure they may have been largely to blame for the deaths.

Methoxetamine-related deaths in the UK: an overview (pages 244–248)

Again of f interest here is the fact that out of 8 cases, other substances also were used in 7 cases. It goes on to qualify that MXE was only directly implicated in 4 of the deaths whilst contributing in another 2. It again raises the question of what substances were being used alongside MXE although it doesn't say in how many of the cases the other substances were implicated in the deaths.

I don't know if anyone in EADD has access to the full articles but if so, I'd much appreciate any additional info on the other substances used.

It would seem to me that in both Mephedrone & MXE there is a high likelihood that poly-drug use was to blame for the deaths in the majority of the cases.

 

[Ceres]

3 of the mxe deaths were people who drowned. The rest all involved one or more other drugs, one person died was found to have MPA and MXE in their system, one with 6-apb + mxe, the rest were polydrug users including methadone, alcohol, benzos, pregabalin, HIV medicine, viagra, MDA, poppers, antidepressants, cocaine, amphetamines etc.

STUDY LIMITATIONS
In most cases, MXE was identified in combination
with other drugs; hence, it is difficult to describe here
the exact role that MXE played in the reported fatali-
ties. Due to the voluntary nature of reporting to
NPSAD and the inquest procedures associated with
most drug-related deaths, other MXE-related deaths
may have occurred prior to the publication of this paper
but have not yet been reported to the Programme as the
inquests into such cases may have not yet been con-
cluded. Further cases may have occurred subsequent to
the database search on 3 September 2013. The number
of cases described here represents over half of all known
deaths in the UK where MXE was either found in post-
mortem toxicology and/or implicated in death.
The presence of a substance in the post mortem
toxicology does not imply it was ‘misused’ or ingested
at the same time as the index drugs. In addition, the
extent of the analytical screen (which can be limited
by the instructions of the coroner) may determine
how many if any additional substances were detected.
The presence of MXE in post-mortem toxicology does
not necessarily imply that it caused or contributed to
death. This could be especially relevant if there is a
lack of analytical attention to the role of the possible
triggering environmental factors (i.e. overcrowding,
hot settings, etc.). Further limitations may include lack
of total geographical coverage of Coroners’ jurisdic-
tions; possible incomplete information relating to pre-
scription of psychoactive medications; and lack of
information for some fatalities on the concentration
of MXE detected in body fluids, so that some victims
might have had only traces of the substance.

so 8 cases represent over half of all known mxe related deaths at the time of their writing.

I still think it's absolutely insane that it was singled out for a ban given the evidence.

 

[Ceres]

re mephedrone, it's pretty grim reading.

Up to September 2013, 30 cases meeting the study
criteria had been notified, equating to 43% of notified
mephedrone-related fatalities. The first death in this
sample occurred in September 2009 and the last in
April 2013

Three
individuals died in road traffic accidents; for two, the
drug could have affected their ability to drive. A
drowning occurred as a result of impaired judgement
following its consumption. Three deaths followed an
argument or the ending of a relationship. In two cases,
suicide followed changes in mood following consump-
tion and one as a result of depression. Two-thirds
(63%) of cases were considered to be accidental or as
the result of misadventure, with abuse of drugs in
one case and drug dependence in another. There were
three intentional and four possible suicides.
In most cases (63%), accidental poisoning was the
underlying cause of death, with 10% accounted for
by intentional hanging. Other traumatic deaths
involved unintentional hanging, drowning and firearm
and road traffic injuries. Accidental poisoning
accounted for half (53%) of proximal (immediate)
causes of death. This lower rate is due to more deaths
from natural causes (10%). Here too, intentional hang-
ing accounted for 10% of deaths (Table 3).

In only four cases was mephedrone the sole
substance found at post-mortem, whereas alcohol and
mephedrone only were consumed in a further four
cases (Table 4). Polydrug use with or without alcohol
consumption occurred in all remaining cases (n = 22).
The most common substances consumed were, in
descending frequency: alcohol, benzodiazepines,
piperazines, cocaine, opiates/opioids, amphetamine
and ecstasy.

(i do wish bluelight wouldn't automatically parse 'smileys')

 

[Don Luigi]

It really is grim reading but nothing less than we expected when they were cherry-picking the cases and being very economical with the truth!

By the way, if you go into advanced mode, just below the submit reply buttons, there's a tick box to disable smileys in your post

 

[ashtray girl]

(i do wish bluelight wouldn't automatically parse 'smileys')

Tick "Disable smilies in text" - it's an arse that it isn't default, but at least it preserves text. I think using {code}{/code} will do the same for just the selected text.

EDIT:

By the way, if you go into advanced mode, just below the submit reply buttons, there's a tick box to disable smileys in your post

Beaten to it.

 

[Ceres]

thanks ^

The formal conclusions by coroners and their coun-
terparts reflect the largely recreational circumstances
of mephedrone use described here, that is, accidental/
misadventure (63%) and abuse of drugs (7%). We
have previously noted a growing concern about the ad-
diction potential of synthetic cathinones (Schifano
et al., 2012), and other adverse effects on the mental
state of individuals consuming mephedrone are
worrying (Corkery et al., 2012), including in this
16–24 years’ age group. Here, we would highlight the
following: (i) impaired judgement leading to fatal road
traffic accidents and drowning; (ii) depression, para-
noia and psychoses resulting in intentional self-harm
leading to death, for example, hanging (see Table 2
for examples); (c) withdrawal from mephedrone
regarded as a contributory factor in one case.

 

[Raasyvibe]

Good read for all who take / have an interest in drugs

none i can think of that description here

 

[Treacle]

Using an antipsychotic to abort a bad trip is a bit of a no-brainer. I've used antipsychotics to deal with certain issues, such as withdrawals, etc. They are very effective.

Just reading the sentence 'Why all stimulant drugs are damaging to recreational users' made me roll my eyes. I'd be interested to read that article. I hope caffeine is mentioned. Most stimulants do little to no harm, if used responsibly. Millions of people are prescribed them, for daily use, in cases of ADD/ADHD. In America, amphetamine and methamphetamine are prescribed to children, for that reason (also for obesity and stubborn forms of depression). That perhaps doesn't fall under 'recreational' use, but you see my point.

What a surprise, the stimulant article is written by Andrew Parrot, who is like David Nutt, except he talks complete shit, using poor research and a biased approach.

 

[Ceres]

nicotine and caffeine are included in that paper, here's an excerpt from the summary

In subjective terms, the recreational stimulants can be
very seductive to potential users, because they can in-
duce brief acute gains. Yet, their regular use is damag-
ing, and the more these drugs are used, the greater the
cumulative damage they cause. Furthermore, because
of chronic tolerance, they become less effective over
time, which leads to dosage escalation and yet more
psychobiological problems (see Parrott, 2005, 2006,
2013b, for a description of this pattern with recrea-
tional Ecstasy/MDMA). Three broad conclusions can
be offered. Firstly, it is not possible to repeatedly use
any current recreational stimulant drug without caus-
ing neuropsychobiological problems. This is because
any drug that causes repetitive sympathomimetic stim-
ulation will be psychobiologically damaging to the or-
ganism. Secondly, the adverse neuropsychobiological
effects of all recreational stimulants are broadly simi-
lar. Although nicotine, amphetamine, methamphet-
amine, cocaine, and MDMA display different profiles
of action and have many unique or individual aspects,
their core psychobiological effects are remarkably sim-
ilar (Table 1). Finally, this suggests that any novel
stimulant drug will cause a similar pattern of neuropsy-
chological changes.

pretty much the conclusion any stimulant user would reach themselves I think...

 

[Vurtual]

I suppose what is meant by regular use is important, plus the statement 'because chronic tolerance, they become less effective over time, which leads to dosage escalation' also depends on what is meant by regular: if the doses/frequency you take mean you never get noticable tolerance/dose inflation, how damaging is that? (undoubtedly it's damaging, but how worrying, sustainable etc) (i'm talking about myself obviously (rhetorically))

 

[Treacle]

That article is completely contradictory. You don't get chronic tolerance and the need for large dose increases from recreational stimulants, unless you're not using them in a recreational way. I remember Parrot getting ripped to pieces by Nutt and others, when Channel 4 did Ecstasy: Live. Legitimate scientists and patients were trying to demonstrate how effective MDMA can be, for PTSD and other issues, and he had nothing but negative things to say on the subject, with no real evidence to back his claims up. He seems like a thoroughly miserable and drug-hating individual.

Vurtual: If use is kept to once every few weeks, depending on the stimulant, and you don't hammer the fuck out of it, you're unlikely to encounter any health issues (unless you're suffering from a previously undiagnosed physical/mental health condition, etc.) Dropping a couple of pills/snorting a few lines/whatever else, once or twice a month is very unlikely to harm you. I've personally found that daily speed use, in pretty high doses, hasn't caused any noticeable harm (not that I'd ever encourage that). Be sensible, and you'll be fine. Obviously, drugs aren't risk-free, but their harm can be minimalised.