Why do drugs in general promote a content feeling?

[LuxEtVeritas]

^^^not all of them, stimulants for instance

i disagree as i think the best stimulants are creating a mania type of situtaion when they hit right and they make one feel like superman ala cocaine

this is what i am including in alteration of the ego...they again move us away from our usually frail/damaged ego (to whatever degree)

 

[ranunky]

Well thujone is a GABA anatagonist- yet its sused and widely known.

Are you saying I'm wrong? There are drugs that cause undesireable effects... Anyway, antagonists and inverse agonists are different things:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_agonist

 

[fastandbulbous]

How does one explain Shulgins above comment?

Because he's primarily an organic chemist as opposed to a pharmacologist (see his comments on the in vivo amination of myristyicin to MMDA)

 

[swilow]

Are you saying I'm wrong? There are drugs that cause undesireable effects... Anyway, antagonists and inverse agonists are different things:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_agonist

Heaven forbid, no! Just adding in some useless info....

*slinks out*

 

[Boiling in Acid]

dopamine. endorphine. serotonin.

 

[MattPsy]

I think it's simply because humans like to alter their states of consciousness. Any change is novelty, and novelty is good.
Even if an experience is unpleasant, it is at at least interesting, most of the time.

There will be SOME consistently unpleasant psychoactive, bu I wager not many (yes, I am taking into account that we're mostly using the consistently pleasant ones).

One that comes to mind that would probably be pretty consistently horrible (for an example) is Ro15-4513, a benzodiazepine inverse agonist. Ie, it does the reverse of a benzo, making you agitated and panicky instead of relaxed. Ugh!