Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that change a person’s mental state. They do this by affecting the way the brain and nervous system work. Changes in brain function due to psychoactive drug use can affect a person’s perceptions, moods, and/or consciousness.

Also called psychotropics, psychoactive drugs can lead to intoxication. This is often the primary reason that people choose to take these types of substances.

Overview

Psychoactive substances are found in a number of medications as well as in alcohol, illegal and recreational drugs, and some plants and even animals. Alcohol and caffeine are psychoactive drugs that people most commonly use to alter their mental state. These drugs are legally available, but can still be physically and psychologically harmful if taken to excess.

Usually, people decide when and how they want to use psychoactive drugs. In some situations, however, psychoactive drugs are used to alter someone’s mental state in order to exploit the person. A common example of this is the date-rape drug Rohypnol, which is illegal in the U.S.

Risks

You should also be aware that taking prescribed psychoactive drugs in ways other than intended, for example, taking drugs that have been prescribed for someone else, even if they have been given to you, is illegal.¹

Natural substances, such as hallucinogenic mushrooms and cacti, and the leaves, flowers, and buds of certain plants may also be psychoactive.² Some people think that, because these substances occur naturally, they are less harmful than manufactured drugs. However, that is not the case.

For example, someone who uses a psychoactive plant to alter their mental state may have a higher risk of overdose or poisoning.

The reason for this is because the person taking the substance has no control over the strength of the plant’s psychoactive substance or toxicity, as there is in manufactured drugs. The same is true of street drugs purchased from a drug dealer, which are typically cut with a variety of other psychoactive and filler substances, some of which may be harmful.

A drug or medication that’s termed “psychoactive” isn’t necessarily addictive, although many are.

 When Does Drug Use Become an Addiction?

Classifications

There are several ways in which psychoactive drugs are classified:

• By their common effects (effects they all have) in the brain and body—for example, stimulants and depressants
• By their likelihood to cause addiction (high to low)
• By their chemical structure
• By U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration schedules I-V, which classify these drugs by the potential for abuse (“I” is highest, “V” is lowest)³

Groups of psychoactive drugs include stimulants, depressants, narcotics (opioids), hallucinogens, and marijuana (cannabis).

Stimulants

Examples of effects include heightened alertness, greater energy, excitability, improvement in mood that can reach euphoria, and bodily responses such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. 

Examples of stimulants include caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine. Examples of the effects of excessive use of cocaine may include irritability, mood swings, hallucination, heart palpitations, chest pain, and even death.⁴

Depressants

Examples of effects include reduced feelings of tension, relief of anxiety, and muscle relaxation. With excessive use, effects may include clammy skin, slow and shallow breathing, a rapid and weak pulse, coma, and death.⁵

Examples of depressants include alcohol and tranquilizers such as benzodiazepines.

Opioids

These are derived from the poppy plant (opiates) or synthetically produced (opioids). Examples of their effects include pain relief, drowsiness, euphoria, confusion, and respiratory depression.

With excessive use, effects may include nausea and vomiting, convulsions, respiratory arrest, coma, and death.⁶

Examples of opioids include some painkillers, such as codeine, morphine, oxycodone, and the street drug heroin.

Hallucinogens

Examples of effects include paranoia, depersonalization (a sense of not being real), hallucinations, erratic behavior, and increased blood pressure and heart rate. Effects of excessive use may include problems thinking and speaking, memory loss, and depression.⁷ 

Examples of hallucinogens include psilocybin from mushrooms, “acid” (LSD), ketamine, phencyclidine (PCP), dextromethorphan, and peyote (mescaline).

Marijuana (cannabis)

Examples of the psychoactive effects of marijuana include changes in sensory perception; euphoria; relaxation; appetite changes; impaired memory, concentration, and coordination; and changes in blood pressure.⁸ Marijuana is the only drug in its class.

Designer Drugs

Designer drugs, formerly known as “legal highs,” are chemicals that are produced to mimic the effects of other psychoactive substances such as stimulants, hallucinogenics, sedatives, or a combination.⁹ As their chemical composition is often unknown and evolving, they present clear challenges to toxicologists, medical staff, and society. They include bath salts, mephedrone, W18, MXE, spice, and many others.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-psychoactive-22500

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Mixing comedy with a thorough investigation of psychedelics, ‘Have a Good Trip’ explores the pros, cons, science, history, future, pop-cultural impact, and cosmic possibilities of hallucinogens.

HAVE A GOOD TRIP: ADVENTURES IN PSYCHEDELICS is a documentary featuring comedic tripping stories from A-list actors, comedians, and musicians. Star-studded reenactments and trippy animations bring their surreal hallucinations to life. Mixing comedy with a thorough investigation of psychedelics HAVE A GOOD TRIP explores the pros, cons, science, history, future, pop cultural impact, and cosmic possibilities of hallucinogens. The film tackles the big questions: Can psychedelics have a powerful role in treating depression, and addiction, and helping us confront our own mortality? Are we all made of the same stuff? Is love really all we need? Can trees talk?

The post Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics – Netflix appeared first on FRACTAL FiLL.

Nearly a third of US teens and young adults prescribed a psychoactive drug misuse that drug, with the likelihood of misuse rising with age, suggests an analysis of national survey responses published in the online journal Family Medicine & Community Health.

Stimulants and tranquillisers were more likely to be misused than opioids, the findings indicate.

Drug overdose is a leading cause of unintentional death in the US, most cases of which involve opioid painkillers, but not all.

Data on the misuse of other prescription psychoactive drugs are few and far between. And every year more than 1 in 3 teens and young adults in the US is prescribed one of these drugs.

To plug this knowledge gap, the researchers drew on the responses of 110,556 US 12-25 year olds who took part in the 2015-2018 National Survey of Drug Use and Health Sampling.

Overall, around a third (35%) said they had taken a prescribed psychoactive drug in the past year, and a similar proportion (31%) said they had misused that drug.

While opioids were the most commonly prescribed drug, misuse of stimulants and tranquillisers was higher, with nearly 45% of users admitting to this.

One in 10 respondents said they took at least two prescribed psychoactive drugs, with nearly 6 in 10 (58%) confessing to misusing one of these. And 87% admitted to misusing another substance, such as alcohol, cigarettes, cigars, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, inhalants, or hallucinogens.

Use and misuse of a prescribed psychoactive drug increased with age. While one in four teens (12-17 year olds) reported taking any psychoactive prescribed drug over the past year, and around 6% reported taking at least two such drugs, this increased to 41% and 13.5%, respectively, among 18-25 year olds.

Among the teen users of psychoactive prescription drugs, opioids were the most frequently used (19%) followed by stimulants (7%), tranquillisers (4%) and sedatives (2%).

Around 1 in 5 users of prescribed psychoactive drugs said they misused them, with tranquillisers most often misused (40%), followed by stimulants (24%), opioids (nearly 18%), and sedatives (14%).

Among 18-25-year-olds prescribed psychoactive drugs in the past year, 35% reported misuse of at least one drug. And among those prescribed at least two of these drugs, 61% reported misuse and just under 94% reported concurrent use of another substance.

Analyses of the responses from the 18-25-year-olds revealed that, compared with those who had never touched other substances, misuse of psychoactive prescription drugs increased in tandem with more recent use of these substances and number used.

Among 18-25 year-olds, opioids were again the most commonly prescribed psychoactive drug (30%), followed by stimulants (14%), tranquillisers (11.5%) and sedatives (3.5%).

The estimated proportion of misuse in this age group was highest for tranquillisers (45%) followed by stimulants (51%), opioids (23%) and sedatives (19%).

This is an observational study, and therefore can’t establish cause, added to which the researchers acknowledge that the study was based on self report; the time frames over which some variables were measured weren’t consistent; and misuse was very broadly defined.

Nevertheless, they conclude that the overlap in the profiles of those who use for medical reasons and those who misuse is a strong indicator of how likely they are to abuse psychoactive drugs.

“It is important to monitor the diversity of medication misuse behaviours among youth and young adults, given their potential for abuse liability,” they write.

“Modifiable risk factors for prescription substance misuse, such as tobacco and other non-prescription substance use, underscore the need for comprehensive approaches towards health promotion among youth and young adults,” they add.

They note that 11.5% of the 18-25 year olds reported serious psychological distress, which was consistently associated with misuse of every psychoactive prescription drug assessed.

“Mental health and medical providers would benefit from using a team approach and having open communication with other healthcare providers to ensure evidence-based guidelines are used when assessing for, and treating, mental health and substance use difficulties,” they conclude.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210202192756.htm

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