Current Drug Research Reviews - Volume 11, Issue 1, 2019

Background: The United States has recently experienced extensive changes in state policy regarding the use of cannabis for recreational and medicinal purposes. Despite its rapidly increasing accessibility and social acceptance, there is a striking dearth of research on cannabis as a treatment for medical and psychological conditions. Research on cannabis is difficult to conduct as it is classified as a schedule I drug wit Read More

Background: Joseph Priestley's discovery of nitrous oxide (N2O) was recorded in 1772. In the late 1790's, Humphry Davy experimented with the psychotropic properties of N2O, describing his observations in a book, published in 1800. A dentist, Horace Wells discovered anaesthesia with N2O in 1844. Over a century after Davy, its potential usefulness in psychiatry was first recognised. The seminal researches in neuropsychiatr Read More

Background: Coma blisters or coma bullae are bullous lesions that have been associated with cases of drug overdose-induced coma. Previous history of suicide attempt by administering benzodiazepines, barbiturates, ethanol, antipsychotics, antidepressants or opioids have been particularly implicated. Patients may present also painful deep skin and soft tissue involvement, edema and functional impairment. The pathophysiol Read More

Substance use disorders are an important public health problem with a multifactorial etiology and limited effective treatment options. Within this context, spirituality-based approaches may provide interesting and useful options in managing substance use disorders. This kind of intervention can have positive effects in alleviating some core symptoms associated with substance use, such as aggressiveness. Improvement in ce Read More

Background: The degree to which cannabis use causes long term harm to mental functioning is contentious. Objective: To determine the evidence for residual and long term effects of cannabis use on mental functions. Method: Comprehensively review human studies addressing detrimental effects on human mental and life functioning. Results: Heavy use causes immediate effects on perception, mood and sedation, but also Read More

Background: The management of mental disorders in child and adolescent is challenging. In addition, when substance use disorders are associated with mental disorders, important complications are noted. Dual pathology and Substance-induced disorders should be distinguished in cases like this. Objective: To summarize the latest information on the epidemiology, etiology and management aspects of dual pathology in adoles Read More

Background: Psychoactive substance abuse is a psychosocial disorder that its, emergence, continuation, and treatment are associated with personality factors, spiritual well-being, and social support. Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between personality traits with spiritual well-being and perceived social support in methamphetamine users undergoing treatment in 2016 in the clinics of Ke Read More

Background: Drug use indicators that are capable of measuring the individual levels of harm following drug use, and in particular, poly-drug use, have previously been proposed, based on individual drug and frequency of use data and expert rankings of harms related to various substances. These indicators allow the estimation of risk profiles for selected groups of individuals and comparisons, both over time and between po Read More

Background: Pain-relief prescriptions have led to an alarming increase in drug-related abuse. Objective: In this study, we estimate the pain reliever prescription rates at a major German academic hospital center and compare with the nationwide trends from Germany and prescription reports from the USA. Methods: We analysed >500,000 discharge summaries from Charitencompassing the years 2006 to 2015, and extracted t Read More

Background: Drug dependence or substance use disorder not only affects a person’s life but also brings a lot of challenges for families and communities and imposes heavy burdens on them. There are various therapies in the domain of addiction whose main purposes are to reduce or to cut down substance abuse. Objective: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of group spiritual intervention on selfesteem a Read More

Background: To create a representative picture of the prevalence and the total number of drug users in Albania from 2012 to 2016, and compare those numbers to previous years with other available data. Methods: The required data for the conductance of this study was collected from three different fronts, namely The Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM), Clinical Toxicology and Addictions Service, University Hospital "Mother T Read More