Behavioral Pharmacology of Abused Drugs A Review of Clinical Aspects

From the viewpoints of behavioral pharmacology, abused drugs are classified as narcotics, analgetics, stimulants and hallucinogens. At present, most common abused drugs in Japan are methamphetamine (a CNS stimulant) and volatile solvents. Abuse of narcotics rarely comes to attention. The characteristic symptoms of acute methamphetamine intoxicution are restlessness, irritability, insomnia, anorexia and panic reaction with slight conciousness disturbance. Methamphetamine psychosis caused by chronic abuse shows the symptoms varying from transient hallucinatory delusional states which are of brief duration, to a more prolonged states closely mimicking schizophrenia. The contents of delusions are often related to the illicit nature of the patient's drug use on persecution by the detective and sometimes the delusions relapse after the symptom free period (reverse tolerance). The total number of the persons in custody for illegality in 1983 were 23635. The inhalation of volatile solvents is usually a group activity predominatly of boys aged 14-18. Habitual abusers of the solvents (thinner) develop marked tolerance. The harmful effects arise from intoxicated behavior and there is a risk of sudden death from anoxia due to lack of oxygen. Chronic abuse of solvents produces amotivational syndrome and at times hallucinosis. Epidemiologically the biginning of solvent abuse in Japan went back to 1968 and the prevalence still continues without stopping. Drug abuse is the product of an extra-ordinary complex interaction between drug (the agent) and man (the host) and his community (the environment). Drug abuse is essentially a biopsychosocial rather than a medical affair and so we should manipulate multidemensional approach to treat the abusers.