Synthetic Psychoactive Drug Abuse Inducing Psychotic and Aggressive Behavior

Psychoactive drugs are mood altering chemicals that modify how neurotransmitters function. These drugs are used in medicine to treat diseases ranging from movement disorders to mental illness. They are also created and sold on the streets for recreational use. Psychoactive drugs operate through a variety of mechanisms. Some are agonists and mimic neurotransmitter activity. Other psychoactive drugs are antagonists which inhibit neurotransmitters. Psychoactive drugs can also block the reuptake of neurotransmitter. Psychoactive drugs alter the state of consciousness; they can be depressants or stimulants that alter perception and mood. Stimulants work by blocking the reuptake of neurotransmitters, resulting in an over stimulus of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamine alter normal physiology causing increased heart and breathing rates, pupil dilation, and mood alterations that can induce psychotic behavior similar to the psychosis seen in schizophrenics (Howes, McCutcheon, and Stone, 2015). The abuse of psychoactive drugs is a growing threat to public health and safety. Some synthetic drugs are cheap and easy to produce, which increases their availability to the public and the potential for abuse.

Research shows that when using stimulants, an excess amount of dopamine is present presynaptically. This is why anti-psychotic medications that block the dopamine receptor can reduce psychotic episodes. Excess dopamine in the absence of a normal stimulus leads to the attribution of abnormal importance or salience to everyday occurrence. Attributing salience to irrelevant stimuli can produce psychotic behavior. As mentioned, cocaine is a stimulant that can induce psychotic behavior through this mechanism. Another drug that causes a flood of presynaptic dopamine goes by the street name “flakka.” The psychoactive drug flakka was in the national news recently after reports of exceptionally aggressive behavior exhibited by users. One incident of suspected flakka abuse involved a young man who attacked a couple that was sitting outside on their driveway. The young man killed the couple and it was reported that police found him tearing the flesh off the male victim with his teeth. Flakka is a chemical substance, α-Pyrrolidinovalerophenone. It is an illegal synthetic stimulant. The drug induced psychosis seen in users is attributed to the drug’s effects on the brain. Flakka, inhibits the uptake of dopamine at the dopamine transporter (Kolanos et al., 2015).

The short-term effects of flakka use are similar to those of cocaine and amphetamines and include: euphoric sensations, rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, alertness, and aggressive behavior. As the drug leaves their system, flakka users often experience intense fatigue and depression. A cycle of abuse starts when flakka users return to the drug to counteract the negative feelings that occur as the drug leaves their system. As users increase their dosage, they experience changes to their body temperature. Flakka can cause an extreme rise in body temperature which leads to muscle catabolism, enzyme dysfunction, and kidney damage. The long-term effects of flakka abuse are still under investigation. Even so, flakka is known to be highly addictive and to cause renal failure. Though flakka is a relatively new synthetic drug, data from the National Institutes of Health shows it to be as potent as methamphetamine, with an even higher propensity for addiction development in those who abuse it. Flakka is a cheap alternative to cocaine which adds to its accessibility and threat to public health and safety (DrugAbuse.com, 2017).

References

Howes, J., McCutcheon, R., and Stone, J. (2015). Glutamate and dopamine in schizophrenia: an

            update for the 21^st century. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 29 (2), 97-115.

            doi:10.1177/0269881114563634

Kolanos, R., Sakloth, F., Jain, A. D., Partilla, J. S., Baumann, M. H., & Glennon, R. A. (2015).

            Structural Modification of the Designer Stimulant α-Pyrrolidinovalerophenone (α-PVP)

            Influences Potency at Dopamine Transporters. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 6(10),

            1726–1731. http://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.5b00160

The Effects of Flakka Use. (2017, May 24). Retrieved October 09, 2017, from

            https://drugabuse.com/library/the-effects-of-flakka-use/