RaveSafe - Pharmacology 101

Drugs that give you a buzz or make you trip are called Psychoactive drugs, that is drugs that change the way mind works. These drugs generally affect the Neurotransmitters that are important in transmitting signals and information in the brain. The most prominent neurotransmitters in the brain are dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, enkephalin, GABA, glycine, nitric acid, glutamic acid, and acetylcholine (which was the first to be discovered). These are the chemical messengers of the brain and are ‘biogenic amines', a characteristic being a positively-charge nitrogen atom. They start their journey up in the presynaptic neuron, and after receiving an electric impulse, they have to pass through a gap between brain cells called the Synapse, to end up on the postsynaptic neuron, where they cause a further reaction.

This is part of the process of making you do, think or feel something. Neurotransmitters are generally recycled, so there is a lot of ways of interfering with the way they work. They are responsible for many different bodily and psychological functions: for example dopamine regulates motor behaviour, and serotonin which determines your mood but is also found in muscles. In table that follows, and many of the drug entries in this booklet, we explain how that drug works by looking at how they affect the neurotransmitters.

Drugs are generally grouped into these major classes by the medical world:

Drug Class	Effects	Action	Examples
Opiates	Euphoria, suppression of pain, sedation	Binds to Opiate receptors	Morphine, Heroine
Neuroleptics	Sedative, antischizophrenic,	Blocks dopamine receptors	Chlorpromazine Haloperidol
Stimulants	Heightened state of mental alertness, boosted self-confidence	Increase flow of dopamine or norepinephrine	Amphetimine, Cocaine
Anti-anxiety agents (Benzodiazepines Barbiturates Convulsants)	Ease anxiety, induce sleep, generally addictive	Affect the GABA receptor	Diazepan (Valium), Librium, Paxipam, Seconal
Anti-depressants	Lowers depression incidence	Interferes with serotonin or noepinedrine	Amitriptlyline, Imipramine, Fluoxetine (Prozac)
Psychedelics	Change in sensory perceptions, distorts reality,hallucinations, synesthesia, transcending of ego boundaries	Affect serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine	LSD, Mescaline, MDMA, psilocybin (mushrooms)

A 'Brain cell' - the triangle thingies are neurotransmitters
from Solomon Snyder, "Drugs and the Brain"

References:

Solomon Snyder, "Drugs and the Brain" (Scientific American Library, 1996)