Stimulants and convulsants

Amphetamines 

  • Ephedra 

    • Shrub

    • Native to eastern asia 

    • From dry desert habitats - wiry twig plant 

    • Non-flowering - gymnosperm 

    • History 

      • Traditional chinese medicine 

      • Medicinally as a stimulant 

        • Improved circulation, perspiration, blood pressure

        • Antihistamine - asthma, cough remedy 

      • Written about by the ancient greeks 

      • Ignored by western medicine 

        • Eventually rediscovered by western medicine 

        • Used to dilate eye pupil 

          • Increased blood pressure 

          • Treat asthma and hay fever 

          • Treat depressant drug overdose 

        • Became popularized and became and problem 

          • Resulted in semisynthetic 

            • Bensidrive - stimulant inhaler, chest issues 

              • Later found to be dangerous and eventually banned 

    • Amphetamines 

      • Stimulants that reduce fatigue 

        • Effects speech and concentration 

        • Mimics neurotransmitters 

          • CNS stimulant 

          • Dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin 

      • Pseduoephedrine - stereoisomer, mirror of it chemically just same compounds

        • Over the counter decongestant 

        • Created synthetically, but also found in ephedra plant and created commercially 

        • Can be easily reduced into methamphetamine or methcathinone 

          • Issue because people buy up the cold medicine packs and make drugs from it in their homes and sold it in the illicit drug market 

    • Active compound 

      • Ephedrine 

        • Popularized as herbal remedy and used in dieting and weight loss supplements 

        • Dangers 

          • Over stims CNS causing high blood pressure, rapid heart beat, strokes and seizures 

          • Episodes of acute psychosis when taking with other drugs like caffeine or alcohol, mixing of stimulants and depressants 

          • Resulted in natural product being banned in the US 

          • Recall of all products containing it due to the serious effects 

        • Analogues 

          • Benzadrill 

            • Used in WWII to enhance performance in US and japanese 

            • Used by Japanese factory workers to increase productivity 

          • Methamphetamine 

            • Semi-synthetic from the reduction of ephedrine 

            • More potent 

            • Causes immediate rush of energy, sense of power 

              • Extremely addictive due to the binge cycling and withdrawal trying to get the feeling again 

          • MDMA 

            • Methamphetamine derivative 

            • High dosage causes depression, memory loss, acute insomnia, 

            • Overdones due to impaired breathing, heart attack, kidney failure 

            • Used as a psychotherapeutic for 10 years until it became street drug 

              • Recent years studying small controlled doses for treating severe PTSD

              • Some clinical trials were approved 

          • PCP and Ketamine 

            • Amphetamine derivatives 

            • Used as a veterinarian anesthetic 

            • Dissociative - removes person from reality 

              • Halucinogenic 

              • Sedative, some pain killing effects 

            • Glutamate antagonists - results in rapid increase of it 

              • Glutamate is a mood alterer 

              • Effects dopamine in the brain 

            • Ketamine 

              • Recent therapeutic use 

              • Sometimes is can help with depression or suicidal thoughts 

              • Researched for clinical trials 

            • Recreational use 

              • Highly dissociative state 

              • Out of body 

              • Disoriented 

Basically all the symptoms 


  • Fen-phen 

    • Combination used for weight loss and banned due to heart problems in people taking it 

    • Some cases of psychosis from taking it 

  • Other ephedrine analogues 

    • Ritalin - methylphenidate 

      • Used to treat hyperactivity in children 

      • Effects dopamine, attention, and focus 

  • Isolated by japanese chemist yamanashi 

  • Amphetamine like secondary compound 

  • Major CNS stimulant 

Convulsants 

  • Strychnine 

    • Native to southern asia and australia 

    • Deciduous tree 

    • Same genus as south american curare 

      • Strychnine is muscle convulsant 

      • Curare one is muscle relaxant 

    • Seeds, bark and whole fruit used

    • Arrow poison and rat poison 

    • Extremely poisonous, deadly 

    • Medicinal use 

      • Fevers, and snake bites 

      • Stimulant of castro-intestinal tract

      • Improve circulation 

      • Analeptic - stimulates CNS at small doses 

      • High doses - dangerous, muscle convulsant 

    • Therapeutic use 

      • Depressant overdoses - helps against something that is depressant 

      • Studies done on mice showing positive effects of short and long term memory 

    • Pharmacological research 

      • Affinity for glycine receptors 

      • Makes a useful as an analgesic 

      • More potent than morphine 

    • Symptoms 

      • Severe agitation 

      • Muscle spasms

      • Uncontrolled convulsions 

      • Results in collapse of vital organs 

        • lungs , heart, kidney, liver, and brain 

    • Active compounds 

      • Alkaloids that are strychnine like - isostrychnopentamine and sun gucine 

      • See anti-malarial properties