Intoxicating Substances

In England and Wales, volatile substances are controlled under the Intoxicating Substances Supply Act of 1985. Similar legislation was passed in Scotland. This Act makes it illegal for a retailer to supply or offer to supply, to a young person under the age of 18, a substance that the supplier knows or has reason to believe will be used to achieve intoxication. ... 

The fact that amalgame should be achieved nowhere more explicitly than in Un Mangeur d opium suggests another link, this time between the artificial paradises and alchemy. That the work of art can be associated with an intoxicating substance is suggested in Salon de 1859 where Delacroix s paintings are compared to wine ... 

Glassification of Substance-Related Disorders. The DSM-IV classification system (1) divides substance-related disorders into two categories (/) substance use disorders, ie, abuse and dependence and (2) substance-induced disorders, intoxication, withdrawal, delirium, persisting dementia, persisting amnestic disorder, psychotic disorder, mood disorder, anxiety disorder, sexual dysfunction, and sleep disorder. The different classes of substances addressed herein are alcohol, amphetamines, caffeine, caimabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, nicotine, opioids, phencyclidine, sedatives, hypnotics or anxiolytics, polysubstance, and others. On the basis of their significant socioeconomic impact, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, and opioids have been selected for discussion herein. 

Intoxication The general state of the body caused by the effects of a toxic substance. 

Among aminoacetylenes with different numbers of morpholinopropynyl groups, a substance has been found that displays antihypotoxic, thermoprotecting properties, increasing the stability of animals to intoxication by phosphor organic compounds and the salts of toxic metals. Because the efficiency of this substance exceeds that of azomopine 103 and it is nontoxic, it could be of interest to clinical medicine after additional studies. 

Many gases dissolve in fats and make good propellants. However, most are flammable or toxic, or they react with the fats. Other possible propellants, such as the propane used in hairsprays or in Freon, also cause intoxication when they dissolve in the fats around nerve cells. These substances are not used, since their flammability, safety, cost, or taste makes them less desirable than nitrous oxide for spray cans of whipping cream. 

Paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA) has a hallucinogenic potency about five times that of mescaline and three times that of MDA. Because of its high toxicity, it caused fatal intoxications shortly after it became available on the street in the early 1970s (Cimbura 1974). Some of the fatalities were apparently due to the fact that the substance was sold to users as MDA because of the higher potency of PMA, severe intoxication (i.e., hypertensive crisis, seizures, death) occurred. 

In research and clinical treatment of substance use disorders, pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are frequently combined. Medication is often used as a maintenance drug, to reduce cravings or intoxication, or to produce aversion to a substance, while the focus of psychotherapy may be to encourage abstinence, teach the patient new coping skills, or improve motivation to address drug or alcohol problems. 

Chromosome aberrations were detected in lymphocytes of individuals acutely intoxicated by methyl parathion by the inhalation route (Van Bao et al. 1974). Blood samples were taken 3-6 days after exposure and again at 30 and 380 days. A temporary but significant (p<0.05) increase was noted in the frequency of stable chromosomal aberrations in the exposed individuals. The study limitations include small sample size, absence of a control group, lack of quantification of exposure levels, and a possible concomitant exposure to other substances via the dermal route. 

Yasumoto et al. (30) describe two components of a Pseudomonas sp. culture with identical HPLC retention times to TTX and anhydro-TTX. These fractions produced typical signs of TTX intoxication in mice, with median death times similar to standard TTX and anhydro-TTX. Noguchi et al. (32) demonstrate by HPLC and GC-MS analyses that 7 biotypes of Vibrio sp. produced substances with retention times and molecular weights similar to TTX and anhydro-TTX. However, they observed mouse toxicity in only 1 biotype. Likewise, Simidu et al. (34) report that extracts of V. alginolyticus ATCC 17749 cultures displayed TTX-like toxicity in mice. The latter study shows that a variety of marine bacteria, plus E. coliy produced substances that, by HPLC analysis, were identical to TTX and anhydro-TTX. 

Distribution. The first indication of the occurrence of palytoxin in fish was presented in 1969 (16). The filefish Altera scripta belonging to family Monacathidae was traditionally known in Okinawa, Japan, to contain a toxic substance in the gut and, thus, to kill pigs when fed to them. The presence of fragments of Palythoa sp. in the guts and the resemblance in solubility between the fish toxin and palytoxin led the authors to a conclusion that the toxic principle in the filefish viscera was palytoxin. Incidence of human intoxication due to eating the filefish was not confirm. ... 

There are only two animals that are used in the search for criteria rat (intoxication by inhalation, skin and orally) and rabbit (by skin). The only means of penetration that can be used are inhalation, skin and orally. When a substance is not subjected to regulations, the absence of one or several animal/means of penetration combinations prevents the proposal of any level of danger for the substance labelling and also any suitable prevention measures. 

The safety factor scale takes into account the volatility as well as the toxicity of the substance. It is an acute intoxication factor. As a result, the long term toxicity of benzene, which is carcinogenic, is hardly taken into account. This is a variant of the author s approach. 

Unfortunately, unlike some medical diseases, substance dependence cannot be cured with medications alone. However, we can sometimes alleviate the effects of drug intoxication, attenuate the adverse effects of withdrawal, or use agents that may somewhat decrease craving for, and relapse to, abused substances. 

The intoxicating effects of opioids appear to be due to their action as agonists on mu (p) receptors of the opioid neurotransmitter system. Competitive p opioid antagonists such as naloxone and naltrexone acutely reverse many of the adverse effects of opioids. To date we do not have specific antagonists for most other abused substances, so rapid pharmacologic reversal of intoxication is usually not possible. 

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