Psychoactive Plants

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Psychoactive Plants

• Stimulants - I Cocaine

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Psychoactive Plants

• Psychoactive plants act on the central nervous
  system - often by influencing neurotransmitters
  or endorphins
• Can be divided into three categories
• Stimulants excite or enhance psychomotor
  activity (caffeine, cocaine)
• Depressants reduce mental and physical
  performance (opiates, alcohol, kava)
• Hallucinogens induce a dreamlike state and
  hallucinations (peyote, marijuana, morning glory
  seeds)
• May also be narcotic

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Narcotic Compounds

• By definition a narcotic drug induces central
  nervous system depression resulting in numbness,
  lethargy, sleep
• In current use, a narcotic is a psychoactive drug
  that is dangerously addictive
• Addictive compounds elicit psychological
  dependence, physiological dependence, and/or
  tolerance

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Psychoactive Compounds
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Stimulants

• Compounds that excite or enhance psychomotor
  activity

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Cocaine

• Major alkaloid in the coca plant
• Erythroxylum coca
• Erythroxylum novogranatense
• Small trees in genus Erythroxylum (Family
  Erythroxylaceae) native to Andes Mts. in South
  America

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Ethnobotany and history

• Cocaine use by the Incas
• Spanish conquest
• Introduction to Europe
• US 19th century
• Late 20th and 21st centuries
• Sources of cocaine

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Forms of Cocaine

• Cocaine hydrochloride
• Hydrochloride salt, or powdered form of cocaine,
  dissolves in water
• Can be taken snorted or taken intravenously
• Freebase
• Compound that has not been neutralized by an acid
  to make the hydrochloride
• Hydrochloride is heated with water and sodium
  bicarbonate to form crack which is usually smoked

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Cocaine Structure
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Mode of Action on CNS

• Region most affected - deep within the brain
  (ventral tegmental area)
• Nerve cells originating there extend to the
  nucleus accumbens (one of the reward centers)
• At the synaptic level, cocaine blocks the
  re-uptake of dopamine results in a build up of
  dopamine in the synapse which contributes to the
  high - later dopamine is depleted
• Blocks reuptake of norepinephrine
• a and b adrenergic receptors activated

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Action of cocaine on CNS
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Effects of Cocaine

• Increased energy
• Decreased appetite
• Mental alertness
• Increased heart rate and blood pressure
• Constricted blood vessels
• Dilated pupils
• Increased temperature

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Highs from cocaine

• Duration of cocaine's euphoric effects depends on
  the route of administration
• The faster the absorption, the more intense the
  high BUT the faster the absorption, the shorter
  the duration of action
• High from snorting may last 15 to 30 minutes,
  while that from smoking may last 5 to 10 minutes
  (high from smoking starts in 10 sec)
• Increased use can reduce the period of stimulation

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Negative effects of cocaine use

• Addiction
• Tolerance
• Cardiovascular effects
• Direct effects on the heart
• Respiratory problems
• Psychological effects

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