Psychoactive drug/diagram references

The purpose of this article is to provide supporting citations for the psychoactive drug diagram, and the locations of the various substances contained within it. Please see the page for discussion.

THC

*"Report of the Australian Government, 1996: "Cannabis has been erroneously classified as a narcotic, as a sedative and most recently as an hallucinogen. While the cannabinoids do possess hallucinogenic properties, together with stimulant and sedative effects, they in fact represent a unique pharmacological class of compounds. Unlike many other drugs of abuse, cannabis acts upon specific receptors in the brain and periphery. The discovery of the receptors and the naturally occurring substances in the brain that bind to these receptors is of great importance, in that it signifies an entirely new pathway system in the brain."

*"Sedative, stimulant, and other subjective effects of marijuana: relationships to smoking techniques, Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1998 Feb;59(2):405-12: "Paradoxical subjective effects were observed in that subjects reported some stimulation as well as sedation after smoking marijuana"

*"Drugs of Abuse, Antipsychotics, Antidepressants - Lecture 11, Elon University: "Marijuana - cannabis -- (flowering tops and leaves of hemp plants) classified as a hallucinogen/stimulant/sedative (thus in its own class)"

*"Abnormal Psychology, 5th Edition, Ronald J. Comer: "When smoked, cannabis produces a mixture of hallucinogenic, depressant, and stimulant effects"

Cannabis

*"Cannabis' primary constituents are THC (5-30%) and CBD (< 5%)." [http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v09n3/09320gie.html] The CBD content contributes to minor anti-psychotic effects.

Antidepressant / antipsychotic grouping

While a better term may exist to group the mental-illness medications, the same problem exists with the hallucinogens group. This is a limitation of the terminology, and I would like to make it clear that this chart plots a continuum from antipsychotic to hallucinogen as well as from stimulant to depressant. Additionally I would like to point out that doctors routinely cross-prescribe antipsychotics and antidepressants. Here are some references of how antipsychotics and antidepressants have similar actions:

*"Clozapine and several other antipsychotic/antidepressant drugs preferentially block the same 'core' fraction of GABA(A) receptors." [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&list_uids=9804284&cmd=Retrieve&indexed=google]
*"In prefrontal cortex, 5-hydroxytryptamine2A (5-HT2A) receptors have been linked to the action of hallucinogens and atypical antidepressant/antipsychotic drugs" [http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/292/1/76]
*"Medications for mental illness are divided into four large categories—antipsychotic, antimanic, antidepressant, and antianxiety medications" [http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/medicate.cfm]
*"Clinical observations have shown that patients who do not respond to antidepressants may show dramatic improvement if atypical antipsychotics are added to their regimen" [http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p021069.html]
*"Amoxapine (a tricyclic antidepressant) shows atypical antipsychotic effects in patients with schizophrenia: results from a prospective open-label study" [http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0920996401003425]
*"Ziprasidone's 5-hydroxytryptamine (HT)1D-antagonist and 5-HT(1A)-agonist activity are consistent with a potential for antidepressant and anxiolytic activity beyond its antipsychotic effects" [http://www.biopsychiatry.com/ziprasidone.html]
*"Risperidone in the Treatment of Psychotic Depression" [http://www.clinicalneuropharm.com/pt/re/clnneupharm/abstract.00002826-200011000-00007.htm;jsessionid=GpDPhs5s2km6SBztrYj62RJRy9J2TsGRpY7839xw8CgC7Lz9TYWq!675572714!181195628!8091!-1]