Neuropsychopharmacologia Hungarica : a Magyar Pszichofarmakológiai Egyesület lapja = official journal of the Hungarian Association of Psychopharmacology
-
Neuropsychopharmacol Hung · Dec 2013
ReviewDesigner drugs in psychiatric practice - a review of the literature and the recent situation in Hungary.
In recent years service providers experienced a new phenomenon in the drug markets of Hungary: the dramatically increasing sale and use of designer drugs. In psychiatric practice, the first sign of this new trend was the increasing number of hospitalized patients with acute psychosis using a new type of designer drug: MDPV (3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone). ⋯ In fact, the compounds and their biological effects are many times unknown to the consumers and to the physicians as well, while a recently emerging body of data suggests that the somatic and mental consequences of their consumption are frequent, severe, and sometimes even life-threatening. The aims of this paper are to summarize the most important general information about some widely used designer drugs (synthetic cathinones and cannabinoids); to draw attention to present and upcoming trends of substance abuse patterns; and to highlight the importance and consequences of these trends in every day clinical practice, considering the most important and challenging somatic and psychiatric consequences of designer drug abuse.