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This paper distinguishes three principal purposes of drug use: for social control, for pleasure, and for medical and quasi-medical reasons. The argument is made that a traditional view of the future as a leisure society may lead us to focus disproportionately on forms of drug use that have a pleasure or "mind expansion" motive. While acknowledging the likelihood of more drug use of these kinds, the authors offer a number of reasons why the greatest increase in drug use and the social problems it causes may, in a 20 or 30 year perspective, be in the area of medical prescription and self- doctoring for anxieties and behavioral abnormalities. The overlap of this area with the use of drugs for social control is identified as posing formidable ethical problems. The paper concludes with a speculative description of all the roles of mind-affecting drugs in the U.S. culture in the year 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ADVERTISING frequently generates controversy. Few industries, however, have so much strong feeling aroused by their promotional activities as pharmaceuticals. This paper discusses some of the specific reasons why pharmaceutical promotion may provide cause for concern and tries by statistical investigation to establish whether or not grounds exist for some of the criticisms to which the industry has been subjected. The paper is in two main sections. Firstly, promotion in the industry and some of the specific arguments which are directed against it are examined. Secondly, the variables used in a cross- sectional, multiple regression analysis carried out on pharmaceutical promotion are described and the results of the analysis presented. The exercise was carried out using promotional data for the calendar year 1966. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is intended to he a recently of the recently published work on the pharmacological basis of tolerance. It has been made easier by the recent appearance of three relevant publications in this field. These are Adolescent Drug Dependence (1968) ed. C. W. M. Wilson, which is the product of a symposium sponsored by this society: The Scientific Bath of Drug Dependence (1969) ed. H. Steinberg, which is the product of a symposium organised by the Biological Council: and Federation Proceedings (1970) 29, No. 1, which contains a number of papers on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eastern mystical movements operating in America recruit partly from young persons who have previously experimented with psychedelic drugs. This paper argues that these cults serve as a "half-way house" between the drug culture and reassimilation into conventional society. Since mystical experiences share elements with drug sensations, the former can operate as a substitute gratification for the latter and facilitate the termination of drug taking. Since mystical "trips" are less legally precarious and less physically incapacitating than drug "trips," the changeover from drugs to non-chemical mysticism tends to facilitate further adjustments in the direction of adopting conventional routinized life-styles. This analysis is exemplified by a case study of the Meher Baba cult which recruits from the drug culture. The writings of Meher Baba contain some elements which are congruent with the "psychedelic" emphasis on inner exploration and other elements which provide linkages with conventional norms. Baba followers tend to shift their emphasis from the passive-contemplative to the active-service oriented aspects of Baba's teachings as their drug experiences recede into the past. Socialization from the drug culture via Baba into conventional life-styles is thus a gradual process without sharp discontinuities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of British Journal of Addiction (to Alcohol & Other Drugs) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article comments on the problems in third-party outpatient prescription drug plans. The reimbursement schedule problems are identified as the inability of pharmacists and third-party carriers to agree upon the plan definitions of prescription ingredient cost and professional service reimbursement. Here, a deficiency is revealed by the assertion that there is difficulty in determining actual prescription ingredient and professional service costs. In general, pharmacists use average wholesale costs, plus a percentage markup applied to the average wholesale cost, as the basis of setting retail prescription prices. While the support of pricing techniques that create disproportionate profit margins perhaps is logical from the pharmacy owner' point of view, such a position is based on indefensible economic justifications when applied to third-party prescription plans.

The results of the treatment of mucocutaneous (American) leishmaniasis in 70 patients with amphotericin B in a period of ten years are reported. The effectiveness of the therapy is pointed out with clinical cure in all cases particularly in antimonial resistant cases. It is also pointed out the conspicuousness of the action on the mucous lesions and the low number of relapses (2 cases). The disadvantages of the drug are its side-effects particularly renal and cardiac toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the research paper "Pharmaceutical Codides and Related Useful Reference Tools," by Anne McCann. The paper is a review of the various sources of information for reference works in a pharmaceutical library. Among the topics discussed are the basic texts, chemistry of drugs, actions of drugs, uses of drugs, special nomenclature problems, provision of latest information, literature references, history of drugs and pharmacy, and so forth.

The article comments on the last meeting of the Society on the September 26, 1972, which held in collaboration with a number of other Organizations working in the same field. The Chairman, Director of the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions, remarked on the fact that the Society was established in 1884. This makes it the oldest surviving scientific society in the field. The Society and its Journal are international and interdisciplinary in scope. People are, on the one hand, pleased to report that they receive more and more contributions from all parts of the world.

The article suggests that alcohol, and possibly other similar agents, may under some circumstances have a convulsant and psychotomimetic activity. Alcohol produces an initial suppression of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, but if subjects continue to take the same dose of alcohol REM sleep returns to control levels and may after 5 nights significantly exceed control levels. This recovery and increase in REM time can only be overcome by increasing the dose of alcohol. One might think of morphine as "blocking" some normal or physiological pathway, but when a drug was discovered able to antagonize all its important actions morphine had to be regarded in some senses as a "stimulant" and "agonist". Quite recently a much purer antagonist nalaxone has been discovered. It is suggested that alcohol may be such a drug possessing both stimulant and depressant properties, that is, it is a partial agonist. It may even prove to be its own antagonist. The possible relationship between gamma-aminobutyric acid or GABA and alcoholic dependence and psychoses has also been reviewed.

The choice of alcohol and narcotics and the prevalence pattern of dependence on these substances among the Chinese are found to differ significantly from those in the West. Possible factors responsible for the distinctive pattern in the Chinese are considered. Probably significant are cultural ideology sanctioning acquiescence, moderation, propriety conformity and intellectual control; historical totals leading to easy availability of opiates over a long period; and a high level of social pathology associated with culture change, economic hardship and easy accessibility to drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sample of 530 marihuana users, classified according to five use patterns (trial users, past users, occasional regular and daily current users), were asked their experiences and opinions with respect to eight areas related to the dangers of marihuana use : experienced harmful effects ; potential dangers to self ; type of harm caused to others ; potential dangers to society ; reasons for possibly discontinuing use by current users ; reasons for having discontinued use by past users ; legal dangers ; and types of people whom users would not recommend use marihuana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metabolic origin of the ansa chain and chromophore of rifamycin S has been investigated by studying the incorporation of radioactive and 13C-enriched precursors. A simplified degradation scheme has been utilized to cleave chemically radioactive antibiotic into constituent chromophore and ansa chain. Rifamycin D labeled with [3-14C]propionate and [Me-3 methylmalonate have the same pattern of isotope distribution. Unlabelled propionate efficiently dilutes the incorporation of [Me-3H]methylmalonate but the reverse is not true. Although the results of [2-14C]malonate and [2-14C]acetate incorporation were inconclusive owing to randomisation, the proton-decoupled carbon magnetic resonance spectrum of rifamycin S biogenetically enriched with [2-13C]malonate revealed a specific incorporation into C-5 and C-18. We propose that the polyketide chain is formed by a linear condensation, in the appropriate sequence, of eight methylmalonates and two malonates with the subsequent esterification of the C-25 hydroxyl with acetate. Two precursors were found preferentially to label the chromophore: [3,4-14C2]glucose and [1-14C]glycerate. Out of the seven carbon in the chromophore not deriving from acetate of propionate only C-14 and C-10 appeared significantly enriched by [1-13C]glucose. This labeling pattern, coupled with the 14C incorporation data, suggest that the chromophore may derive from an intermediate of the common pathway of aromatic biosynthesis, before the level of shikimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six Australian dermatologists agreed to participate in a pilot study on their prescribing habits. The many medicaments they prescribed in their private practices as pharmaceutical benefits under the National Health Act 1953-1973 during the months of October, 1972, and February, 1973, are tabulated and discussed. The preparations most often ordered were classified into groups which included antibiotics, sulphonamides, antihistamines, drugs acting on the nervous system, corticosteroids, fungistatics, antimalarials and topical applications. Apart from the selection of tetracyclines and betamethasone in topical applications, the results are interesting because they show diversity rather than similarity in the approach to dermatological treatment by these six dermatologists. The differences in selecting either griseofulvin or nystatin are given explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the problems encountered by third-party insurance carriers in establishing the reimbursement schedules used in outpatient prescription prepayment drug plans. In a research funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration and conducted at the Ohio State University, some difficulties were experienced in collecting prescription ingredient costs: identifying source of purchase, drug wholesaler or manufacturer; determining monthly wholesale discounts, and; determining chain pharmacy warehouse costs. The results obtained were: cost differentials caused by drug wholesale monthly discounts are not related to annual prescription volume, but do vary with degree of wholesale purchases, and; average prescription ingredient costs are not affected by the degree of direct purchasing from drug manufacturers and the annual prescription volume of pharmacy.

Copyright of International Journal of Dermatology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Dermatology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Points relevance between medical and sociological images of family life are discussed with emphasis upon family interaction, genetics, and familial epidemiology. Recent findings from medical and sociological research are reviewed with reference to the family functions of (a) physical well-being and health maintenance and (b) biological reproduction. The family is discussed as a unit in medical care. The conclusion is that, whereas most families appear to be supportive and helpful in times of crises such as illness, there are occasions when effective medical treatment requires an assessment of the diagnostic, treatment, and nursing patterns of the patient and his family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in vitro cytotoxic effect of spleen cells of mice immunized by tumour allografts was studied by measuring target cell inactivation as a function of release of radioactive label (51 Cr) or loss of cloning efficiency. When sensitized lymphoid cells were incubated with target cells at a ratio of 100: 1, up to 90 per cent of the incorporated label was released within 6–9 hours, while the number of clone- forming cells was reduced by up to 99 per cent in the same time period. Isoantiserum from the graft recipients, as well as its 1 9S and 7S fractions, protected target cells against the toxic effect of the spleen cells, but a lipoprotein antigen isolated from the tumour cells failed to inhibit the cytotoxic reaction. Target cell lysis as measured by specific release of 51Cr was partially inhibited by actinomycin-D and by cycloheximide at concentrations which effectively blocked DNA! dependent RNA and protein synthesis.

A polemic in which it is argued that the use of drugs among contemporary American youth is but one of many different behaviors and mystiques pervading their life. Thus, a fascination with the encounter, with ethnicity, with expressive politics, with nomadism, with sexuality, as well as with drugs, suggests that youth are engaged in a frustrating dialectic between freedom and commitment. The search for freedom is not political but rather a groping for sensate and affectual liberation. The dilemma posed by the inevitable constraints of commitment generates an awesome paradox which accounts for the anguish of the generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to deal effectively with the problem of narcotics addiction, it is necessary to determine precisely what harms we wish to control. To protect the public from the violent crime that seems to be associated with drug addiction, it may be appropriate to resort to the model of "civil commitment," to provide compulsory treatment to those drug users who are thought likely to inflict harm on others as a result of their addiction. On the other hand, to protect the user from drugs which are harmful only to him, it may be appropriate to resort to the regulatory model by which we control the distribution of other hazardous consumer goods. Neither interest is well served by the criminal model on which we now rely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on "possession" or trance in a revivalistic Negro church. As maintained by the authors, trance has an almost world wide distribution, provided one includes the ecstatic states of the shaman and priest, possession induced by the physiological action of various drugs and multiple possessions at religious and semi-religious ceremonies. Excluding the chemically induced trance, the other forms may be distinguished on two possible groups, that of, a suggested but not proved, physiological and psychological difference between the two states and the valid sociological distinction that in one case people occupying particular and limited statuses within a wider group experience trance, and in the other case, the experience is open to all members of a defined group, irrespective of the status. The trance state can further be defined by behavior patterns involving mild body convulsions, prolonged dancing, usually to music that appears to be a semi-stupor state and falling to the floor either with body contractions or remaining still as in a faint. Participants describe the later behavior as a prolonged or momentary loss of voluntary control over body movements.

The mechanism of folic acid antagonist drugs in the treatment of psoriasis is discussed. The effects of therapy with one of these drugs, intravenous methotrexate, are reported. One fatality is described, all the remaining patients being cleared by treatment, for an average period of about one month. Apart from the fatality in a patient with renal damage not detected by laboratory tests, side effects of therapy were minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of the extravascular tissue factors contributing to purpuric manifestations of dermatoses might be of some help in their understanding, and could give hints of differential diagnostic importance. The various macroscopic and microscopic tissue factors contributing to the manifestations of dermatological purpuras are reviewed. While the importance of the vessel fragility factor is often stressed when the pathogenesis of dermatological purpuras is considered, the extravascular tissue factor is very often neglected. Although this tissue fragility factor is intimately bound up with the vessel fragility factor, one should strive to dissociate the two. Intracutaneous injections of the patient's own blood or of dye solutions may be of help in doing so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study on the three-stage learning theory of drug use. The desire to use a drug and the element of fear are a function of learning process over a period of time. There are three stages in this process with different effects on the individual and different behavioral consequences. The first stage involves the actor in primarily a respondent role, learning with his friend, the desire, risks and techniques of using drugs. The second stage is the period during which an individual transfers to an operant role and actually tries a drug. The third stage is the stage of stable drug-use patterns. In order to test this theory of drug use, the authors used an ex post facto design. The study employed a questionnaire administered anonymously to a random sample of undergraduate classes at the University of Southern California. It is evident that students are learning to use drugs at the university. For instance, 28% of freshman tried cannabis, while the percentages of juniors and seniors were 44% and 45%, respectively. One further observation involves the distribution among fraternity and sorority students. It was suggested that the Greek community might be less likely to use drugs due to the supposedly conservative political nature of the fraternities and sororities.

The article discusses the economic reform legislation with reference to the Drug Amendment Act of 1962. According to the article, demand for many prescription drugs is almost perfectly inelastic. Supply can be restricted by drug firms, which secure product patents not licensing them. This results in high price and enormous profit margins. The situation is aggravated by weaknesses in patent laws and practices and in the regulations governing drug advertising. Advertising abuses relate chiefly to drug nomenclature and to the quantity and quality of sales efforts. Few of the original provisions of the senate bill was that the Food and Drug Administration should be given authority to establish generic names for drugs and that the Food and Drug Administration shall pass upon the efficacy as well as safety of drugs. The amended bill was passed by both houses and became law on October 10, 1962, as the "Drug Amendments of 1962." The ability of generic drug firms to compete with brand-name firms is slightly increased by the provisions for registration and inspection of plants.

The article focuses on the associations of narcotic addicts as compared with normals. Five broad motivation categories have been postulated as explanations for drug dependency. In this study, narcotic addicts' unusual associations to the dependance need were supportive of aggression theories. Unusual associations between the affiliation and succorance needs supported socialization theories. The use of drugs to escape conflicts centered around these needs might be related to avoidance theories. The motivational deviations of the "typical" narcotic addict evaluated in this article is summarized

This article examines the MMPI standard score differences between state hospital Patient's Rights Office visitors and norms for new admissions to the hospital. Both male and female psychiatric subjects scored significantly higher than their respective admission norm groups on four MMPI scales, while male alcohol and drug subjects scored significantly higher than male admission norms for their unit on eight scales. Results supported the conclusion that patients' Right Office visitors from both the psychiatric and alcohol and drug units of the hospital in the sample suffered from more pathology than the patient on their respective units.

This article investigates the relationship between drug involvement and purpose in life among tenth grade high school students. Four hundred sixteen high school students completed a Purpose in Life Test, a drug involvement survey, and a general information questionnaire which provided information concerning sex of user, ethnic group, and father image. Analysis of these data established the existence of a relationship between the extent of student drug involvement and their purpose in life. Results indicated a significant negative relationship between drug involvement and purpose in life for the total group studied, for males as a group, and for all Anglo-American subjects.

The article offers a comparison of drug-users with drug experimenters and nondrug-users on internal versus external locus of control. Drug-experimenters, drug-users, and nondrug-users in a college population took the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale in the standard way (self scores) and then in the role of students with similar and different drug backgrounds (ascribed scores). The comparison of ascribed scores and self scores suggests that drug-users are stereotyped as having a more generalized expectancy of external control than they actually demonstrate.

Presents information on the "International Journal of Dermatology." Focus on the development of education in dermatology; Introduction of the new column "The Current Readings in World Literature" by the journal; Information that the new drugs will be discussed in depth and changes in older products will be noted in brief.

This article focuses on the information related to pharmaceutical documentation preview. Eugene Garfield of Documation Inc., Woodbury, New Jersey, has announced the inauguration of Pharmaceutical Documentation Preview. Details will be made available at a later date, but the plan is basically the same as that for Management's Documentation Preview except that it will include medical, chemical, and pharmaceutical journals.