Introduction

Abstract

There are about 1.6 million new drug abusers per annum in Europe, suggesting that there is an impact need in knowledge when patients are being worked up (Fig. 1). The following book is intended to give the practitioner decisions at hand to choose the most effective treatment, consider potential drug abuse in certain pathological conditions and reflect on the possibility of interaction of abused drugs with their regular medications.

An Incan prophesy says: “If the white man takes coca, one day a white powder will destroy him”. As be seen in the next decades to come, the proliferation of “white powders” in the society, especially cocaine and amphetamine, will reach epidemic proportions. The effect of these substances in terms of social and economic costs is enormous. It is believed by some sociologists that drug abuse is the single greatest danger faced by the Western World. While perhaps an overstatement, drug abuse is a growing menace, fueled in part by greed, social attitudes, and a long history of involvement with psychoactive substances.

The following chapters will cover these “white powders” known as cocaine, amphetamines or ecstasy. Its origins will be traced, from plant to drug, its pharmacology explored and its impact on the human or the animal described with respect to abuse, overdose and dependence.