potassium-permanganate and Amphetamine-Related-Disorders

Research shows that essential/precursor chemical controls have had substantial impacts on US methamphetamine and heroin availability. This study examines whether US federal essential chemical regulations have impacted US cocaine seizure amount, price and purity-indicators of cocaine availability.. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA)-intervention time-series analysis was used to assess the impacts of four US regulations targeting cocaine manufacturing chemicals: potassium permanganate/selected solvents, implemented October 1989 sulfuric acid/hydrochloric acid, implemented October 1992; methyl isobutyl ketone, implemented May 1995; and sodium permanganate, implemented December 2006. Of these chemicals, potassium permanganate and sodium permanganate are the most critical to cocaine production.. Conterminous United States (January 1987-April 2011).. Monthly time-series: purity-adjusted cocaine seizure amount (in gross weight seizures < 6000 grams), purity-adjusted price (all available seizures), and purity (all available seizures).. System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence.. The 1989 potassium permanganate/solvents regulation was associated with a seizure amount decrease (change in series level) of 28% (P < 0.05), a 36% increase in price (P < 0.05) and a 4% decrease in purity (P < 0.05). Availability recovered in 1-2 years. The 2006 potassium permanganate regulation was associated with a 22% seizure amount decrease (P < 0.05), 100% price increase (P < 0.05) and 35% purity decrease (P < 0.05). Following the 2006 regulation, essentially no recovery occurred to April 2011. The other two chemical regulations were associated with statistically significant but lesser declines in indicated availability.. In the United States, essential chemical controls from 1989 to 2006 were associated with pronounced downturns in cocaine availability.

Topics: Amphetamine-Related Disorders; Central Nervous System Stimulants; Cocaine; Drug and Narcotic Control; Humans; Hydrochloric Acid; Methyl n-Butyl Ketone; Potassium Permanganate; Sodium Compounds; Sulfuric Acids; United States

To examine a syndrome of chronic manganism that occurs in drug addicts in eastern Europe who use intravenous methcathinone (ephedrone) contaminated with potassium permanganate. In many cases the basal ganglia, especially the globus pallidus and the putamen, are damaged irreversibly. Routine neuropsychological assessment has revealed no cognitive deficits, despite widespread abnormalities on brain imaging studies and severe extrapyramidal motor handicap on clinical examination.. Case-control study.. Ephedrone patients and patients with opioid dependence were recruited from Lviv, Ukraine.. We tested 15 patients with ephedrone-induced toxicity, 13 opiate-dependent patients who were receiving opioid replacement therapy and 18 matched healthy volunteers.. The 'beads task', an information-gathering task to assess reflection impulsivity, was used and feedback learning, working memory and risk-taking were also assessed.. Opiate-dependent patients differed from controls on three of four tasks, whereas ephedrone patients differed from controls on only one task. More specifically, both patient groups were more impulsive and made more irrational choices on the beads task than controls (P < 0.001). However, ephedrone patients had no deficits in working memory (P > 0.1) or risk-taking (P > 0.1) compared with controls. Opioid-dependent patients had significantly worse working memory (P < 0.001) and were significantly more risk-prone than controls (P = 0.002).. Ephedrone patients may have similar deficits in information-gathering and decision-making to opiate-dependent patients, with preservation of working memory and risk-taking. This may reflect specific damage to anterior cingulate- basal ganglia loops.

Topics: Adult; Amphetamine-Related Disorders; Case-Control Studies; Decision Making; Drug Contamination; Feedback, Psychological; Female; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Information Seeking Behavior; Male; Manganese Poisoning; Memory, Short-Term; Neuropsychological Tests; Opiate Substitution Treatment; Opioid-Related Disorders; Parkinson Disease, Secondary; Potassium Permanganate; Propiophenones; Risk-Taking; Substance Abuse, Intravenous