GHB: Physiological Uses Versus Social Abuses :: Biology Essays Research Papers

GHB: Physiological Uses Versus Social Abuses The human genome is old news. The next generation of thinkers faces the great challenge of establishing how our physiological condition translates into complex thought and behavior. And there has not been a team of researchers more dedicated to empirically finding the answers to these questions than today's experimental teens. As subjects of their own study, these future scientists have quite thoroughly manipulated their mental and physical states through the use of drugs. While drug use may not directly reflect a dedication to science, the devices of these drugs have helped to elucidate the complex functioning of the brain and its effect on one's conscious state. The spirit of this drug culture raises issues important to the neuropsychologist as well as the social psychologist. Negative-effects or side-effects of [recreational] drugs are often considered physiological in nature, and social and political attitudes toward illicit drugs tend to reflect where a drug is presumed to regis ter on the " physically harmful" spectrum. What follows is an explanation of how clinical purposes and recreational uses of a substance may together inform a greater understanding of drug abuse. It appears that issues of over-all health are often connected to both nervous system input, the physiological effects of the drug, and nervous system output, which are the behaviors and alterations in conscious state caused by a drug. The potential advancements in our understanding of the functioning of the nervous system through this "hands-on" research strategy is confounded by the politics that surrounds recreational drug use in the US. Inevitably, the sub-culture of drug experimenters that pops-up as a result of stringent anti-drug enforcement, is not a random sample of the human population. While the DEA and FDA impose upon the research attempts of today's youth, shared information technology has created a space for future scientists to compare their methods and results. Looking up designer drugs on the Internet, I came to a greater understanding of the physiology of the brain as well as the preferences and behavioral patterns of today's youth. Easily manufactured, ubiquitously used, and derived from substances already occurring in the body, GHB is a model drug for addressing these issues. GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutric acid, was first synthesized in 1960 (1). Laborit, a French researcher interested in the effects of GABA on the brain used GHB, a GABA metabolite that can more readily cross the blood brain barrier, in his investigation (2).