István Ujváry

2 papers in the library · 55 citations · publishing 2013-2014

Papers

Psychoactive natural products: overview of recent developments.

Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanita January 1, 2014 István Ujváry 47 citations

Since antiquity, natural psychoactive substances have fascinated shamans, artists, scholars, and laypeople. In the twentieth century, the chemical compositions of opium, cannabis, coca, and magic mushrooms were fully elucidated, and their principal ingredients' molecular mechanisms of action were deciphered. Over the past two decades, herbal drugs like kava, kratom, and Salvia divinorum have spread beyond traditional boundaries. This paper summarizes recent psychopharmacology findings on the most prominent psychoactive natural products, reviews lesser-known drugs including bufotenine, glaucine, kava, betel, pituri, lettuce opium, and kanna, and mentions selected alleged natural or semi-natural products.

DOI: 10.4415/ann_14_01_04 Full text Cannabis Psychoactive natural products Mind-altering compounds Natural psychotropics +22

Drug laws and the 'derivative' problem

Drug Testing and Analysis August 15, 2013 Leslie A. King, István Ujváry, Simon D. Brandt 8 citations

The term 'derivative' has a precise but context-dependent meaning in chemistry, yet it appears widely in drug legislation without clear definition. Many assume only first-order derivatives—substances made in one reaction step—are covered, but this excludes substances like 2-carbomethoxytropinone, convertible to cocaine in multiple steps, which courts have ruled as controlled. The US Drug Enforcement Administration successfully argued in 1986 that buprenorphine, requiring six or more steps from thebaine, is a derivative. This ambiguity leaves the legal status of substances like 2-bromo-LSD uncertain. The authors suggest that unless qualified, the term should be avoided in future legislation.

DOI: 10.1002/dta.1523 Legislation Thebaine Derivative finance Statute +9