OBJECTIVE:To understand crack cocaine craving among users and describe craving behaviors and coping strategies.

Oral ketamine, given for longer time periods in the described doses, appears to be well tolerated, but few studies have systematically examined the longer-term negative consequences. The short- and longer-term depression outcomes as well as side-effects need to be studied with rigorous randomised controlled trials.

Researches have emphasized religiosity as a protective factor against drug use although the mechanism through which it occurs is still unknown. This article aims to explore religious beliefs that could prevent drug use among youth. Three sources of qualitative data were used: participant observation in 21 religious institutions, semistructured interviews of 37 religious leaders, and 6 focus groups comprised of 55 religious drug-naïve youths. The young people's discourses and the sermons of religious leaders revealed that conceptions about drugs were based on media content, with little religious or scientific context. Catholics and Spiritists considered the consumption of licit drugs less harmful than that of illicit ones and were especially tolerant of the use of alcohol. Protestants were more emphatic when describing all drugs as being harmful to one's health. Findings suggest that young people who practice a religion invoke several religious concepts to justify their choice for not using drugs, and they attribute this position more to the family legacy than to their own religiosity. Thus youths' antidrug position was more reflective of family values than religious beliefs.

Background: Because of the shortcomings of traditional pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there has been growing interest in the rapid mood-enhancing effect of ketamine. Objectives:To analyze what has been posted about ketamine use for dealing with self-reported depression and/or PTSD on one of the biggest international message boards on the internet. Methods: Qualitative study with online observation of threaded discussions on Bluelight. In-depth online searches were conducted in 2018. Twenty-nine threads, with a total of 708 units of analysis, were selected and subjected to content analysis, where, via a coding process, the units of analysis were organized into nodes. Results: Despite having several negative effects (e.g. dizziness, nausea and inability to talk), the examined discourses suggested that the use of ketamine to elevate mood was both efficient and worthwhile. Intranasal use was the most common route of administration mentioned. We traced how the mood enhancement caused by ketamine is perceived: the loss of pleasure disappears, as well as the depressed mood; the markedly diminished interest in activities vanishes and motivation comes back. From all the posts analyzed, only two reported negative outcomes (i.e. no mood-enhancing effect). The most mentioned adverse event was damage to the urinary bladder and the kidneys in cases of misuse. Conclusion: Although online research of user-generated content has its limitations in terms of reliability and validity, the present study adds relevant information on the use of ketamine for managing depression and PTSD, whether this use is done legally or not.

No abstract

No abstract