ABSTRACT
The W.H.O. Expert Committee on Drug Dependence lists more than 100 compounds under international narcotics control, presumably as drugs with high dependence liability in man. Many of the compounds studied by the methods are defined as drugs of dependence, and it is the purpose of this report to summarize these data, to classify the electroencephalogram (EEG) events in man, and to attempt a justification of ‘dependence’ in EEG terms. For drugs of dependence, particularly those with high abuse potential, the central effects following their injection, ingestion, or inhalation are rapid in onset and usually short in duration. It is characteristic of the use of dependence-producing drugs that the most rapid introduction is preferred—inhalation and intravenous administration being preferred to oral, intramuscular, or subcutaneous routes. Lysergide, mescaline, amphetamine, meth-amphetamine, and cocaine are hallucinogens with similar central and behavioral effects. Drugs of dependence are of diverse structure and origin, with few behavioral effects in common.
