ABSTRACT
Tissue reactions to drugs are related principally to their pharmacodynamic properties which they exercise through direct or indirect mechanisms. The developed methadone treatment for the withdrawal of narcotic drug dependence has renewed and stimulated the interest in its pharmacological properties. Toxic reactions and “amphetamine psychosis” with reversible and irreversible organic changes of the brain are well known. Lesions of vascular character expressed by congestion and subdural and subarachnoid petechiae have been reported in some amphetamine fatalities. The synergistic effect between ethyl alcohol and phenobarbital was demonstrated in a series of rats. The maximum sublethal dose of one drug and half of the other caused a high percentage of fatalities in animals. The significance of the cumulative effects of co-participating biological factors with drug pharmacodynamics, and the most common causes of death in the heroin addicts treated with methadone strongly warn against the indiscriminate use of drugs in addiction by nonmedical and improperly trained professional personnel.
