CHARACTERIZING THE PHARMACOLOGICAL PROFILE OF MEPHEDRONE AND DETERMINING THE ABUSE LIABILITY MECHANISMS

Abstract

Illicit drug use has been a growing concern over the past few decades. The rise in use of illegal drugs drove the government and law enforcement to aggressively tackle this problem and crackdown on the illicit use of drugs. However, this sparked a further interest in ‘legal highs.’ Before 2011, among the newly popular ‘legal highs’ was ‘Bath Salts.’ Cathinone is a monoamine alkaloid and the active ingredient found in the leaves of the khat plant. The psychoactive form of bath salts may contain a mixture of synthesized cathinones, including, 4-methyl-N-methcathinone (mephedrone), 3,4-methylenedioxy-N- methylcathinone (methylone) and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV). These three are commonly found in bath salts. One of the major psychoactive ingredients in bath salts is mephedrone. Mephedrone grew in popularity due to its low price, accessibility, and the shortage of MDMA, thus making mephedrone the prime drug to sell as a ‘legal high’ up until 2011 when it became banned in the United S