Parrott Andrew C, Hayley Amie C, Downey Luke A
Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia.
Hum Psychopharmacol. 2017 May;32(3). doi: 10.1002/hup.2594. Epub 2017 May 30.
Recreational drugs are taken for their positive mood effects, yet their regular usage damages well-being. The psychobiological mechanisms underlying these damaging effects will be debated.
The empirical literature on recreational cannabinoids and stimulant drugs is reviewed. A theoretical explanation for how they cause similar types of damage is outlined.
All psychoactive drugs cause moods and psychological states to fluctuate. The acute mood gains underlie their recreational usage, while the mood deficits on withdrawal explain their addictiveness. Cyclical mood changes are found with every central nervous system stimulant and also occur with cannabis. These mood state changes provide a surface index for more profound psychobiological fluctuations. Homeostatic balance is altered, with repetitive disturbances of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and disrupted cortisol-neurohormonal secretions. Hence, these drugs cause increased stress, disturbed sleep, neurocognitive impairments, altered brain activity, and psychiatric vulnerability. Equivalent deficits occur with novel psychoactive stimulants such as mephedrone and artificial "spice" cannabinoids. These psychobiological fluctuations underlie drug dependency and make cessation difficult. Psychobiological stability and homeostatic balance are optimally restored by quitting psychoactive drugs.
Recreational stimulants such as cocaine or MDMA (3.4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) and sedative drugs such as cannabis damage human homeostasis and well-being through similar core psychobiological mechanisms.
人们使用消遣性药物是为了获得积极的情绪效应，然而长期使用会损害身心健康。关于这些损害作用背后的心理生物学机制存在争议。
对有关消遣性大麻素和兴奋剂药物的实证文献进行综述。概述了它们如何造成类似损害类型的理论解释。
所有精神活性药物都会导致情绪和心理状态波动。急性情绪改善是其消遣性使用的基础，而戒断时的情绪缺陷则解释了它们的成瘾性。每一种中枢神经系统兴奋剂都会出现周期性情绪变化，大麻使用时也会出现这种情况。这些情绪状态变化为更深刻的心理生物学波动提供了一个表面指标。内稳态平衡被改变，下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴反复受到干扰，皮质醇 - 神经激素分泌紊乱。因此，这些药物会导致压力增加、睡眠障碍、神经认知损害、大脑活动改变以及精神疾病易感性。新型精神活性兴奋剂如甲麻黄碱和人工合成“香料”大麻素也会出现类似的缺陷。这些心理生物学波动是药物依赖的基础，使得戒毒困难。通过戒掉精神活性药物可最佳程度地恢复心理生物学稳定性和内稳态平衡。
消遣性兴奋剂如可卡因或摇头丸（3,4 - 亚甲基二氧甲基苯丙胺）以及镇静药物如大麻通过类似的核心心理生物学机制损害人类内稳态和身心健康。
