Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 02/06/2021 16:17:57

Title: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 02/06/2021 16:17:57
Is it possible for the psychoactive components of a drug to take effect on the human brain within seconds like we too often see in the movies?
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: alancalverd on 02/06/2021 16:27:05
Yes. Consider normal anesthetic procedure: "Please count down from ten" - very few patients get below five before joining the fairies.
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: Bored chemist on 02/06/2021 17:15:57
Nicotine reaches the brain within about 10 seconds of smoking.
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: CliffordK on 02/06/2021 17:18:55
It is all about delivery method. So, inhaled will get in much quicker than oral.  What about IV dosing?

I'm not sure I've ever had any, but I presume "Laughing Gas" has rapid onset.
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 02/06/2021 17:33:45
There was a case in Canada where an unstable woman named Cindy James, who obsessively alleged that she was being watched and harassed, wound up dead with her legs and arms bound together and a high dose of heroin in her system. The Canadian police declared it an obvious murder case, as someone with that amount of dope in their system could not tie themselves in such a way. Eventually, it was a journalist (not a physician) that pointed out that even if the drug was administered intravenously, it should have taken 10-15 minutes to reach her CNS. He then hired a woman matching the dead woman's age and physical characteristics to see if she could tie herself up the same way within 10 minutes. She was able to.
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: vhfpmr on 05/06/2021 14:11:15
I presume "Laughing Gas" has rapid onset.
IME it takes quite a few breaths before you get a big enough dose, so I think it might be difficult to define the time precisely.
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 06/06/2021 19:32:29
And
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: inquisitivemind on 30/06/2021 03:51:38
Speaking from experience working in a psychiatric facility, yes, there are drugs that start working within seconds, but they are typically the sedative ones, and are either given IM (i.e., Haldol) or a dissolvable (i.e., Zyprexa Zydis).  Other psychiatric or psychoactive drugs, such as mood stabilizers or anti-depressants typically take several days, if not weeks to start working, at least to the full extent they can.
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: Origin on 30/06/2021 13:28:22
After one inhalation of pot the effects can be felt within a few seconds, so the answer is yes.  If a drug is taken orally the effects can take between 20 minutes to over an hour, so the answer is no.  IOW it depends on the drug and the method of delivery.
Title: Re: Is it possible for a psychoactive drug to take effect within seconds?
Post by: Bored chemist on 30/06/2021 17:16:58
Speaking from experience working in a psychiatric facility, yes, there are drugs that start working within seconds, but they are typically the sedative ones, and are either given IM (i.e., Haldol) or a dissolvable (i.e., Zyprexa Zydis).  Other psychiatric or psychoactive drugs, such as mood stabilizers or anti-depressants typically take several days, if not weeks to start working, at least to the full extent they can.
This is actually a more interesting point.
It's easy to see how a drug in the blood affects the brain within seconds- because that's how long it takes the blood to get from your arm or lungs or whatever to the brain.

It's much more interesting that some drugs take weeks to work.