Dr. Elena Escubedo is Full Professor Pharmacology and main researcher of the research group Neuropsychopharmacology of amphetamine-type stimulants derivant, of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, UB.
She explained that her research area is based and carried out with animal models. This type of research has been carried out with mass consumption drugs. However, her research group also examines new drugs which appear in the market through the synthesis of molecules with little changes in their chemical formula.
These substances break into the market as bath salts, fertilizers and incenses, among others. Due to the fact that they are not popular and people do not normally use them, their psychoactive effects and the degree of their toxicity are unknown. We only hear of them when they lead to deaths, irreversible damages or disturbed behaviours, similar to what happened with MDPV, the infamous “cannibal drug”, or mephedrone, which is similar to a fertilizer with psychoactive effects.
Dr. Escubedo’s research fields are directed to systematically and scientifically studying the effects of these new substances, trying to learn about both their capacity to provoke reinforcement and addiction as well as physical damage. The results presented will be quickly spread in specialised scientific press in the national and international levels.
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