The "cat-and-mouse game" between those who enable athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and those who try to detect such use provides a wealth of interesting examples for the undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry classroom. In this article, we focus on several commonly used PEDs, including amphetamine, anabolic steroids,…

Aim: To assess college students' attributions for abstinence from alcohol and illicit drugs. Method: We recruited 125 undergraduates to rate the degree to which each of 41 listed reasons influenced their abstention from six specific substances (alcohol, MDMA/ecstasy, inhalants, cocaine, marijuana, and hallucinogens). Findings: Internal consistency…

This forensic chemistry activity utilizes presumptive forensic testing procedures and laboratory chemicals that produce screening results similar to controlled substances. For obvious reasons, obtaining heavily regulated controlled substances to create an undergraduate student activity is not practical for most educational institutions. We were…

This report presents the 2008 National Drug Control Strategy of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The overarching goal of the President's Strategy is to reduce drug use in America through a balanced approach that focuses on stopping use before it starts, healing America's drug users, and disrupting the market for illegal…

To examine the effect of reinforcer density in prize-based abstinence reinforcement, heroin/cocaine users (N = 116) in methadone maintenance (100 mg/day) were randomly assigned to a noncontingent control group (NonC) or to 1 of 3 groups that earned prize draws for abstinence: manual drawing with standard prize density (MS) or computerized drawing…

This publication discusses the many different ways medicines work in the body and how this information guides the hunt for drugs of the future. The science of pharmacology--understanding the basics of how our bodies react to medicines and how medicines affect our bodies--is already a vital part of 21st-century research. Pharmacology is a broad…