The very special episode of Family Ties that guest starred Tom Hanks as Alex Keaton’s cough syrup-guzzling, alcoholic uncle scarred me for life. Tom Hanks will be happy to know that he has finally been outdone. News reports circulated this week that people are ingesting hand sanitizers to get drunk. Hand sanitizers contain nearly twice the amount of alcohol as vodka and are toxic because they contain isopropanol, not ethanol. So, hand sanitizers make poor beverages.
Perhaps those in search of a quick high should instead open their wallets and inhale. According to Science Daily, 100% of Euro notes tested near Dublin contained traces of cocaine. Approximately 62% of the Euro notes contained in excess of 2 and 5% contained more than 200 nanograms per note, suggesting these bills might have been used during drug inhalation or transactions. Relative to 5 and 10 Euro notes, 20 and 50 Euro notes tended to have more cocaine residue. Previous studies in the U. S. showed that 65% of dollar bills held traces of cocaine. Researchers believe that cocaine adsorbs to bank notes and rubs off on other bills. Are most people, let alone bankers, therefore sensitized to small amounts of cocaine?
How about LSD? Hallucinogens, like LSD, act at 5-HT2a receptors, as do non-hallucinogens, including lisuride, which is used to treat Parkinson disease. How do 5-HT2a receptors differentially respond to different types of ligand? Gonzalez-Maeso et al. report that hallucinogens activate different cell signaling pathways than do non-hallucinogens in an article published yesterday in Neuron. Both LSD and lisuride act at 5-HT2a receptors to activate phospholipase C-beta via Gq/11 proteins. The authors showed that LSD, but not lisuride, increased the expression of the early growth response-2 (egr-2) gene. A phospholipase C-beta inhibitor, a Src inhibitor and pertussis toxin all blocked LSD-induced increases in egr-2. Therefore, the authors concluded that unlike non-hallucinogens, LSD acts at 5-HT2a receptors to activate pertussis toxin-sensitive Gi/o proteins and Src, which may mediate its hallucinogenic effects.