Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) is the most cultivated, trafficked and consumed illicit drug worldwide. Estimates indicate 10% of individuals experiencing marijuana become daily users, and 20-30% use it weekly. Around 489 natural compounds have been identified in this plant, of which 70 are cannabinoids, responsible for psychic effects. The most relevant cannabinoid is Δ9-THC, recognized as the main chemical substance with psychoactive effects. The aims of this work was to investigate whether other drugs interfere with the colorimetric tests Fast Blue B and Duquenois-Levine, widely used for marijuana screening in forensic chemistry laboratories.

Designer drug is a term used to describe psychoactive drugs of abuse which are usually synthesized by modifying the molecular structures of existing drugs of abuse. The term gained widespread popularity when MDMA (ecstasy) experienced a popularity boom in the mid 1980´s. In Brazil, designer drugs seizures have increased in the last few years, and actually tablets with unknown psychoactive compounds began to be forwarded to the Forensic Laboratories. This work describes the analytical assays that were performed to identify the chlorophenylpiperazine, a psychoactive substance first time identified in seized tablets in Sao Paulo state.

Não há um perfil determinado para o usuário de substâncias psicoativas. Em diversas pesquisas de diferentes grupos estudados, seja pela faixa etária, gênero, nível social, econômico ou cultural, há indicação que a utilização de drogas não é restrita a um único padrão populacional. Este trabalho tem como objetivo, através de questionários respondidos por dependentes em processo de recuperação, colher informações tanto de sua vida pessoal quanto de sua dependência a substâncias psicoativas, principalmente aquelas de sua preferência, abordando como forma de tratamento as comunidades terapêuticas. A Secretaria Nacional Antidrogas vê as tais comunidades como mais uma abordagem terapêutica utilizada atualmente para o uso abusivo de drogas, juntamente com a psicoterapia analítica, terapia cognitivo-comportamental e prevenção de recaída, tornando a validação dessa metodologia importante no meio científico.

There is no determined profile for the psychoactive substances users. In various researches of different studied groups whether they're by age, gender, social, economy or cultural level, indicates that the use of drugs is not restrict to only one population pattern. Through questionnaires filled in by addicted patients in process of recovering, this work aimed at gathering information about their personal lives, as their dependency of psychoactive substances, mainly those ones of their preference, dealing with Therapeutic Community, as a way of treatment. The anti drugs national department see Therapeutic Community as one extra therapeutic approach used currently in drug abuse, together with analytic psychotherapy, cognitive-behaviorist therapy and relapse prevention, becoming important, then, the validation of this methodology in the scientific circle.