Psychopharmacology Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior

It is widely known that a large variety of plants contain psychoactive compounds. As will be described in later chapters, many such plants are cultivated specifically for their psychoactive properties, including cannabis, tobacco, coffee, coca, and several others. In addition to these well-known psychoactive plants, there are numerous other plants that grow in the wild and contain psychoactive compounds. In many cases, these wild psychoactive plants have been used in traditional medicine, but their use has largely been discontinued with advances in medical knowledge and the development of selective pharmacological agents.