NP

[Blake Stacey]

Quoting Otto <ottosell at yahoo.de>:

> In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.
> Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
>

And both interfere with the way the brain handles the neurotransmitter
serotonin.  Isn't it a funny world?

More specifically:  Prozac (fluoxetine) is a selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitor (SSRI), which reduces the amount of serotonin which neurons reabsorb
after releasing it into synapses.  LSD, among many other things, is a 
monoamine
oxidase agonist.  The enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO) breaks down 
serotonin; LSD
competes with serotonin for MAO's attentions, thereby increasing the amount of
neurotransmitter floating about.  LSD also acts directly upon the same
receptors which detect serotonin (all of them except 5-HT3 and 5-HT4).  Why
this gets you high is as much a mystery as why Prozac makes you happy -- or
makes you kill yourself, depending.

By mass, LSD is also three orders of magnitude more potent.  Ever heard of
anybody taking Prozac on a blotter?  Didn't think so.

Obligatory Wikipedia links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoxetine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD (featured article, yay!)

Amusement:

http://www.astonishedhead.com/images/OVOID_123.swf

Blake