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Legal Aspects of Psychopharmacology

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Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology

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Synonyms

Allowable; Constitutional; Lawful; Legitimate (aspects of psychopharmacology)

Definition

“Legal” as a topic means falling within the province of the law and its study. It also has the more specific connotation of such as is required by the law and not falling outside what is permitted.

Current Concepts and State of Knowledge

Introduction

Human societies are governed by social rules that moderate our basic biological instincts. Moreover, such social rules reflect moral and ethical principles (Harris 2002). These social institutions and conventions are governed by the rules of law. These can be complex, with codes of law extending to numerous tomes, written in technical legal language. In a complex society, it is almost impossible to find any human activity that is not touched in some way by the law. Psychopharmacology, a branch of science that involves the activities of the most complex human organ, the brain, is particularly affected by rules, regulations, and the panoply of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, Denmark Hill, De Crespigny Park, London, UK

    Malcolm Lader

Authors
  1. Malcolm Lader
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Malcolm Lader .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Behavioural Pharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK

    Ian P. Stolerman

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Butler Hospital, Providence, RI, USA

    Lawrence H. Price

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Lader, M. (2015). Legal Aspects of Psychopharmacology. In: Stolerman, I.P., Price, L.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36172-2_321

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