Brain injury can exist in different forms; such conditions occur after mechanical trauma, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) or after exposure to a number of recreational drugs such as MDMA, methamphetamine, or cocaine. Recent findings have provided some preliminary data showing that brain injury and drug abuse insults may share common pathway(s)leading to neuronal cell injury. Such pathways may be mediated by the activation of the protease families: the pronecrotic calpain and the proapoptotic caspase systems. These proteases can act on a number of substrates including the cytoskeletal...