Special lecture: Drugs ____ Mr. Adjetey

Special lecture:

Drugs____

Mr. Adjetey

Topics1. Addictions2. Effects of Drugs: Marijuana, Alcohol,

Tobacco, Cocaine and Heroin 3. Help Quitting Addictions

Addiction: What is it?• Addicts are habitual drug users, but not all

habitual drug users are addicts. Addicts are those habitual drug users who continue to use a drug despite its adverse effects on their health and social life and despite their repeated efforts to stop using it.

• Does this description fit your personality?• You will remember from the movie “What

The Bleep Do We Really Know” we can also be addicted to our emotions.

Addiction: What is it?• After significant amounts of drugs have been

in the body for a period of time, its sudden elimination can trigger a physiological reaction, known as withdrawal syndrome.

• These effects, always opposite to the initial effects of the drug are usually very distressing to the individual.

Addiction: What is it?Drug Tolerance: • As drug usage increases individuals develop a

tolerance to the initial drug. • The drug user will continually require higher

doses of the same drug in order to achieve the same initial “high”.

Effects of Various Drugs: Marijuana, Alcohol, and Tobacco, Cocaine and

Heroin

Effects of Various Drugs: Marijuana, Alcohol, and

Tobacco, Cocaine and Heroin

• When a cigarette is smoked, nicotine – the major psychoactive ingredient of tobacco – and some 4,000 other chemicals, collectively referred to as tar, are absorbed through the lungs.

• Each year, tobacco is responsible for over 3 million deaths worldwide.

• There is no question that heavy smokers are drug addicts in every sense of the word. The compulsive craving for the next cigarette is the defining feature of an addiction.

• Depression, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, constipation, difficulties in sleeping and concentration, are some of the effects that come from nicotine withdrawal.



• Alcohol is classified as a depressant because at moderate to high doses it depresses brain activity. However, at low doses it can stimulate brain activity and may help facilitate social interaction.

• High doses of alcohol result in unconsciousness; and if blood levels reach .5% there is a risk of death.



• Chronic alcohol consumption produces extensive brain damage.– Korsakoff’s Syndrome: a neuropsychological disorder

that is characterized by severe memory loss, sensory/motor dysfunction and severe dementia.

– Cirrhosis of the liver, which is the major cause of death among heavy alcoholics, erodes the muscles of the heart and thus increases the risk of heart attack.

• At no time is alcohol consumption safe during pregnancy.



• Marijuana is the name commonly given to the dried leaves and flowers of the Cannabis sativa (the common hemp plant). – THC contains over 80 Cannabinoids. It is a chemical

that produces psychoactive effects within the body of the individual.

– Although the effects of typical social doses of marijuana are subtle, higher doses can impair psychological functioning. Short-term memory is impaired and the ability to carry out tasks involving multiple steps to reach specific goals declines. Speech becomes slurred and meaningful conversation becomes difficult with chronic use of marijuana.



• A sense of altered reality, emotional intensification, sensory distortion, and motor impairment are also common. Although, marijuana has been shown to curb aggressive behaviour.

• The addiction potential of marijuana is low however, it can function as a gateway drug that tends to lead to the use of other more serious drugs.

• The occasional use of marijuana in small amounts has few permanent adverse effects. Even long-term heavy use of marijuana has effects that are far less severe than those of nicotine and alcohol.



Two Adverse effects of heavy marijuana use have been well documented.

1. The minority of regular marijuana smokers tend to develop respiratory problems.

2. Marijuana produces tachycardia (elevated heart rate) and in single but large doses can trigger heart attacks in susceptible individuals.



• Coca-cola is a mild commercial stimulant consumed by many people around the world. Today, it’s stimulant action is attributable to caffeine, but when it was first introduced it packed a real “punch” in the form of small amounts of cocaine.



• Cocaine is prepared from the leaves of the coca bush, which is found primarily in Peru and Bolivia. – For centuries, a crude extract called coca paste has been made directly

from the leaves and eaten. Today it is more common to treat the coca paste and extract Cocaine Hydrochloride (the white powder). It may also be boiled in a solution of baking soda to produce Crack.



• Cocaine is frequently consumed in binges, binges in which extremely high levels of intake are maintained for periods of a day or two; this is commonly referred to as a Cocaine Spree. – The results of these Cocaine Sprees include sleeplessness,

tremors, nausea, hyperthermia, and psychotic behavior – described as being similar to an individual diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia.

– During Cocaine Sprees, there is a risk of loss of consciousness, seizures, respiratory arrest, heart attack or stroke.


Heroin

• Cocaine snorting can damage the nasal membranes and cocaine smoking can damage the lungs: but both routes are safer than IV injection. Fatalities from cocaine overdoses are most likely to follow from IV injection.

• Cocaine is extremely addictive! As it blocks certain neurotransmitters in the brain and increases others.


Heroin

• Opium, which is the sap that exudes from the seed of the opium poppy has several psychoactive ingredients.

• Opiates have a clear Dr. Jekyll – and Hyde character. On their Dr. Jekyll side, the opiates are unmatched as analgesics (pain killers). The Mr. Hyde character brings the risk of addiction.


Heroin

• Heroin had been synthesized in 1870 by the addition of two groups of morphine molecules. In 1898 heroin was marketed by the Bayer drug Company. It was freely available without prescription and was widely advertised as a super Aspirin.

• The effect of opiates most valued by addicts is the rush that follows intravenous injection (syringe). The Heroin rush is a wave of intense abdominal, orgasmic pleasure that evolves in a state of serene, drowsy euphoria.

• Opiate tolerance encourages addicts to progress to higher and higher doses.


Heroin

• The main risks are constipation, pupil constriction, menstrual irregularity, and reduced libido(sex drive). Opiate addiction is more prevalent among doctors, nurses and dentists than among other any professional.

• Withdrawal symptoms include: extreme cases of chills, shivering, profuse sweating, goose-flesh, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, pains dilated pupils, tremors, muscle spasms and leg spasms.


Heroin

Help Quitting Addictions

As you have read from the descriptions of various types of drugs. Drug usage and abuse are very serious issues. However, with appropriate steps and the right resources and supports drug addiction can be stopped, and addicts can go back to living normal, productive lives. The following are a list of local resources that can help with drug addiction:

1. http://www.canadadrugrehab.ca/ON/Erie-St-Clair.html2. http://www.addictionenders.com/drug_rehab_windsor.html3. http://www.oatc.ca/

Also, your teachers and guidance counselors are there to help you but, you have to be the one to

communicate with them.

3. Help Quitting Addictions

http://www.canadadrugrehab.ca/ON/Erie-St-Clair.html

http://www.addictionenders.com/drug_rehab_windsor.html

http://www.oatc.ca/

Documents

Special lecture: Drugs ____ Mr. Adjetey