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Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc.,publishing as Benjamin Cummings

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1414Illicit Drugs:Illicit Drugs:

Use, Misuse, and Use, Misuse, and AbuseAbuse

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Objectives

• Discuss the six categories of drugs, and explain their routes of administration.

• Discuss patterns of illicit drug use, including who uses them, and why.

• Discuss the use and abuse of controlled substances.

• Profile illegal drug use in the United States, including frequency, financial impact, arrests for drug offenses, and impact on the workplace.


Drug Dynamics

• Drugs work by physically resembling chemicals produced naturally in the body

• Receptor site theory – drugs bind to specific receptor sites in the body


Type of Drugs

• Prescription

• Over-the-counter (OTC)

• Recreational

• Herbal

• Illicit

• Commercial


Routes of Administration of Drugs

• Oral ingestion

• Injection:

• Intravenous

• Intramuscular

• Subcutaneous

• Inhalation

• Inunction

• Suppositories


Figure 14.1 How the Body Metabolizes Drugs

Figure 14.1


Using, Misusing, and Abusing Drugs

• Drug misuse – the use of a drug for a purpose for which it is not intended

• Drug abuse – excessive use of drugs

• Addiction – the habitual reliance on a substance or behavior to produce a desired mood


Table 14.2 Selected Drugs and Risk of Dependence

Table 14.2


Illicit Drugs

• Illicit drugs – drugs that are illegal to possess, produce, or sell

• Estimated that 9.4% of full-time employees in the United States is under the influence of illicit substances or alcohol

• 2003 – estimated 19.2 million Americans were illicit drug users


Who Uses Illicit Drugs?

• 2003 – 52% of college students had tried any drug

• 30.7% of college students have tried marijuana vs. 9% of all Americans


Table 14.1 Prevalence of Use for Various Types of Drugs, 2002

Table 14.1


Controlled Substances

• Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-513) – created categories for both prescription and illegal substances

• Schedule I drugs – highest potential for abuse, with no medicinal purpose

• Schedule II, III, IV, and V – have known and accepted medical purposes, but many present a serious threat to health when misused or abused


Table 14.3 How Drugs Are Scheduled

Table 14.3


Stimulants

• Cocaine:

• Methods of cocaine use:

• “Snorting”

• Smoking (freebasing)

• Injection

• Physical effects:

• Euphoric

• Increased heart rate and blood pressure

• Loss of appetite

• Convulsions


Figure 14.3 Ups and Downs of a Typical Dose of Cocaine

Figure 14.3


Stimulants (continued)

• Amphetamines:

• Sold under a variety of names: bennies, dex, meth, speed, cross tops, uppers

• Methamphetamine – powerfully addicting, easily made using over-the-counter drugs

• Ice – a potent methamphetamine, usually imported from Asia that is purer and more crystalline than U.S. version


Marijuana

• Physical effects – dilation of blood vessels in the eyes, dry mouth, increased appetite, lowered blood pressure, mild muscular weakness

• Users may experience severe anxiety, panic, paranoia, and psychosis

• Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – psychoactive substance in marijuana


Opiates

• Also called narcotics

• Derived from opium, the dark, resinous substance made from the juice of the opium poppy

• Powerful depressant of the central nervous system

• Derivatives include morphine, codeine

• Synthetic opiates: Percodan, Demerol, and Dilaudid

• Oxycontin, another powerful opiate

• Heroin – highly addictive

• Endorphins are manufactured in the body and have many receptor sites


Treatment for Heroin Addiction

• Most heroin addiction programs are not very successful

• Distinct pattern of withdrawal:

• Crave another dose 4–6 hours after initial dose

• 12 hours after initial dose – sleep disturbance, irritability, muscle tremors

• 24–72 hours – nausea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, diarrhea

• Methadone – synthetic narcotic that blocks the effects of opiate withdrawal


Hallucinogens

• Psychedelics – mind manifesting

• Reticular formation – located in the brain stem; when hallucinogen reaches this site “messages” become scrambled

• Synesthesia – sensory messages are mixed (smell colors, or hear tastes)

• Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)


Figure 14.4 The Reticular Formation

Figure 14.4


Hallucinogens

• Mescaline – derived from peyote cactus

• Psilocybin – derived from a group of mushrooms

• Phencyclidine (PCP) – synthetic substance originally developed as a “dissociative anesthetic”


Designer Drugs

• Collectively known as club drugs:

• Ecstasy

• GHB

• Special K

• Rohypnol


Inhalants

• Chemicals which produce vapors capable of causing hallucinations and create intoxicating and euphoric effects

• Some agents are organic solvent by-products of the distillation of petroleum products:

• Rubber cement, model glue, paint thinner, lighter fluid, varnish, wax, and gasoline


Steroids

• Anabolic steroids – artificial forms of the male hormone testosterone

• Ergogenic drugs – substance that enhances athletic performance

• Two forms:• Injectable solutions

• Pills

• Variety of adverse effects: mood swings, acne, liver tumors, elevated cholesterol levels, hypertension, kidney disease

• Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990 – Schedule III drug


Illegal Drug Use in the United States

• Costs of illegal drug use in the U.S. is $160 billion

• Estimate includes costs associated with substance abuse treatment and prevention, health care, reduced job productivity and lost earnings, and social consequences such as crime and welfare

• Roughly half of the expenditures goes toward combating crime related to illegal drugs

• Drugs in the workplace – highest rates of illicit drug use by industry: construction, food preparation, restaurant, transportation, and material-moving industries


Solutions to the Problem

• Educating young people

• Stricter border surveillance

• Longer prison sentences

• Increased government spending on prevention

• Enforcing anti-drug laws

• More research