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Illicit Drugs: Use, Misuse, and Abuse

14. Illicit Drugs: Use, Misuse, and Abuse. 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.

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Illicit Drugs: Use, Misuse, and Abuse

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  1. 14 Illicit Drugs:Use, Misuse, and Abuse

  2. 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.

  3. 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

  4. Type of Drugs • Prescription • Over-the-counter (OTC) • Recreational • Herbal • Illicit • Commercial

  5. Routes of Administration of Drugs • Oral ingestion • Injection: • Intravenous • Intramuscular • Subcutaneous • Inhalation • Inunction • Suppositories

  6. Figure 14.1 How the Body Metabolizes Drugs Figure 14.1

  7. 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

  8. Table 14.2 Selected Drugs and Risk of Dependence Table 14.2

  9. 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

  10. 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

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

  12. 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

  13. Table 14.3 How Drugs Are Scheduled Table 14.3

  14. Stimulants • Cocaine: • Methods of cocaine use: • “Snorting” • Smoking (freebasing) • Injection • Physical effects: • Euphoric • Increased heart rate and blood pressure • Loss of appetite • Convulsions

  15. Figure 14.3 Ups and Downs of a Typical Dose of Cocaine Figure 14.3

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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

  20. 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)

  21. Figure 14.4 The Reticular Formation Figure 14.4

  22. Hallucinogens • Mescaline – derived from peyote cactus • Psilocybin – derived from a group of mushrooms • Phencyclidine (PCP) – synthetic substance originally developed as a “dissociative anesthetic”

  23. Designer Drugs • Collectively known as club drugs: • Ecstasy • GHB • Special K • Rohypnol

  24. 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

  25. 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

  26. 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

  27. Solutions to the Problem • Educating young people • Stricter border surveillance • Longer prison sentences • Increased government spending on prevention • Enforcing anti-drug laws • More research

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