Transcript The Effects of Drugs over time

Heroin
This is heroin in its most
common form
What is Heroin?
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Heroin is processed from morphine, a natural substance extracted
from the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant.
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Heroin is typically sold as brown powder.
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Street names for heroin include "smack," or “brown”
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It is a highly addictive drug, and its use is a serious problem.
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It is both the most abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates
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Sometimes people inject it but the most common route of use is
smoking it from tin foil, (very few people smoke it rolled into a
cigarettes like cannabis)
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Street heroin is "cut" with other drugs or with substances such as
sugar, starch, powdered milk, quinine, strychnine or other poisons.
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Because heroin users do not know the actual strength of the drug
or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death.
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Heroin creates other problems; the transmission of HIV and other
diseases that can occur sharing needles or injection equipment.
Use of Heroin
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Typically, a heroin user will smoke or inject up
to four times a day. Intravenous injection
provides the greatest intensity and most rapid
onset of euphoria (7 to 8 seconds).
When heroin is smoked, peak effects are usually
felt within 10 to 15 minutes. Although smoking
heroin does not produce a "rush" as quickly or
as intensely as intravenous injection, both forms
of heroin administration are addictive.
Smoking and Injecting
Effects of Heroin
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One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is
addiction itself. Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease,
characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, and by
chemical changes in the brain.
As with users of any addictive drug, heroin users spend more and
more time and energy obtaining and using the drug. Once they are
addicted, the heroin users' primary purpose in life becomes
obtaining and using drugs.
The drugs literally change their brains.
Physical dependence develops with higher doses of the drug. With
physical dependence, the body adapts to the presence of the drug
and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced abruptly.
The Effects of Heroin over time
A series of arrest photographs of the same young heroin addict taken
over the course of 10 years from age 31- 41.
(Some of the photos were taken at closer time intervals than others)
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
The Effects of Heroin over time
Withdrawal
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Withdrawal can occur within a few hours after the last time the
drug is taken.
Symptoms of withdrawal include restlessness, muscle and bone
pain, insomnia, diarrhoea, vomiting, cold sweats with goose bumps
("cold turkey"), and involuntary leg movements.
Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after
the use of heroin and subside after about a week. However, some
people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months.
Heroin withdrawal is rarely fatal to otherwise healthy adults, but it
can cause death to the foetus of a pregnant addict.
Physical dependence and the emergence of withdrawal symptoms
are a key feature of heroin addiction. However, craving and relapse
can occur weeks and months after withdrawal symptoms are long
gone.
We also know that patients with chronic pain who need opiates to
function (sometimes over extended periods) rarely have any
problems leaving opiates after their pain is resolved. (The patient
in pain is simply seeking relief of pain and not the rush sought by
the addict.)
Treatment for heroin addiction
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Treatment is varied and is provided due in part
to how people view heroin addiction
Generally treatment begins with medication;
Methadone, Buprenorphine; Subutex, or
Dihydrocodeine. Other pharmaceutical drugs are
added for other symptoms caused by addiction
The psychological and social effects of treatment
are more complicated; therapy includes; 12 Step
programmes, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,
MET, MIT etc
When there is a dual diagnosis added to
drugs/alcohol use/addiction then the treatment
becomes even more complicated
CRACK
What is crack?
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Crack cocaine is a highly addictive and powerful
stimulant made from powdered cocaine mixing it with
baking powder and cooking it.
Crack, or “rocks” emerged as a street drug in the mid1980s.
It is commonly used together with heroin because it
produces an immediate high and for those addicts who
have been using heroin for a long time that high has
gone.
Also, it is a different type of drug to heroin- crack is a
stimulant, (speed), whereas heroin is a euphoric yet
calming drug creating a sense of well-being rather than
a “speeding” or adrenaline type feeling.
Another reason it is often used together is that dealers
usually sell them together offering a “bag of each”
Uses of crack; “rocks”
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Crack is nearly always smoked. Smoking crack
delivers large quantities of the drug to the lungs,
producing an immediate and intense euphoric
effect.
Crack is probably the most addictive substance
ever devised.
Effects of crack
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Cocaine, in any form, is a powerfully addictive
drug; addiction develops more quickly when the
drug is smoked as crack.
Harmful effects include: constricted blood
vessels; increased temperature, heart rate, and
blood pressure; and risk of cardiac arrest and
seizure
Crack users often experience acute respiratory
problems, including coughing, shortness of
breath, then lung trauma and bleeding.
Crack also causes aggressive and paranoid
behaviour.
Withdrawal
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Crack is a very powerful drug, addiction is almost
inevitable; once someone has tried crack they may be
unable to predict or control the amount of crack they will
use. It is common for people to use until they have no
more money left to continue.
Crack users need more and more crack to attain the same
high and avoid the intense "crash" or depression of
withdrawal. They become physically and psychologically
dependent on crack , which often is a result of only a few
rocks smoked within a few days.
Crack withdrawal symptoms include:
Agitation, depression, intense craving for the drug,
extreme fatigue, anxiety, angry outbursts, lack of
motivation, nausea/vomiting, shaking, irritability, muscle
pain, insomnia
Treatment for crack use
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To balance off the intense lows, crack users
often use other drugs, such as alcohol, cannabis
and heroin to come down.
There are no medications currently available to
treat crack addiction specifically.
Crack use and addiction is a complex problem
involving biological changes in the brain as well
as psychological (pre-and post the onset of
addiction), family and other social factors.
Treatment needs to assess the psychological and
biological, social, and pharmacological aspects of
the person’s drug abuse.