Transcript Marijuana, Ecstasy, and Prescription Drugs

The Truth about Drugs
What are they?
Drug = any chemical other than food intended
to affect the structure and function of the
body.
- “Good” vs “Bad” –
- is there such a thing?
-
Legal vs Illegal –
- Why are some legal and others not?
We are in a drug oriented society!
- Have a problem? We’ve got a pill for that!
Types of Drug Use
• All drugs have desired effects and undesired
side effects… think of any of the medication
commercials!
• Asprin
– Main effects
• Pain relief
 Fever reduction
• Control of swelling
 Reduce inflammation
• Reduce risk of heart attack and stroke
– SIDE effects
• ulcers in stomach
• Blood thinnner – blood doesn’t clot as well after
surgery or injury
Cymbalta Commercial
Drug Use Categories
• Use
– Taking a drug correctly for a legitimate medical
reason
• Misuse
– Taking a legal drug inappropriately
• Abuse
– Taking a legal or illegal drug in a way that
damages some aspect of the user’s life (mental,
physical, social, occupational, etc)
Responsible vs Irresponsible Use
• When teens drink, what typically is their
purpose?
• When adults drink, what typically is their
purpose?
• When does responsible use become
irresponsible use?
Drug Abuse = Recurrent drug use in the
following situations
• Resulting in failure to fulfill major
responsibilities at work, school, or home.
• You become physically hazardous, such as
driving a car.
• Drug related legal problems
• Continued use despite persistent social or
interpersonal problems caused by the use
of the drug.
Drug Addiction
Addictive behavior = habits that have gotten out of
control, resulting in a negative impact on a
person’s health.
Characteristics of addiction:
• Reinforcement
• Compulsion or craving
• Loss of control
• Escalation
• Negative consequences
John Seymour Hoffman Questions
Marijuana
What is marijuana?
Aren't there different kinds?
• Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of
dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and
flowers of the hemp plant.
• There are several hundred different kinds of
marijuana and not all produce the same effects
• Stronger Forms of Marijuana
–
–
–
–
Sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah)
hashish (“hash” for short)
“Wax” – mixes THC and butane
hash oil
How is marijuana used?
• Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette
(called a joint or a nail) or in a pipe or a
bong.
• In cigar wrappers called blunts,
– In this form it is often combined with another
drug, like crack cocaine.
• Ingested by baking into food items or
brewing into drinks.
Blunt
Joint
Bowl
How long does marijuana stay in
the user's body?
• THC is the chemical in marijuanna that makes you
“high”
• Generally, traces of THC can be detected by urine
testing methods several days after a smoking
session.
• After smoking one joint, 10-20% of the THC is still
present in body fat cells after 30 days.
– Traces of THC can be found up to 4 months
after stopping use of marijuana
What happens if you smoke
marijuana?
• The way the drug affects each person
depends on many factors, including:
– user's previous experience with the drug;;
– how strong the marijuana is (how much THC it
has);
– what the user expects to happen;
– where the drug is used;
– how it is taken; and
– whether the user is drinking alcohol or using
other drugs.
What happens if you smoke
marijuana? (cont)
• Some people
– feel nothing at all
– feel relaxed or high.
– feel thirsty and very hungry called
"the munchies.“
– sudden feelings of anxiety
– have paranoid thoughts.
Short Term Effects of Marijuana
• problems with memory and learning
• distorted perception (sights, sounds, time,
touch)
• trouble with thinking and problem solving
• loss of motor coordination
• increased heart rate.
Long Term Effects
• Findings so far show that regular use of marijuana
or THC may play a role in some kinds of cancer
and decreased respiratory function and decreased
immune systems.
• 1 joint = 5 cigarettes of carbon monoxide intake
• 1 joint = 4 cigarettes of about of tar intake
• 1 joint = 10 cigarettes of damage to cells in lining in
airways
• THC is found in the blood of more than
30% of fatally injured drivers
Question
• Since cigarettes are legal,
should marijuana be legal?
Legalization
• Extensive research shows that the negative health
impact of marijuana far outweighs any possible
benefits.
• It can impair the immune system (already impaired
immune systems)
• Just because it makes you feel better doesn’t make
it a medicine (so does tobacco, heroin)
• 20 states have passed a form of marijuana
legalization
Legalization
• Studies show that pure THC helps with nausea
and vomiting. It is pharmaceutically manufactured
in capsule form called Marinol.
• Marinol is pure and doesn’t require a patient to
ingest the other 400 chemicals when smoking
marijuana
What is it?
• Ecstasy is a stimulant that increases your
heart rate and blood pressure and can
lead to heart or kidney failure.
• Ecstasy is a combination of MDMA and
generally is laced with other ingredients,
such as caffeine or methamphetamine to
change the “high”
• “Molly” is pure MDMA
Signs of X Use
• Problems remembering things they recently said
or did
• Loss of coordination, dizziness, fainting
• Depression
• Confusion
• Sleep problems
• Anxiety
• Paranoia
• These effects have been reported to occur even
weeks after the drug is taken.
The Risks
• Know the risks.
– Mixing ecstasy with other drugs or with
alcohol is extremely dangerous. The effects
of one drug can magnify the effects and
risks of another.
– You never know what actually is in Ecstasy.
• Ecstasy can kill you. Higher doses of
ecstasy can cause severe breathing
problems, coma, or even death.
I heard that you can die from
drinking too much water. Is that
true?
• Often times, when taking E, people are in
hot clubs and get dehydrated.
– Therefore they start drinking lots of water
• So much in fact that the body doesn’t
have enough salt to balance it out
–Cells collapse
»Organs die
»Essentially drown your brain
Prescription Drug Abuse
Prescription Drug Abuse
• Why Do Some People Abuse Prescription
Drugs?
– they think they will help them:
• have more fun,
• fit in
- lose weight,
- study more effectively.
– Some people think that prescription drugs are safer and
less addictive than street drugs.
• After all, these are drugs that moms, dads, and even kid
brothers and sisters use
– They tend be easier to get than street drugs:
• Family members
- Friends
• Sold on the street like other illegal drugs
Prescription Drug Abuse
• But prescription drugs are only safe for the
individuals who actually have prescriptions for
them. Through their physician they:
– know that they won't have a bad reaction to
the drugs.
– told exactly how the medication should be
taken
– told things to avoid while taking the drug
– aware of potentially dangerous side effects
DRUG ADDICTION IS A COMPLEX ILLNESS
Addiction
• continued use of a psychoactive
drug, or repeating a behavior
• even though there are severe
negative results/ consequences,
In the brain:
– changes the brain chemistry so that the
brain requires the drug to function
“normally”
Most Addictive Drugs
Mean
Pleasure
Psych
Depend.
Physical
Depend.
Heroin
Cocaine
Tobacco
Barbiturates
Alcohol
3.00
3.0
3.0
3.0
2.39
3.0
2.8
1.3
2.21
2.3
2.6
1.8
2.01
2.0
2.2
1.8
1.93
2.3
1.9
1.6
Benzodiazepines
1.83
1.7
2.1
1.8
Amphetamine
Cannabis
Ecstasy
1.67
2.0
1.9
1.1
1.51
1.9
1.7
0.8
1.13
1.5
1.2
0.7
Drug
control
on cocaine