Transcript Preventing Drug Abuse

Preventing Drug Abuse
11 Grade Health
Legal and Illegal Drugs
Facts About Drug Use
• Medicine- legal drugs that help the body
fight injury, illness, or disease.
• Over-the-counter- medicine that is sold
legally in pharmacies and other stores
without a doctor’s prescription
• Prescription drug- a drug that can be
obtained with a written order from a doctor
and can be purchased only at a pharmacy
Facts About Drug Use-Continued
• Illegal drug- a chemical substance that
people of any age may not lawfully
manufacture, possess, buy, or sell
• Drug misuse- the improper use of
medicine, prescription or over-the-counter
(often a mistake)
• Drug abuse- when a drug is intentionally
used improperly or unsafely
Drug Abuse and the Brain
• Psychoactive drug- a mood altering drug
– Typically create a pleasurable feeling
– Trigger activity along a pathway of cells in the
brain called “reward pathway”
– See page 428
Dangers of Drug Misuse and Abuse
• Immediate effects of drugs may be
positive, but unpleasant side effects may
follow
• Side effect- an unwanted physical or
mental effect caused by a drug (nausea,
dizziness, drowsiness, etc)
– Side effects of a particular drug vary from
person to person (do not share prescriptions)
– Drugs that are misused or abused often have
side effects that can not be predicted and may
be severe or even life threatening
Dangers of Drug Misuse and AbuseContinued
• Tolerance and Dependence- after repeated use
of a drug, the body may build up a tolerance to
the drug.
• As tolerance grows, the user needs increasingly
larger amounts of the drug to achieve the
original effect
• Tolerance may lead to drug dependence- the
body develops a chemical need for the drug and
can not function normally without it
Dangers of Drug Misuse and AbuseContinued
• Withdrawal symptoms- the body’s reaction to not
having the drug
• Range from mild to life threatening, depending
on the drug that was used
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Nausea or vomiting
Headaches dizziness
Fever
Digestion problems
Paranoia or panic
Tremors, seizures, or death
Dangers of Drug Misuse and AbuseContinued
• Drug interactions- when a person takes more
than one drug at a time, the drugs may interact
in different ways than when taken alone
– Drug antagonism- drug’s effect is canceled out or
reduced by the other (nicotine v. drugs to lower BP)
– Drug synergism- drug’s produce greater effects than
those that each drug would produce alone (sleep
medication + small amounts of alcohol = may cause
rapid loss of consciousness)
Dangers of Drug Misuse and AbuseContinued
• Impurities- illegal drugs are not regulated so
there is no guarantee that they are pure
• Many illegal drugs are contaminated with
chemicals that may themselves be harmful
• Dealer may “cut” or dilute drug by adding
cleansing powders or rat poison
• Drugs may vary in concentration of psychoactive
chemicals from batch to batch making it difficult
to predict the effect the drug will have each time
Dangers of Drug Misuse and AbuseContinued
• Other Health Risks
– Hepatitis and HIV- sharing of contaminated
needles can carry disease-causing viruses
from user to user
• Hepatitis could lead to liver disease (possibly fatal)
• HIV causes the fatal disease AIDS
– Risks to Fetus and Newborn- drugs can pass
through the placenta or breast milk, babies
can be born with a drug dependence
Legal Risks and Other Costs
• Penalties for individuals who produce,
possess, transport, or sell illegal drugs
include long prison terms and heavy fines
• Even if no jail is imposed, the individual
still develops a criminal record as a drug
violator (jobs, school, military)
• Drug users may commit other crimes,
such as shoplifting or robbery, to support
their drug addiction
Legal Risks and Other Costs
• Relationships become strained (family,
friends)
• Behavior and personality change
• Unpredictable mood swings
• Loss of interest in activities
• Drugs can cause friends to drift away and
families to break up
Legal Risks and Other Costs
• US spends billions of dollars in efforts to stop
illegal drug manufacture and sales
• Money goes toward drug abuse prevention,
education, treatment, and rehabilitation programs
• Other costs
– Cost of incarcerating thousands of people for drugrelated crimes, medical costs for drug-related illnesses
and injuries (including many of the nation’s cases of
HIV/AIDS), premature deaths from drug-related
homicides and motor vehicle crashes, and lost work
productivity because of drug dependency
Factors Affecting Drug Abuse
Risk Factors
• Family Factors
– when family relationships are not close and
supportive, teens may not get needed
guidance
– teens may feel alienated from their family and
this alienation makes them more vulnerable to
the influence of peers who abuse drugs
– if family members abuse drugs, a teen is at
higher risk of using drugs, too
Risk Factors-Continued
• Social Factors
– Peer Group- introduced to drugs by friends or
by peers whose acceptance they wanted,
continue to abuse drugs because they want to
be “part of the crowd”
– Role Models- see role models using drugs in
their real life or movie roles (do not see the
negative effects), “glamorization” of drugs
influence their decision to try drugs
Risk Factors-Continued
• Social Factors
– Competitive Pressure- strong desire to excel
at athletics, use of painkillers to play through
injury (athletes that use painkillers are more
likely to sustain a serious injury), use steroids
to bulk up (steroid abuse can lead to lifelong
or life-threatening disorders)
Risk Factors-Continued
• Personal Factors
– teens may turn to drugs to temporarily escape
negative feelings associated with stress, drug
use does not address underlying causes of
stress
– teenagers with low self-esteem are more
likely to ignore the serious risks of drug abuse
Protective Factors
• Protective factor- a factor that reduces a
person’s potential for harmful behavior
• Having strong protective factors in your life
will help you stay drug free, three
protective factors are:
– Family
– Social
– Personal
Protective Factors-Continued
• Family Factors include:
– Strong and positive family bonds
– Parental awareness of a teen’s social
activities and peer group
– Clear rules that are consistently enforced
Protective Factors-Continued
• Social Factors include:
– Having strong bonds to school and other community
institutions
– Associating with peers who are drug free
– Having friends who are supportive and accepting
• Personal Factors:
– Healthy techniques to deal with stress
– A commitment to success in academics and
extracurricular activities
– A personal belief that drug abuse is unacceptable
STOP
Commonly Used Drugs
Depressants
• Depressant- a psychoactive drug that
slows brain and body reactions (decreases
heart rate, breathing rate, and lowers
blood pressure
• Classes of depressants:
– Barbiturates
– CNS Depressants
– Opiates
Barbiturates
• Depressant
• Also called sedative-hypnotics
• In small doses, barbiturates are sedatives that
relax a person
• In high doses, they are hypnotics that induce
sleep
• Barbiturates users walk slowly, slur their speech,
and react more slowly to their environment
• Withdrawal from barbiturates can be fatal
CNS Depressant
• Sedative that slows the activity of the central
nervous system
• Used to be called tranquilizers
• Have greatly replaced barbiturates for
medical use
• Prescribed to treat anxiety, sleep disorders,
muscle spasms, and convulsions
• Abuse can cause tolerance and dependence
Opiates
• Opiate- any drug made from psychoactive
compounds contained in the seed pods of poppy
plants
• In small doses act to dull senses, relieve pain,
and induce sleep (morphine, codeine)
• Abusing opiates in high doses can have
dangerous or even life-threatening side effects
• Heroin is an illegal opiate made from morphine in
a laboratory, abusers of heroin appear dazed and
disoriented, heroin is highly addictive
Depressants
Drug
Side Effects
Long-Term Effects
Barbiturates
Poor coordination, slurred
speech, decreased
alertness
Sleepiness, irritability, confusion
CNS
Depressant
Blurred vision, dizziness,
slurred speech,
drowsiness, headache,
skin rash
Blood and liver disease
Opiates
Nausea, vomiting,
decreased alertness,
drowsiness, depressed
respiration
Constipation, infections associated
with injecting
Alcohol
Impaired judgment,
decreased alertness, lack
or coordination, memory
problems, vomiting
Liver damage, brain damage,
anxiety and depression,
malnutrition, memory loss