The Substance Abuse Sticky | Page 1 | Drug & Alcohol Abuse and Smoking Subforum | Guild Forums

Nikolita
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:27 am

This sticky will contain information on different types of drugs, and will have posts with resources should you want to get help for someone you know is on drugs, or for perhaps yourself.

Many of these links have graphs and charts to back up the information copied and pasted here. If you are unclear about something posted, try clicking the link for more information.

If I've missed something and you have something to add, please post it here or PM me. I'll try to keep the sticky updated as best I can.

Table of Contents:
Post 1: Marijuana information and Marijuana facts for teens
Post 2: Cocaine information
Post 3: Ectasy information
Post 4: Hallucinogens (ie - LSD and psilocybin [mushrooms]) information
Post 5: Heroin information
Post 6: Inhalants information
Post 7: Pharmaceuticals information
Post 8: Steroids information
Post 9: Analgesics (painkillers) information
Post 10: Tranquilizers/Sleeping pills information
Post 11: Getting Help For Yourself
Post 12: Seeking Help for Someone Else
Post 13: Reserved

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:40 am

Marijuana Information

Taken from: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html

Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. A dry, shredded green/brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, it usually is smoked as a cigarette (joint, nail), or in a pipe (bong). It also is smoked in blunts, which are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana, often in combination with another drug. It might also be mixed in food or brewed as a tea. As a more concentrated, resinous form it is called hashish and, as a sticky black liquid, hash oil. Marijuana smoke has a pungent and distinctive, usually sweet-and-sour odor. There are countless street terms for marijuana including pot, herb, weed, grass, widow, ganja, and hash, as well as terms derived from trademarked varieties of cannabis, such as Bubble Gum, Northern Lights, Fruity Juice, Afghani #1, and a number of Skunk varieties.

The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). The membranes of certain nerve cells in the brain contain protein receptors that bind to THC. Once securely in place, THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana.

Extent of Use
In 2004, 14.6 million Americans age 12 and older used marijuana at least once in the month prior to being surveyed. About 6,000 people a day in 2004 used marijuana for the first time—2.1 million Americans. Of these, 63.8 percent were under age 181. In the last half of 2003, marijuana was the third most commonly abused drug mentioned in drug-related hospital emergency department (ED) visits in the continental United States, at 12.6 percent, following cocaine (20 percent) and alcohol (48.7 percent).

Prevalence of lifetime,* annual, and use within the last 30 days for marijuana remained stable among 10th- and 12th-graders surveyed between 2003 and 2004. However, 8th-graders reported a significant decline in 30-day use and a significant increase in perceived harmfulness of smoking marijuana once or twice and regularly3. Trends in disapproval of using marijuana once or twice and occasionally rose among 8th-graders as well, and 10th-graders reported an increase in disapproval of occasional and regular use for the same period.

(* "Lifetime" refers to use at least once during a respondent’s lifetime. "Annual" refers to use at least once during the year preceding an individual's response to the survey. "30-day" refers to use at least once during the 30 days preceding an individual’s response to the survey.)

Effects on the Brain
Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to organs throughout the body, including the brain.

In the brain, THC connects to specific sites called cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells and influences the activity of those cells. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. Many cannabinoid receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.

The short-term effects of marijuana can include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate. Research findings for long-term marijuana abuse indicate some changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term abuse of other major drugs. For example, cannabinoid (THC or synthetic forms of THC) withdrawal in chronically exposed animals leads to an increase in the activation of the stress-response system and changes in the activity of nerve cells containing dopamine. Dopamine neurons are involved in the regulation of motivation and reward, and are directly or indirectly affected by all drugs of abuse.

Effects on the Heart
One study has indicated that an abuser's risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana. The researchers suggest that such an effect might occur from marijuana's effects on blood pressure and heart rate and reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.

Effects on the Lungs
A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers. Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses.

Even infrequent abuse can cause burning and stinging of the mouth and throat, often accompanied by a heavy cough. Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers do, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, a heightened risk of lung infections, and a greater tendency to obstructed airways. Smoking marijuana possibly increases the likelihood of developing cancer of the head or neck. A study comparing 173 cancer patients and 176 healthy individuals produced evidence that marijuana smoking doubled or tripled the risk of these cancers.

Marijuana abuse also has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because it contains irritants and carcinogens. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. It also induces high levels of an enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form—levels that may accelerate the changes that ultimately produce malignant cells. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which increases the lungs' exposure to carcinogenic smoke. These facts suggest that, puff for puff, smoking marijuana may be more harmful to the lungs than smoking tobacco.

Other Health Effects
Some of marijuana's adverse health effects may occur because THC impairs the immune system's ability to fight disease. In laboratory experiments that exposed animal and human cells to THC or other marijuana ingredients, the normal disease-preventing reactions of many of the key types of immune cells were inhibited. In other studies, mice exposed to THC or related substances were more likely than unexposed mice to develop bacterial infections and tumors.

Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use on Learning and Social Behavior
Research clearly demonstrates that marijuana has the potential to cause problems in daily life or make a person's existing problems worse. Depression, anxiety, and personality disturbances have been associated with chronic marijuana use. Because marijuana compromises the ability to learn and remember information, the more a person uses marijuana the more he or she is likely to fall behind in accumulating intellectual, job, or social skills. Moreover, research has shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on memory and learning can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off.

Students who smoke marijuana get lower grades and are less likely to graduate from high school, compared with their nonsmoking peers. A study of 129 college students found that, among those who smoked the drug at least 27 of the 30 days prior to being surveyed, critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning were significantly impaired, even after the students had not taken the drug for at least 24 hours. These "heavy" marijuana abusers had more trouble sustaining and shifting their attention and in registering, organizing, and using information than did the study participants who had abused marijuana no more than 3 of the previous 30 days. As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level all of the time.

More recently, the same researchers showed that the ability of a group of long-term heavy marijuana abusers to recall words from a list remained impaired for a week after quitting, but returned to normal within 4 weeks25. Thus, some cognitive abilities may be restored in individuals who quit smoking marijuana, even after long-term heavy use.

Workers who smoke marijuana are more likely than their coworkers to have problems on the job. Several studies associate workers' marijuana smoking with increased absences, tardiness, accidents, workers' compensation claims, and job turnover. A study among postal workers found that employees who tested positive for marijuana on a pre-employment urine drug test had 55 percent more industrial accidents, 85 percent more injuries, and a 75-percent increase in absenteeism compared with those who tested negative for marijuana use26. In another study, heavy marijuana abusers reported that the drug impaired several important measures of life achievement including cognitive abilities, career status, social life, and physical and mental health27.

Effects of Exposure During Pregnancy
Research has shown that some babies born to women who abused marijuana during their pregnancies display altered responses to visual stimuli, increased tremulousness, and a high-pitched cry, which may indicate neurological problems in development. During the preschool years, marijuana-exposed children have been observed to perform tasks involving sustained attention and memory more poorly than nonexposed children do. In the school years, these children are more likely to exhibit deficits in problem-solving skills, memory, and the ability to remain attentive.

Addictive Potential
Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction for some people; that is, they abuse the drug compulsively even though it interferes with family, school, work, and recreational activities. Drug craving and withdrawal symptoms can make it hard for long-term marijuana smokers to stop abusing the drug. People trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, and anxiety. They also display increased aggression on psychological tests, peaking approximately one week after the last use of the drug.

Genetic Vulnerability
Scientists have found that whether an individual has positive or negative sensations after smoking marijuana can be influenced by heredity. A 1997 study demonstrated that identical male twins were more likely than nonidentical male twins to report similar responses to marijuana abuse, indicating a genetic basis for their response to the drug34. (Identical twins share all of their genes.)

It also was discovered that the twins' shared or family environment before age 18 had no detectable influence on their response to marijuana. Certain environmental factors, however, such as the availability of marijuana, expectations about how the drug would affect them, the influence of friends and social contacts, and other factors that differentiate experiences of identical twins were found to have an important effect.

Treating Marijuana Problems
The latest treatment data indicate that, in 2002, marijuana was the primary drug of abuse in about 15 percent (289,532) of all admissions to treatment facilities in the United States. Marijuana admissions were primarily male (75 percent), White (55 percent), and young (40 percent were in the 15-–19 age range). Those in treatment for primary marijuana abuse had begun use at an early age; 56 percent had abused it by age 14 and 92 percent had abused it by 18.

One study of adult marijuana abusers found comparable benefits from a 14-session cognitive-behavioral group treatment and a 2-session individual treatment that included motivational interviewing and advice on ways to reduce marijuana use. Participants were mostly men in their early thirties who had smoked marijuana daily for more than 10 years. By increasing patients' awareness of what triggers their marijuana abuse, both treatments sought to help patients devise avoidance strategies. Abuse, dependence symptoms, and psychosocial problems decreased for at least 1 year following both treatments; about 30 percent of the patients were abstinent during the last 3-month followup period.

Another study suggests that giving patients vouchers that they can redeem for goods—such as movie passes, sporting equipment, or vocational training—may further improve outcomes37.

Although no medications are currently available for treating marijuana abuse, recent discoveries about the workings of the THC receptors have raised the possibility of eventually developing a medication that will block the intoxicating effects of THC. Such a medication might be used to prevent relapse to marijuana abuse by lessening or eliminating its appeal.

~

Taken from: http://www.marijuanaaddiction.info/marijuana-information.htm

Marijuana is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). It is the most often used illegal drug in this country. All forms of cannabis are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs; they all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. There are about 400 chemicals in a cannabis plant, but THC is the one that affects the brain the most.

There are many different names for marijuana. Slang terms for drugs change quickly, and they vary from one part of the country to another. They may even differ across sections of a large city.

Terms from years ago, such as pot, herb, grass, weed, Mary Jane, and reefer, are still used. You might also hear the names skunk, boom, gangster, kif, or ganja.

There are also street names for different strains or "brands" of marijuana, such as "Texas tea," "Maui wowie," and "Chronic." A recent book of American slang lists more than 200 terms for various kinds of marijuana.

Marijuana's effect on the user depends on the strength or potency of the THC it contains. THC potency has increased since the 1970s but has been about the same since the mid-1980s. The strength of the drug is measured by the average amount of THC in test samples confiscated by law enforcement agencies.

- Most ordinary marijuana has an average of 3 percent THC.

- Sinsemilla (made from just the buds and flowering tops of female plants) has an average of 7.5 percent THC, with a range as high as 24 percent.

- Hashish (the sticky resin from the female plant flowers) has an average of 3.6 percent, with a range as high as 28 percent.

- Hash oil, a tar-like liquid distilled from hashish, has an average of 16 percent, with a range as high as 43 percent.

Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other drugs without first trying marijuana. The risk of using cocaine has been estimated to be more than 104 times greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Although there are no definitive studies on the factors associated with the movement from marijuana use to use of other drugs, growing evidence shows that a combination of biological, social, and psychological factors are involved.

Marijuana affects the brain in some of the same ways that other drugs do. Researchers are examining the possibility that long-term marijuana use may create changes in the brain that make a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine. While not all young people who use marijuana go on to use other drugs, further research is needed to determine who will be at greatest risk.

Some users, especially someone new to the drug or in a strange setting, may suffer acute anxiety and have paranoid thoughts. This is more likely to happen with high doses of THC. These scary feelings will fade as the drug's effects wear off. When the early effects fade, over a few hours, the user can become very sleepy. In rare cases, a user who has taken a very high dose of the drug can have severe psychotic symptoms and need emergency medical treatment. Other kinds of bad reactions can occur when marijuana is mixed with other drugs, such as PCP or cocaine.

Those who become more heavily involved with marijuana can become dependent, and that is their prime reason for using the drug. Others mention psychological coping as a reason for their use - to deal with anxiety, anger, depression, boredom, and so forth. But marijuana use is not an effective method for coping with life's problems, and staying high can be a way of simply not dealing with ones problems.

There are some signs you might be able to see.
If someone is high on marijuana, he or she might :

- seem dizzy and have trouble walking
- seem silly and giggly for no reason
- have very red, bloodshot eyes
- have a hard time remembering things that just happened
- signs of drugs and drug paraphernalia, including pipes and rolling papers
- odor on clothes and in the bedroom
- use of incense and other deodorizers
- use of eye drops
- clothing, posters, jewelry, etc., promoting drug use

What is "tolerance" for marijuana?
"Tolerance" means that the user needs increasingly larger doses of the drug to get the same desired results that he or she previously got from smaller amounts. Some frequent, heavy users of marijuana may develop tolerance for it.

Do marijuana users lose their motivation?
Some frequent, long-term marijuana users show signs of a lack of motivation (amotivational syndrome). Their problems include not caring about what happens in their lives, no desire to work regularly, fatigue, and a lack of concern about how they look. As a result of these symptoms, some users tend to perform poorly in school or at work. Scientists are still studying these problems.

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Marijuana: Facts for Teens

Taken from: http://www.drugabuse.gov/MarijBroch/Marijteens.html

Q: What is marijuana? Aren't there different kinds?
A: Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. You may hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed, grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, or chronic. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana.

Sinsemilla (sin-seh-me-yah; it’s a Spanish word), hashish (“hash” for short), and hash oil are stronger forms of marijuana.

All forms of marijuana are mind-altering. In other words, they change how the brain works. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals. Marijuana’s effects on the user depend on it’s strength or potency, which is related to the amount of THC it contains. The THC content of marijuana has been increasing since the 1970s.

Q: How is marijuana used?
A: Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint or a nail) or in a pipe or a bong. Recently, it has appeared in cigar wrappers called blunts, when it is often combined with another drug, such as crack cocaine.

Q: How long does marijuana stay in the user's body?
A: THC in marijuana is rapidly absorbed by fatty tissues in various organs. Generally, traces (metabolites) of THC can be detected by standard urine testing methods several days after a smoking session. However, in chronic heavy users, traces can sometimes be detected for weeks after they have stopped using marijuana.

Q: How many teens smoke marijuana?
A: Contrary to popular belief, most teenagers do not use marijuana. Among students surveyed in a yearly national survey, only about one in six 10th graders report they are current marijuana users (that is, used marijuana within the past month). Fewer than one in four high school seniors is a current marijuana user.

Q: Why do young people use marijuana?
A: There are many reasons why some children and young teens start smoking marijuana. Many young people smoke marijuana because they see their brothers, sisters, friends, or even older family members using it. Some use marijuana because of peer pressure.

Others may think it’s cool to use marijuana because they hear songs about it and see it on TV and in movies. Some teens may feel they need marijuana and other drugs to help them escape from problems at home, at school, or with friends.

No matter how many shirts and caps you see printed with the marijuana leaf, or how many groups sing about it, remember this: You don’t have to use marijuana just because you think everybody else is doing it. Most teenagers do not use marijuana!

Q: What happens if you smoke marijuana?
A: 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.

Some people feel nothing at all when they smoke marijuana. Others may feel relaxed or high. Sometimes marijuana makes users feel thirsty and very hungry—an effect called "the munchies."

Some users can undergo bad effects from marijuana. They may suffer sudden feelings of anxiety and have paranoid thoughts. This is more likely to happen when a more potent variety of marijuana is used.

Q: What are the short-term effects of marijuana use?
A: The short-term effects of marijuana include:

- problems with memory and learning;
- distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch);
- trouble with thinking and problemsolving;
- loss of motor coordination; and
- increased heart rate.

These effects are even greater when other drugs are mixed with the marijuana; and users do not always know what drugs are given to them.

Q: Does marijuana affect school, sports, or other activities?
A: It can. Marijuana affects memory, judgment and perception (11). The drug can make you mess up in school, in sports or clubs, or with your friends. If you’re high on marijuana, you are more likely to make mistakes that could embarrass or even hurt you. If you use marijuana a lot, you could start to lose interest in how you look and how you’re getting along at school or work.

Athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC. Also, since marijuana can affect judgment and decisionmaking, its use can lead to risky sexual behavior, resulting in exposure to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Q: What are the long-term effects of marijuana use?
A: Findings so far show that regular use of marijuana or THC may play a role in some kinds of cancer and in problems with the respiratory and immune systems.

Cancer
It’s hard to know for sure whether regular marijuana use causes cancer. But it is known that marijuana contains some of the same, and sometimes even more, of the cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Studies show that someone who smokes five joints per day may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day.

Lungs and airways
People who smoke marijuana often develop the same kinds of breathing problems that cigarette smokers have: coughing and wheezing. They tend to have more chest colds than nonusers. They are also at greater risk of getting lung infections like pneumonia.

Immune system
Animal studies have found that THC can damage the cells and tissues in the body that help protect against disease. When the immune cells are weakened you are more likely to get sick.

Q: Does marijuana lead to the use of other drugs?
A: It could. Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana. For example, the risk of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs.

To better determine this risk, scientists are examining the possibility that long-term marijuana use may create changes in the brain that make a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine. Further research is needed to predict who will be at greatest risk.

Q: How can you tell if someone has been using marijuana?
A: If someone is high on marijuana, he or she might:

- seem dizzy and have trouble walking;
- seem silly and giggly for no reason;
- have very red, bloodshot eyes; and
- have a hard time remembering things that just happened.

When the early effects fade, over a few hours, the user can become very sleepy.

Q: Is marijuana sometimes used as a medicine?
A: There has been much talk about the possible medical use of marijuana. Under U.S. law since 1970, marijuana has been a Schedule I controlled substance. This means that the drug, at least in its smoked form, has no commonly accepted medical use.

THC, the active chemical in marijuana, is manufactured into a pill available by prescription that can be used to treat the nausea and vomiting that occur with certain cancer treatments and to help AIDS patients eat more to keep up their weight. According to scientists, more research needs to be done on THC's side effects and other potential medical uses.

Q: How does marijuana affect driving?
A: Marijuana has serious harmful effects on the skills required to drive safely: alertness, concentration, coordination, and reaction time. Marijuana use can make it difficult to judge distances and react to signals and sounds on the road.

Marijuana may play a role in car accidents. In one study conducted in Memphis, TN, researchers found that, of 150 reckless drivers who were tested for drugs at the arrest scene, 33 percent tested positive for marijuana, and 12 percent tested positive for both marijuana and cocaine. Data have also shown that while smoking marijuana, people show the same lack of coordination on standard "drunk driver" tests as do people who have had too much to drink.

Q: If a woman is pregnant and smokes marijuana, will it hurt the baby?
A: Doctors advise pregnant women not to use any drugs because they could harm the growing fetus. Although one animal study has linked marijuana use to loss of the fetus very early in pregnancy, two studies in humans found no association between marijuana use and early pregnancy loss. More research is necessary to fully understand the effects of marijuana use on pregnancy outcome.

Studies in children born to mothers who used marijuana have shown increased behavioral problems during infancy and preschool years. In school, these children are more likely to have problems with decisionmaking, memory, and the ability to remain attentive.

Researchers are not certain whether health problems that may be caused by early exposure to marijuana will remain as the child grows into adulthood. However, since some parts of the brain continue to develop throughout adolescence, it is also possible that certain kinds of problems may appear as the child matures.

Q: What does marijuana do to the brain?
A: Some studies show that when people have smoked large amounts of marijuana for years, the drug takes its toll on mental functions. Heavy or daily use of marijuana affects the parts of the brain that control memory, attention, and learning. A working short-term memory is needed to learn and perform tasks that call for more than one or two steps.

Smoking marijuana causes some changes in the brain that are like those caused by cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. Scientists are still learning about the many ways that marijuana can affect the brain.

Q: Can people become addicted to marijuana?
A: Yes. Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction in some people. That is, they cannot control their urges to seek out and use marijuana, even though it negatively affects their family relationships, school performance, and recreational activities. According to one study, marijuana use by teenagers who have prior antisocial problems can quickly lead to addiction. In addition, some frequent, heavy marijuana users develop “tolerance” to its effects. This means they need larger and larger amounts of marijuana to get the same desired effects as they used to get from smaller amounts.

Q: What if a person wants to quit using the drug?
A: In 2002, over 280,000 people entering drug treatment programs reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse. However, up until a few years ago, it was hard to find treatment programs specifically for marijuana users.

Now researchers are testing different ways to help marijuana users abstain from drug use. There are currently no medications for treating marijuana addiction. Treatment programs focus on counseling and group support systems. There are also a number of programs designed especially to help teenagers who are abusers. Family doctors can be a good source for information and help in dealing with adolescent marijuana problems.

Nikolita
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Nikolita
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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:41 am

Cocaine Information

Taken from: http://www.stopcocaineaddiction.com/cocaine-information.htm

Cocaine hydrochloride is a central nervous system stimulant derived from the coca plant. There are basically two chemical forms of cocaine: the hydrochloride salt and the "freebase." The hydrochloride salt, or powdered form of cocaine, dissolves in water and, when abused, can be taken intravenously (by vein) or intranasally (in the nose).

Freebase refers to a compound that has not been neutralized by an acid to make the hydrochloride salt. The freebase form of cocaine is smokable. Abused for the intoxicating effects, cocaine interferes with the reabsorption process of dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain responsible for controlling pleasure, alertness, and movement. Cocaine also has topical anesthetic properties which do not cause intoxication. In Texas, cocaine is the primary illicit drug of abuse reported by adults entering chemical dependency treatment.

Cocaine is generally sold on the street as a fine, white, crystalline powder, known as "coke," "C," "snow," "flake," or "blow." Street dealers generally dilute it with such inert substances as cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar, or with such active drugs as procaine (a chemically-related local anesthetic) or with such other stimulants as amphetamines.

How long has cocaine been used?
The Incas were probably the first to use cocaine 5,000 years ago, but the cocaine that we are familiar with today was first refined by a German chemist in 1858. In its concentrated, purified form, cocaine was used in various medications and led to the first major epidemic of cocaine abuse around around 1900. Soon after, restrictions were placed on the drug because of adverse side effects and addictive properties. Today, cocaine is classified as a Schedule 2 Controlled Substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act and is illegal in most circumstances.

Why do people use cocaine?
Individuals may use cocaine for the exhilarating high, increased energy, and improved confidence. They may also seek the approval of their peers, stress reduction, or rebellion against authority. What they do not realize is that cocaine use can disrupt the chemical balance in the brain, depleting the "feel good" chemicals the brain needs to function normally after the "high" wears off. That's why users experience fatigue and depression or "crash" after the intoxicating effects subside.

How long does cocaine remain in the body?
Benzoylecognine, a metabolite unique to cocaine, can be detected in the urine 2-4 days. The disruption to brain chemistry can remain for much longer. Individuals who have become dependent on cocaine will feel intense cravings for cocaine long after use has ceased making recovery difficult.

Does cocaine affect pregnancy?
Yes. Pregnant cocaine users risk miscarriages, severe hemorrhaging, premature births, and stillbirths. Infants who do survive are not only born premature with smaller than average heads, but also they are smaller in size than their peers and may exhibit withdrawal symptoms. Crack babies may have developmental difficulties as they grow older.

~

Taken from: http://www.zoot2.com/justthefacts/drugs/cocaine.asp

Q: What is cocaine?
A: Cocaine is a powerful drug made from the leaves of the coca plant. The plant is found mostly in South America and its leaves produce a paste. The paste is purified to produce a white powder. The powder is often weakened by mixing it with sugar, cornstarch or talcum powder. Some street names for cocaine are: “snow”, “C” and “flake”.

Q: Is cocaine an upper or a downer?
A: Cocaine is an upper because it stimulates the body’s nervous system.

Q: How does a person take Cocaine?
A: It is often sniffed or snorted through the nostrils and absorbed into the body through the respiratory tract. Sometimes cocaine is smoked or injected.

Q: What are freebase and crack cocaine?
A: Freebase cocaine is cocaine that has been chemically changed so that it can be smoked. Mixing cocaine and baking soda and heating the mixture make crack cocaine. When the mixture cools and dries it forms clumps known as rock or crack. These “rocks” can be smoked.

Some crack and freebase users inhale the vapors from glass pipes. Others add them to tobacco or marijuana cigarettes.

Q: What are some of the effects of cocaine?
A: Because it increases the activity in the nervous system, cocaine produces increased alertness, high energy and euphoria. These effects are followed by agitation, anxiety and decreased appetite.

Cocaine also causes higher blood pressure, rapid heart rate, rapid breathing and sweating. With a large amount of cocaine people can also experience shallow breathing, unpredictable or violent behavior, twitching, hallucinations, chest pain, blurred vision, vomiting and even heart attacks. All forms of cocaine have the same effects.

Q: How long do the effects of cocaine last?
A: Cocaine high can last from 5 minutes to 2 hours. When users come down or “crash,” they feel very depressed, anxious and irritable. Many users take repeated doses to maintain the high and avoid the crash. Others try to modify the effects or stop binges with drugs like alcohol, tranquilizers or heroin.

Q: What happens to people who use cocaine for a long time?
A: Using cocaine regularly over a long time can leave users agitated and cause mood swings and depression. It can also result in a loss of appetite, not being able to sleep properly and sexual problems.

When cocaine is snorted, it can damage tissue in the nose. Chronic snorting causes stuffed, runny, chapped or bleeding noses, and holes in the barrier separating the nostrils.

People who smoke it can develop lung and breathing problems and some cough up black phlegm or even blood.

People who inject – especially if they share needles – are at risk of infectious diseases including hepatitis and HIV (the virus that causes AIDS).

Q: Is it safer to snort, smoke or inject cocaine?
A: There is no safe way to do cocaine. All three ways of doing cocaine have the same effects but injecting produces these effects more quickly and intensely than snorting.

No matter how cocaine is used, it can cause overdoses.

Q: Is crack more dangerous than cocaine?
A: Because it is smoked, crack reaches the blood and brain very quickly. Smoking it causes the most intense and addictive high. The sudden increase in cocaine in the blood may mean a greater chance of seizures, heart attack and stroke.

Q: Do people get addicted to cocaine and crack?
A: The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes because cocaine actually changes people’s brain chemistry and creates a craving that makes it very difficult for them to stop using cocaine.

Crack is also addictive and an addiction can develop very rapidly. That is because crack reaches the brain quickly causes a brief high that is followed by a severe low. That low leads people to use more crack to get back to the high and that pattern leads to addiction.

~

Taken from: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/cocaine.html

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug. The powdered, hydrochloride salt form of cocaine can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Crack is cocaine that has not been neutralized by an acid to make the hydrochloride salt. This form of cocaine comes in a rock crystal that can be heated and its vapors smoked. The term "crack" refers to the crackling sound heard when it is heated.*

Regardless of how cocaine is used or how frequently, a user can experience acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies, such as a heart attack or stroke, which could result in sudden death. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizure followed by respiratory arrest.

Health Hazards
Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant that interferes with the reabsorption process of dopamine, a chemical messenger associated with pleasure and movement. The buildup of dopamine causes continuous stimulation of receiving neurons, which is associated with the euphoria commonly reported by cocaine abusers.

Physical effects of cocaine use include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. The duration of cocaine's immediate euphoric effects, which include hyperstimulation, reduced fatigue, and mental alertness, depends on the route of administration. The faster the absorption, the more intense the high. On the other hand, the faster the absorption, the shorter the duration of action. The high from snorting may last 15 to 30 minutes, while that from smoking may last 5 to 10 minutes. Increased use can reduce the period of time a user feels high and increases the risk of addiction.

Some users of cocaine report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. A tolerance to the "high" may develop—many addicts report that they seek but fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first exposure. Some users will increase their doses to intensify and prolong the euphoric effects. While tolerance to the high can occur, users can also become more sensitive to cocaine's anesthetic and convulsant effects without increasing the dose taken. This increased sensitivity may explain some deaths occurring after apparently low doses of cocaine.

Use of cocaine in a binge, during which the drug is taken repeatedly and at increasingly high doses, may lead to a state of increasing irritability, restlessness, and paranoia. This can result in a period of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the user loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations.

Other complications associated with cocaine use include disturbances in heart rhythm and heart attacks, chest pain and respiratory failure, strokes, seizures and headaches, and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain and nausea. Because cocaine has a tendency to decrease appetite, many chronic users can become malnourished.

Different means of taking cocaine can produce different adverse effects. Regularly snorting cocaine, for example, can lead to loss of the sense of smell, nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness, and a chronically runny nose. Ingesting cocaine can cause severe bowel gangrene due to reduced blood flow. People who inject cocaine can experience severe allergic reactions and, as with all injecting drug users, are at increased risk for contracting HIV and other blood-borne diseases.

Added Danger: Cocaethylene
When people mix cocaine and alcohol consumption, they are compounding the danger each drug poses and unknowingly forming a complex chemical experiment within their bodies. NIDA-funded researchers have found that the human liver combines cocaine and alcohol and manufactures a third substance, cocaethylene, that intensifies cocaine's euphoric effects, while potentially increasing the risk of sudden death.

Treatment
The widespread abuse of cocaine has stimulated extensive efforts to develop treatment programs for this type of drug abuse.

One of NIDA's top research priorities is to find a medication to block or greatly reduce the effects of cocaine, to be used as one part of a comprehensive treatment program. NIDA-funded researchers are also looking at medications that help alleviate the severe craving that people in treatment for cocaine addiction often experience. Several medications are currently being investigated for their safety and efficacy in treating cocaine addiction.

In addition to treatment medications, behavioral interventions—particularly cognitive behavioral therapy—can be effective in decreasing drug use by patients in treatment for cocaine abuse. Providing the optimal combination of treatment and services for each individual is critical to successful outcomes.

Extent of Use
Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey
Lifetime, annual, and 30-day cocaine use remained stable among all three grades in 2005. Perceived harmfulness of occasional use also remained stable in 2005, measuring at 65.3 percent among 8th-graders, 72.4 percent among 10th-graders, and 60.8 percent among 12th-graders.

Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG)
Cocaine-related death mentions in 2003 were particularly high in New York City/Newark, Detroit, Boston, and Baltimore, as measured by one Federal data source. Reports from local medical examiner data named Texas and Philadelphia as sites with the highest rates of cocaine-related deaths from 2003 through 2004.

Primary cocaine treatment admissions in 2004 accounted for 52.5 percent of treatment admissions, excluding alcohol, in Atlanta, 38.9 percent in New Orleans, and approximately 36 percent in Texas and Detroit.

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
In 2004, 34.2 million Americans aged 12 and over reported lifetime use of cocaine, and 7.8 million reported using crack. About 5.6 million reported annual use of cocaine, and 1.3 million reported using crack. An estimated 2 million Americans reported current use of cocaine, 467,000 of whom reported using crack. There were an estimated 1 million new users of cocaine in 2004 (approximately 2,700 per day), and most were aged 18 or older although the average age of first use was 20.0 years.

The percentage of youth ages 12 to 17 reporting lifetime use of cocaine was 2.4 percent in 2004. Among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate was 15.2 percent, showing no significant difference from the previous year. However, there was a statistically significant decrease in perceived risk of using cocaine once a month among Americans in the 12 to 17 age bracket in 2004.

Past month crack use was down for 16- or 17-year-olds but up for 21- to 25-year-olds; 21-year-olds also showed increases in past year use of both crack and cocaine.

Past month use of cocaine was down among females aged 12–17 and Asians 12 or older, but up among Blacks aged 18 to 25. There was a decrease in past year cocaine use measured among Asians aged 18 to 25.

Following a decline between 2002 and 2003, NSDUH data show an increase in the number of people receiving treatment for a cocaine use problem during their most recent treatment at a specialty facility, from 276,000 in 2003 to 466,000 in 2004.

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:41 am

Ecstasy Information

Taken from: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/ecstasy.html

MDMA (3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a synthetic, psychoactive drug chemically similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline. Street names for MDMA include Ecstasy, Adam, XTC, hug, beans, and love drug. MDMA is an illegal drug that acts as both a stimulant and psychedelic, producing an energizing effect, as well as distortions in time and perception and enhanced enjoyment from tactile experiences.

MDMA exerts its primary effects in the brain on neurons that use the chemical serotonin to communicate with other neurons. The serotonin system plays an important role in regulating mood, aggression, sexual activity, sleep, and sensitivity to pain.

Research in animals indicates that MDMA is neurotoxic; whether or not this is also true in humans is currently an area of intense investigation. MDMA can also be dangerous to health and, on rare occasions, lethal.

Health Hazards
For some people, MDMA can be addictive. A survey of young adult and adolescent MDMA users found that 43 percent of those who reported ecstasy use met the accepted diagnostic criteria for dependence, as evidenced by continued use despite knowledge of physical or psychological harm, withdrawal effects, and tolerance (or diminished response), and 34 percent met the criteria for drug abuse. Almost 60 percent of people who use MDMA report withdrawal symptoms, including fatigue, loss of appetite, depressed feelings, and trouble concentrating.

Cognitive Effects
Chronic users of MDMA perform more poorly than nonusers on certain types of cognitive or memory tasks. Some of these effects may be due to the use of other drugs in combination with MDMA, among other factors.

Physical Effects
In high doses, MDMA can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate temperature. On rare but unpredictable occasions, this can lead to a sharp increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), resulting in liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure, and death.

Because MDMA can interfere with its own metabolism (breakdown within the body), potentially harmful levels can be reached by repeated drug use within short intervals.

Users of MDMA face many of the same risks as users of other stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines. These include increases in heart rate and blood pressure, a special risk for people with circulatory problems or heart disease, and other symptoms such as muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, and chills or sweating.

Psychological Effects
These can include confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, and severe anxiety. These problems can occur during and sometimes days or weeks after taking MDMA.

Neurotoxicity
Research in animals links MDMA exposure to long-term damage to neurons that are involved in mood, thinking, and judgment. A study in nonhuman primates showed that exposure to MDMA for only 4 days caused damage to serotonin nerve terminals that was evident 6 to 7 years later. While similar neurotoxicity has not been definitively shown in humans, the wealth of animal research indicating MDMA's damaging properties suggests that MDMA is not a safe drug for human consumption.

Hidden Risk: Drug Purity
Other drugs chemically similar to MDMA, such as MDA (methylenedioxyamphetamine, the parent drug of MDMA) and PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine, associated with fatalities in the U.S. and Australia) are sometimes sold as ecstasy. These drugs can be neurotoxic or create additional health risks to the user. Also, ecstasy tablets may contain other substances in addition to MDMA, such as ephedrine (a stimulant); dextromethorphan (DXM, a cough suppressant that has PCP-like effects at high doses); ketamine (an anesthetic used mostly by veterinarians that also has PCP-like effects); caffeine; cocaine; and methamphetamine. While the combination of MDMA with one or more of these drugs may be inherently dangerous, users might also combine them with substances such as marijuana and alcohol, putting themselves at further physical risk.

Extent of Use

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
In 2004, an estimated 450,000 people in the U.S. age 12 and older used MDMA in the past 30 days. Ecstasy use dropped significantly among persons 18 to 25—from 14.8 percent in 2003 to 13.8 percent in 2004 for lifetime use, and from 3.7 percent to 3.1 percent for past year use. Other 2004 NSDUH results show significant reductions in lifetime and past year use among 18- to 20-year-olds, reductions in past month use for 14- or 15-year-olds, and past year and past month reductions in use among females.

Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG)
In many of the areas monitored by CEWG members, MDMA, once used primarily at dance clubs, raves, and college scenes, is being used in a number of other social settings. In addition, some members reported increased use of MDMA among African-American and Hispanic populations.

Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey
Lifetime use dropped significantly among 12th-graders in 2005, from 7.5 percent in 2004 to 5.4 percent. The perceived risk in occasional MDMA use declined significantly among 8th-graders in 2005, and perceived availability decreased among 12th-graders.

~

Taken from: http://www.narconon.org/druginfo/ecstasy_addiction.html

MDMA users may encounter problems similar to those experienced by amphetamine and cocaine users, including addiction. In addition to its rewarding effects, MDMA's psychological effects can include confusion, depression, sleep problems, anxiety, and paranoia during, and sometimes weeks after, taking the drug. Physical effects can include muscle tension, involuntary teeth-clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, and chills or sweating.

Increases in heart rate and blood pressure are a special risk for people with circulatory or heart disease. MDMA-related fatalities at raves have been reported. The stimulant effects of the drug, which enable the user to dance for extended periods, combined with the hot, crowded conditions usually found at raves can lead to dehydration, hyperthermia, and heart or kidney failure. MDMA use damages brain serotonin neurons. Serotonin is thought to play a role in regulating mood, memory, sleep, and appetite. Recent research indicates heavy MDMA use causes persistent memory problems in humans.

Long-term brain injury from use of ecstasy
The designer drug ecstasy, or MDMA, causes long-lasting damage to brain areas that are critical for thought and memory, according to new research findings in the June 15 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. In an experiment with red squirrel monkeys, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University demonstrated that 4 days of exposure to the drug caused damage that persisted 6 to 7 years later. These findings help to validate previous research by the Hopkins team in humans, showing that people who had taken MDMA scored lower on memory tests.

"The serotonin system, which is compromised by MDMA, is fundamental to the brain's integration of information and emotion," says Dr. Alan I. Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, which funded the research. "At the very least, people who take MDMA, even just a few times, are risking long-term, perhaps permanent, problems with learning and memory."

The researchers found that the nerve cells (neurons) damaged by MDMA are those that use the chemical serotonin to communicate with other neurons. The Hopkins team had also previously conducted brain imaging research in human MDMA users, in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health, which showed extensive damage to serotonin neurons.

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) has a stimulant effect, causing similar euphoria and increased alertness as cocaine and amphetamine. It also causes mescaline-like psychedelic effects. First used in the 1980s, MDMA is often taken at large, all-night "rave" parties.

In this new study, the Hopkins researchers administered either MDMA or salt water to the monkeys twice a day for 4 days. After 2 weeks, the scientists examined the brains of half of the monkeys. Then, after 6 to 7 years, the brains of the remaining monkeys were examined, along with age-matched controls.

In the brains of the monkeys examined soon after the 2-week period, Dr. George Ricaurte and his colleagues found that MDMA caused more damage to serotonin neurons in some parts of the brain than in others. Areas particularly affected were the neocortex (the outer part of the brain where conscious thought occurs) and the hippocampus (which plays a key role in forming long-term memories).

This damage was also apparent, although to a lesser extent, in the brains of monkeys who had received MDMA during the same 2-week period but who had received no MDMA for 6 to 7 years. In contrast, no damage was noticeable in the brains of those who had received salt water.

"Some recovery of serotonin neurons was apparent in the brains of the monkeys given MDMA 6 to 7 years previously," says Dr. Ricaurte, "but this recovery occurred only in certain regions, and was not always complete. Other brain regions showed no evidence of recovery whatsoever."

Ecstasy damages the brain and impairs memory in humans
A NIDA-supported study has provided the first direct evidence that chronic use of MDMA, popularly known as "ecstasy," causes brain damage in people. Using advanced brain imaging techniques, the study found that MDMA harms neurons that release serotonin, a brain chemical thought to play an important role in regulating memory and other functions. In a related study, researchers found that heavy MDMA users have memory problems that persist for at least 2 weeks after they have stopped using the drug. Both studies suggest that the extent of damage is directly correlated with the amount of MDMA use.

"The message from these studies is that MDMA does change the brain and it looks like there are functional consequences to these changes," says Dr. Joseph Frascella of NIDA's Division of Treatment Research and Development. That message is particularly significant for young people who participate in large, all-night dance parties known as "raves," which are popular in many cities around the Nation. NIDA's epidemiologic studies indicate that MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) use has escalated in recent years among college students and young adults who attend these social gatherings.

In the brain imaging study, researchers used positron emission tomography (PET) to take brain scans of 14 MDMA users who had not used any psychoactive drug, including MDMA, for at least 3 weeks. Brain images also were taken of 15 people who had never used MDMA. Both groups were similar in age and level of education and had comparable numbers of men and women.

In people who had used MDMA, the PET images showed significant reductions in the number of serotonin transporters, the sites on neuron surfaces that reabsorb serotonin from the space between cells after it has completed its work. The lasting reduction of serotonin transporters occurred throughout the brain, and people who had used MDMA more often lost more serotonin transporters than those who had used the drug less.

Previous PET studies with baboons also produced images indicating MDMA had induced long-term reductions in the number of serotonin transporters. Examinations of brain tissue from the animals provided further confirmation that the decrease in serotonin transporters seen in the PET images corresponded to actual loss of serotonin nerve endings containing transporters in the baboons' brains. "Based on what we found with our animal studies, we maintain that the changes revealed by PET imaging are probably related to damage of serotonin nerve endings in humans who had used MDMA," says Dr. George Ricaurte of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore. Dr. Ricaurte is the principal investigator for both studies, which are part of a clinical research project that is assessing the long-term effects of MDMA.

"The real question in all imaging studies is what these changes mean when it comes to functional consequences," says NIDA's Dr. Frascella. To help answer that question, a team of researchers, which included scientists from Johns Hopkins and the National Institute of Mental Health who had worked on the imaging study, attempted to assess the effects of chronic MDMA use on memory. In this study, researchers administered several standardized memory tests to 24 MDMA users who had not used the drug for at least 2 weeks and 24 people who had never used the drug. Both groups were matched for age, gender, education, and vocabulary scores.

The study found that, compared to the nonusers, heavy MDMA users had significant impairments in visual and verbal memory. As had been found in the brain imaging study, MDMA's harmful effects were dose-related: the more MDMA people used, the greater difficulty they had in recalling what they had seen and heard during testing.

The memory impairments found in MDMA users are among the first functional consequences of MDMA-induced damage of serotonin neurons to emerge. Recent studies conducted in the United Kingdom also have reported memory problems in MDMA users assessed within a few days of their last drug use. "Our study extends the MDMA-induced memory impairment to at least 2 weeks since last drug use and thus shows that MDMA's effects on memory cannot be attributed to withdrawal or residual drug effects," says Dr. Karen Bolla of Johns Hopkins, who helped conduct the study.

The Johns Hopkins/NIMH researchers also were able to link poorer memory performance by MDMA users to loss of brain serotonin function by measuring the levels of a serotonin metabolite in study participants' spinal fluid. These measurements showed that MDMA users had lower levels of the metabolite than people who had not used the drug; that the more MDMA they reported using, the lower the level of the metabolite; and that the people with the lowest levels of the metabolite had the poorest memory performance. Taken together, these findings support the conclusion that MDMA-induced brain serotonin neurotoxicity may account for the persistent memory impairment found in MDMA users, Dr. Bolla says.

Research on the functional consequences of MDMA-induced damage of serotonin-producing neurons in humans is at an early stage, and the scientists who conducted the studies cannot say definitively that the harm to brain serotonin neurons shown in the imaging study accounts for the memory impairments found among chronic users of the drug. However, "that's the concern, and it's certainly the most obvious basis for the memory problems that some MDMA users have developed," said Dr. Ricaurte.

Findings from another Johns Hopkins/NIMH study now suggest that MDMA use may lead to impairments in other cognitive functions besides memory, such as the ability to reason verbally or sustain attention. Researchers are continuing to examine the effects of chronic MDMA use on memory and other functions in which serotonin has been implicated, such as mood, impulse control, and sleep cycles. How long MDMA-induced brain damage persists and the long-term consequences of that damage are other questions researchers are trying to answer. Animal studies, which first documented the neurotoxic effects of the drug, suggest that the loss of serotonin neurons in humans may last for many years and possibly be permanent. "We now know that brain damage is still present in monkeys 7 years after discontinuing the drug," Dr. Ricaurte says. "We don't know just yet if we're dealing with such a long-lasting effect in people."

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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:42 am

Hallucinogens Information
(LSD and psilocybin [mushrooms])

LSD

Taken from: http://www.recovery.org.uk/druginfo/index.html

What is it?
LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) is a powerful hallucinogen. It's a drug which alters a persons perception of sights, sounds, touch etc., to the extent where hallucinations can occur - that is, where the user sees or hears things that don't, in reality, exist.

LSD is a semi-synthetic drug derived from lysergic acid which is found in ergot - a fungus that grows on rye and other grains. In its pure form it is a white, odorless crystalline powder that is soluble in water.

Medicinal uses
LSD has no applications as a medicine, although it has been suggested that it may have some uses in the treatment of certain mental illnesses.

Use of LSD
LSD is commonly known as 'Acid'. It was popular in the UK during the late 1960's and early 1970's and also again in the late 1980's with the rise of 'acid house parties'. Its popularity has declined with the appearance of Ecstasy and LSD now has a relatively limited number of users when compared to that drug.
It is manufactured for the street market in illicit laboratories, mostly in Europe and North America.

LSD is an almost unbelieveably potent drug. An average dose taken for a 'trip' would be around 200 micrograms. That is one fifth of a milligram - or one five-thousandths of a gram. A single heaped tea spoonful of LSD would contain something like 20-25,000 doses!

Because a single dose of LSD is so small, the pure drug is usually diluted to a great extent and then a single drop containing enough for one dose is placed onto blotting paper, sugar cubes etc. Blotting paper is a popular medium for the drug as it can be cut into squares, representing single doses, that can be decorated with cartoon characters and suchlike (see illustrations at top of page). Alternatively, the drug can be added to gelatine sheets or made into tablets or capsules.
LSD tablets can be very small. An example is that commonly called a 'microdot', which is about the side of a pinhead. This can be very strong because of the difficulty in accurately measuring and preparing the tiny quantities necessary for an effective dose.

What effect does it have?
The effects of LSD are unpredictable. Like any other drug, its effects depend on the amount taken, the user's personality, mood and expectations, past experience of the drug and the surroundings in which the drug is taken. These factors are particularly important with LSD because its hallucinogenic properties can be so strong. If anything in the immediate environment is perceived as - say - oppressive or threatening, under the influence of LSD the 'normal' reaction of mild anxiety can take the form of totally overwhelming fear.
It is difficult - if not impossible - to predict the effects of LSD on any person, even if they have taken the drug before.

Usually, the user feels the first effects of the drug 30-90 minutes after taking it. The hallucinogenic effects reach a plateau after about 1-2 hours, with repeated peaks of intensity.
LSD causes dramatic changes in perception, thoughts and mood. This can include:

- Vivid 'pseudo-hallucinations' - i.e. where a part of the user conciousness thought is aware that the hallucinations of sight, sound, smell and touch are not real.
- Distorted perceptions of time, where minutes can seem like hours.
- Distorted perception of distance, perspective and colour. Small objects may seem huge and large objects small. A close object may seem to be very distant and a distant object very close.
-Amplification of the relationship between the user and his/her surroundings - for some this may be a feeling of oneness with the universe, for others a feeling of terror and loneliness.
- Apparent fusion of the senses, where sounds are 'seen', colors 'heard' and smells 'felt'.
- Loss of control over thought processes, which can result in insignificant thoughts or objects taking on an importance out of proportion to their status.
- Mental/emotional experiences of a mystical, religious, or cosmic nature - or that's how they may appear to the user. The validity of such experiences is questionable.

Many regular users experience unpleasant reactions to LSD sooner or later - or this can happen the first time a person takes the drug. These 'bad trips' can occur anytime with any user. They often take the form of very intense feelings of fear, anxiety or depression. Users may feel that they have lost their identity, their place in the world and that there is no reality to hold on to. It is difficult for anyone who has not experienced this to appreciate just how terrifying it can be - when all perceptions are amplified.
In 'bad trips', pseudo-hallucinations can give way to terrifying true hallucinations, sometimes resulting in very erratic behaviour. In some cases, this psychotic state lasts several days or even longer.

Physical effects
The physical effects of taking LSD include dilated pupils, higher body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth, and tremors. These usually pass unnoticed by the user as the mental/emotional effects of the drug are far stronger.

Tolerance
Tolerance to LSD's effects develops rapidly, making larger amounts of the drug necessary to produce the same effects. Often, within a few days of consecutive daily doses, no amount of the drug will produce the desired effect. After several days of abstinence the hallucinatory effects are again felt.

Consequences of LSD use

Consequences for health
Physical Health
LSD appears to have few direct effects on the physical health of a user. No deaths caused by an LSD overdose have ever been reported and there is no physical dependence on the drug, as no withdrawal symptoms occur when a user stops taking it.
However, LSD can exert a profound indirect effect on physical health. Cases of suicide have occurred after taking LSD and the drug can induce violent or hazardous behavior, resulting in death or injury to the user or others.
Driving a motor vehicle, walking near traffic or being near vertical drops while under the influence of LSD can all result in serious or fatal accidents. Irrational behaviour is common under the influence of the drug and a user may run onto a busy road or attempt to fly etc. Similarly, the distorted perception of time and distance and other vivid hallucinations caused by LSD make driving a motor vehicle absolute madness - yet an LSD user would have no real appreciation of the dangers.

Mental Health
Repeated use of LSD may result in prolonged depression and anxiety. The drug may reveal deep seated mental or emotional problems that were previously unknown to the user.

Heavy users sometimes develop signs of organic brain damage, such as impaired memory and attention span, mental confusion and difficulty with abstract thinking. It is not yet known whether such mental changes are permanent or if they disappear when LSD use is stopped.

'Flashbacks' can occur, where a person experiences LSD's effects for a short time without taking the drug. These can occur up to two years after the last time LSD was taken and may be very frightening.

A small minority of regular LSD users become psychologically dependent on the drug and the need to keep taking it becomes a compulsion.

Legal consequences
LSD is a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act. It is illegal to produce, supply or possess it. The offense of supply - in the eyes of the law - can be committed by giving a single dose to another person.

~

Taken from: http://www.drugs.com/lsd.html

LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide), first synthesized in 1938, is the most potent hallucinogen known to man. It is manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains.

LSD is produced in crystalline form and then mixed with excipients, or diluted as a liquid for production in ingestible forms. It is odorless, colorless and has a slightly bitter taste. LSD is sold in tablet form (usually small tablets known as Microdots), on Sugar Cubes, in thin squares of gelatin (commonly referred to as Window Panes), and most commonly, as blotter paper (sheets of absorbent paper soaked in or impregnated with LSD, covered with colorful designs or artwork, and perforated into one-quarter inch square, individual dosage units).

LSD is sold under more than 80 street names including Acid, Blotter, Cid, Doses, Dots and Trips, as well as names that reflect the designs on the sheets of blotter paper.

Effects of Use
The effects of LSD are unpredictable. Usually, the first effects of the drug are felt 30 to 90 minutes after taking it. The user may experience extreme changes in mood, feel several different emotions at once, or swing rapidly from one emotion to another. If taken in large enough doses, the drug produces delusions and visual hallucinations. The physical effects include dilated pupils; higher body temperature and sweating; nausea and loss of appetite; increased blood sugar, heart rate and blood pressure; sleeplessness; dry mouth and tremors.

The user may also suffer impaired depth and time perception, with distorted perception of the size and shape of objects, movements, color, sound, touch and own body image. Sensations may seem to "cross over," giving the feeling of hearing colors and seeing sounds. These changes can be frightening and can cause panic. Some LSD users also experience severe, terrifying thoughts and feelings, fear of losing control, fear of insanity and death.
An experience with LSD is referred to as a "trip" and acute adverse reactions as a "bad trip". These experiences are long, with the effects of higher doses lasting for 10 to 12 hours.

Health Hazards
Under the influence of LSD, the ability to make sensible judgments and see common dangers is impaired, making the user susceptible to personal injury, which can be fatal. After an LSD trip, the user may suffer acute anxiety or depression, and may also experience flashbacks, which are recurrences of the effects of LSD days or even months after taking the last dose. A flashback occurs suddenly, often without warning, usually in people who use hallucinogens chronically or have an underlying personality problem. Healthy people who use LSD occasionally may also have flashbacks. Bad trips and flashbacks are only part of the risks of LSD use. LSD users may also manifest relatively long-lasting psychoses, such as schizophrenia or severe depression.

LSD produces tolerance, so some users who take the drug repeatedly must take progressively higher doses to achieve the state of intoxication that they had previously achieved. This is an extremely dangerous practice, given the unpredictability of the drug.

Extent of Use
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) in 1996 estimated that the percentage of the population aged 12 and older who had ever used LSD (the lifetime prevalence rate) had increased to 7.7 percent from 6.0 percent in 1988. Among youths 12 to 17 years old, the 1996 LSD lifetime prevalence rate was 4.3 percent, and for those aged 18 to 25, the rate was 13.9 percent. The rate for past-year use of LSD among the population ages 12 and older was 1 percent in 1996. Past-year prevalence was highest among the age groups 12 to 17 (2.8 percent) and 18 to 25 (4.6 percent). The rate of current LSD use in 1996 for those aged 18 to 25 was 0.9 percent, and it was 0.8 percent for 12- to 17-year-old youths.

Since 1975, Monitoring the Future Study (MTF) researchers have annually surveyed almost 17,000 high school seniors nationwide to determine trends in drug use and to measure attitudes and beliefs about drug abuse. The class of 1986 reported the lowest lifetime use, when 7.2 percent of seniors had reported using LSD at least once in their lives. In 1997, 13.6 percent of seniors had experimented with LSD at least once in their lifetimes.

In 1997, 34.7 percent of seniors perceived great risk in using LSD once or twice, and 76.6 percent said they saw great risk in using LSD regularly. More than 80 percent of seniors disapproved of people trying LSD once or twice, and almost 93 percent disapproved of people taking LSD regularly. Almost 51 percent of seniors said it would have been fairly easy or very easy for them to get LSD if they had wanted it.

----------------------

Psilocybin [Mushrooms]

Taken from: http://www.drugs.com/psilocybin.html

Psilocybin and psilocyn are both chemicals obtained from certain mushrooms found in Mexico and Central America.

Like peyote, the mushrooms have been used in native rites for centuries. Dried mushrooms contain about 0.2 to 0.4 percent psilocybin and only trace amounts of psilocyn. The hallucinogenic dose of both substances is about 4 to 8 milligrams or about 2 grams of mushrooms with effects lasting for about six hours. Both psilocybin and psilocyn can be produced synthetically.

~

Taken from: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/psilocybin.html

A number of Schedule I hallucinogenic substances are classified chemically as tryptamines. Most of these are found in nature but many, if not all, can be produced synthetically. Psilocybin (O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) and psilocyn (4-hydroxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine) are obtained from certain mushrooms indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Mexico, and the United States. As pure chemicals at doses of 10 to 20 mg, these hallucinogens produce muscle relaxation, dilation of pupils, vivid visual and auditory distortions, and emotional disturbances. However, the effects produced by consuming preparations of dried or brewed mushrooms are far less predictable and largely depend on the particular mushrooms used and the age and preservation of the extract. There are many species of "magic" mushrooms that contain varying amounts of these tryptamines, as well as uncertain amounts of other chemicals. As a consequence, the hallucinogenic activity, as well as the extent of toxicity produced by various plant samples, are often unknown.

Dimethyltryptamin (DMT) has a long history of use and is found in a variety of plants and seeds. It can also be produced synthetically. It is ineffective when taken orally, unless combined with another drug that inhibits its metabolism. Generally it is sniffed, smoked, or injected. The effective hallucinogenic dose in humans is about 50 to 100 mg and lasts for about 45 to 60 minutes. Because the effects last only about an hour; the experience has been referred to as a "businessmans trip."

A number of other hallucinogens have very similar structures and properties to those of DMT. Diethyltryptamine (DET), for example, is an analogue of DMT and produces the same pharmacological effects but is somewhat less potent than DMT. Alpha-ethyltryptamine (AET) is another tryptamine hallucinogen added to the list of Schedule I hallucinogens in 1994. Bufotenine (5-hydroxy-N-N-dimethyltryptamine) is a Schedule I substance found in certain mushrooms, seeds, and skin glands of Bufo toads. In general, most bufotenine preparations from natural sources are extremely toxic. N,N-Diisopropyl-5-methoxytryptamine (referred to as Foxy-Methoxy) is an orally active tryptamine recently encountered in the United States.

~

Taken from: http://www.recovery.org.uk/druginfo/index.html

What are they?
Many species of fungi possess psychedelic properties and about a dozen of these grow wild in the UK. The most common is the Liberty Cap - Psilocibe semilanceata - (see picture above), which is commonly referred to as a 'Magic mushroom'.
The original 'magic mushroom' is in fact another - not so common - hallucinogenic fungi seen in the UK called Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria). This is easily recognisable as a red toadstool with white warts, often depicted in cartoons as the cute red and white spotted variety from 'Alice In Wonderland'.

Medicinal uses
None in modern medicine, although fungi of various sorts have been used as medicines and for ceremonial/spiritual purposes in cultures across the world for thousands of years.
As far as can be judged, their use was largely restricted to shamans etc. who may have used hallucinogenic fungi to enter a trance or see visions in order to fulfil a role within their community.

Use/abuse of mushrooms
Psilocybe mushrooms grow after rain in late summer and autumn in the UK. They are often found on old cow pats in cattle grazing areas - which may or may not say something about their 'magical' value.
Fly Agaric grow in or near woodland.

Those who chose to injest mushrooms eat them fresh - immediately after picking - or preserve them by drying to be eaten later. Some people brew a 'tea' made from them or use them in cooking.

Mushrooms were popular as an hallucinogenic drug in the 'hippie' culture of the late 1960's and 1970's. They have retained their popularity partly because they are seen as a 'natural' high and also because they cost nothing to obtain.

How do they work?
The primary active ingredients of Psilocybe mushrooms are psilocybin and psilocin - and to a lesser extent baeocystin and norbaeocystin. These chemicals bear a close resemblance to the neurotransmitter serotonin and the hallucinogenic effect of psilocybe mushrooms is probably caused by their interference with the normal actions of brain seretonin.
It's likely that LSD (which is synthesised from ergot - a fungus that grows on grains) works in a similar fashion.

Fly Agaric contains mycoatropine and muscarine, together with two other less poisonous compounds, muscimol and ibotenic acid. These are seriously nasty chemicals which basically irritate the brain and have an hallucinogenic effect. They also induce sweating and can cause delerium and coma.

What effect do they have?

Psilocybe
The effects of Psilocybe mushrooms are similar to a mild LSD 'trip', that is, they alter the perception of sight, sounds etc. and change the feelings and thoughts of the user. They take effect after about 30-45 minutes, peaking after about 3 hours, and last for around 4 or 5 hours altogether.

At low doses euphoria, a sense of well being and a feeling of detachment occur, along with some mild distortion of perception. There is less dissociation than occurs with LSD and so less chance of a 'bad trip' as the user still has some control over his or her thought processes. Nevertheless, the effect of psilocybe mushrooms is unpredictable and depends on the setting in which they are taken and the mental or emotional state of the user.

At high doses visual distortions and vivid hallucinations can take place.

Most mushrooms containing psilocybin cause some nausea and other physical symptoms before the mental effects take over.

Fly Agaric
This hallucinogenic agents in this fungus are more toxic that those found in psilocybe and the intensity of the experience is higher. After the mushroom is eaten, individuals often vomit and may have a severe headache for a short time. The heart rate speeds up and the pupils dilate.

The mental effects resemble a state similar to extreme alcoholic intoxication, with the added complication of vivid hallucinations. Bizarre behaviour of users is common, ranging from non-stop talking or shouting to complete unawareness of their surrounding.
The duration of the hallucinogenic experience depends on the amount of mushrooms eaten and can range from 7-8 hours to 2 days. The user usually then falls into a deep sleep and on waking will not remember his or her behaviour while 'high'.

The 'magic' myth
'Magic mushrooms' haven't got any magic! In fact, their alarming effects are the nasty, brutish - and sometimes not so short - result of disruptive, chemical interference with the body's nervous system.

Consequences of using mushrooms
The idea that - because fungi are living things - they provide a 'natural high' is crazy. The active constituents of these mushrooms are dangerous chemicals. Opium is a natural substance - it's highly addictitve. Belladonna (Deadly nightshade) is natural - it can kill.

Natural does not mean harmless.

Risk to physical health

Philocybe
Philocybe mushrooms are not poisonous in the sense that they can kill and no lethal dose is known. However, some people react to them with vomiting, nausea and stomach pains. No serious long-term physical damage to health has been reported although it must be noted that no research has been carried out to assess the effects of frequent use.
The main risk to health from eating philocybe mushrooms comes from mistaken identity - collecting and eating poisonous varieties of mushrooms instead of the ones possessing the desired hallucinogenic properites. Some of these other fungi can cause death or permanent liver damage within hours of ingestion. Distinguishing hallucinogenic mushrooms from poisonous ones can be very difficult and sometimes almost impossible.

Risks to physical safety are likely to result from an individual's behaviour while under the influence of psilocybin. This may include irresponsible behaviour which could lead to an accident or injury.

Fly Agaric
Fly Agaric is poisonous as well as being hallucinogenic. Its toxicity is mainly due to the presence of mycoatropine which causes disorders of mental activity. The content of another poisonous agent, muscarine, is relatively small. Permanent physical damage or even death can be caused by eating them.

Fly Agaric itself is moderately toxic, but it should be remembered that species from the Amanita genus cause 95 percent of all deaths from mushroom poisoning. Fly Agaric's closest relatives are Amanita virosa (Destroying Angel) and Amanita phalloides (Death Cap) - the names say it all.

So, consuming Fly Agaric can be very dangerous for an individual's physical safety as so much depends on correct identification of the fungi. If a person is collecting mushrooms to eat for their hallucinogenic properties, one mistake could be their last mistake. Death by Amanita poisoning is reportedly an excruciating way to die. Even more horrifying is that the fatal symptoms only start to appear 2-3 days after eating the mushrooms - and by then it's too late.

Tolerance and Dependence
As with LSD, tolerance to the active ingredients in hallucinogenic mushrooms develops quickly and the day following a mushroom 'trip' it may take twice the original dose to produce the same effect.
There are no significant withdrawal symptoms from hallucinogenic mushrooms and no physical dependence appears to take place. There may be a strong desire to repeat the experience, which could be indicative of some degree of psychological dependence.

Legal consequences
The possession and use of hallucinogenic mushrooms in their natural form is not illegal in the UK. However, if they are prepared in any way, i.e. dried, crushed, cooked or brewed into tea, they then become a Class A drug. The penalties for possession or supply of a Class A drug are severe.

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:43 am

Heroin Information

Taken from: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/heroin.html

Heroin is an addictive drug, and its use is a serious problem in America.

Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder. Street names for heroin include "smack," "H," "skag," and "junk." Other names may refer to types of heroin produced in a specific geographical area, such as "Mexican black tar."

Health Hazards
Heroin abuse is associated with serious health conditions, including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion, collapsed veins, and, particularly in users who inject the drug, infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

The short-term effects of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dose and disappear in a few hours. After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria ("rush") accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following this initial euphoria, the user goes "on the nod," an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system. Long-term effects of heroin appear after repeated use for some period of time. Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, cellulitis, and liver disease. Pulmonary complications, including various types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health condition of the abuser, as well as from heroin’s depressing effects on respiration.

Heroin abuse during pregnancy and its many associated environmental factors (e.g., lack of prenatal care) have been associated with adverse consequences including low birth weight, an important risk factor for later developmental delay.

In addition to the effects of the drug itself, street heroin may have additives that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs.

The Drug Abuse Warning Network* reports that eight percent of drug-related emergency department (ED) visits in the third and fourth quarters of 2003 involved heroin abuse. Unspecified opiates—which could include heroin—were involved in an additional 4 percent of drug-related visits.

Tolerance, Addiction, and Withdrawal
With regular heroin use, tolerance develops. This means the abuser must use more heroin to achieve the same intensity of effect. As higher doses are used over time, physical dependence and addiction develop. With physical dependence, the body has adapted to the presence of the drug and withdrawal symptoms may occur if use is reduced or stopped.

Withdrawal, which in regular abusers may occur as early as a few hours after the last administration, produces drug craving, restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), kicking movements ("kicking the habit"), and other symptoms. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose and subside after about a week. Sudden withdrawal by heavily dependent users who are in poor health is occasionally fatal, although heroin withdrawal is considered less dangerous than alcohol or barbiturate withdrawal.

Treatment
There is a broad range of treatment options for heroin addiction, including medications as well as behavioral therapies. Science has taught us that when medication treatment is integrated with other supportive services, patients are often able to stop heroin (or other opiate) use and return to more stable and productive lives.

In November 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a Consensus Panel on Effective Medical Treatment of Heroin Addiction. The panel of national experts concluded that opiate drug addictions are diseases of the brain and medical disorders that indeed can be treated effectively. The panel strongly recommended (1) broader access to methadone maintenance treatment programs for people who are addicted to heroin or other opiate drugs; and (2) the Federal and State regulations and other barriers impeding this access be eliminated. This panel also stressed the importance of providing substance abuse counseling, psychosocial therapies, and other supportive services to enhance retention and successful outcomes in methadone maintenance treatment programs. The panel’s full consensus statement is available by visiting the NIH Consensus Development Program Web site at consensus.nih.gov.

Methadone, a synthetic opiate medication that blocks the effects of heroin for about 24 hours, has a proven record of success when prescribed at a high enough dosage level for people addicted to heroin. Other approved medications are naloxone, which is used to treat cases of overdose, and naltrexone, both of which block the effects of morphine, heroin, and other opiates.

Buprenorphine is the most recent addition to the array of medications available for treating addiction to heroin and other opiates. This medication is different from methadone in that it offers less risk of addiction and can be dispensed in the privacy of a doctor's office. Several other medications for use in heroin treatment programs are also under study.

For the pregnant heroin abuser, methadone maintenance combined with prenatal care and a comprehensive drug treatment program can improve many of the detrimental maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with untreated heroin abuse. There is preliminary evidence that buprenorphine also is safe and effective in treating heroin dependence during pregnancy, although infants exposed to methadone or buprenorphine during pregnancy typically require treatment for withdrawal symptoms. For women who do not want or are not able to receive pharmacotherapy for their heroin addiction, detoxification from opiates during pregnancy can be accomplished with relative safety, although the likelihood of relapse to heroin use should be considered.

There are many effective behavioral treatments available for heroin addiction. These can include residential and outpatient approaches. Several new behavioral therapies are showing particular promise for heroin addiction. Contingency management therapy uses a voucher-based system, where patients earn "points" based on negative drug tests, which they can exchange for items that encourage healthful living. Cognitive-behavioral interventions are designed to help modify the patient’s thinking, expectancies, and behaviors and to increase skills in coping with various life stressors.

Extent of Use

Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey
According to the 2005 MTF, rates of heroin use were stable among all three grades measured.

Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG)
Heroin indicators, as measured by the Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG), remained high in Baltimore, Newark, Boston, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. Baltimore and Newark ranked highest of all CEWG areas in the percentage of heroin items analyzed by forensic labs in 2004; heroin was identified in 34 percent of items analyzed in Newark, and in 26 percent of items analyzed in Baltimore. Eighty-two percent of drug treatment admissions (excluding alcohol) in 2004 were attributable to primary heroin abuse in Newark, followed by 74 percent in the Boston area, and 60 percent in Baltimore.

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
The 2004 NSDUH reports a significant decrease in lifetime heroin use among Americans age 12 or older, most notable in those 26 or older. An increase in past-month use of heroin was reported, however, among persons age 21 to 25.

~

Taken from: http://www.narconon.org/druginfo/heroin_heroin.html

What is heroin?
Heroin is an illegal, highly addictive drug. It is both the most abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates. It is typically sold as a white or brownish powder or as the black sticky substance known on the streets as "black tar heroin."

Although purer heroin is becoming more common, most street heroin is "cut" with other drugs or with substances such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, or quinine. Street heroin can also be cut with strychnine or other poisons. Because heroin abusers do not know the actual strength of the drug or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death. Heroin also poses special problems because of the transmission of HIV and other diseases that can occur from sharing needles or other injection equipment.

Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian poppy plant.

Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder. Street names associated with heroin include "smack," "H," "skag," and "junk." Other names may refer to types of heroin produced in a specific geographical area, such as "Mexican black tar."

What is the scope of heroin use in the United States?
According to the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which may actually underestimate illicit opiate (heroin) use, an estimated 2.4 million people use heroin at some time in their lives, and nearly 216,000 of them reported using it within the month preceding the survey. The survey report estimates that there were 141,000 new heroin users in 1995, and that there has been an increasing trend in new heroin use since 1992. A large proportion of these recent new users were smoking, snorting, or sniffing heroin, and most were under age 26. Estimates of use for other age groups also increased, particularly among youths age 12 to 17: the incidence of first-time heroin use among this age group increased fourfold from the 1980s to 1995.

The 1996 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), which collects data on drug- related hospital emergency department (ED) episodes from 21 metropolitan areas, estimates that 14 percent of all drug-related ED episodes involved heroin. Even more alarming is the fact that between 1988 and 1994, heroin-related ED episodes increased by 64 percent (from 39,063 to 64,013).

NIDA's Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG), which provides information about the nature and patterns of drug use in 20 cities, reported in its December 1996 publication that heroin was the primary drug of abuse related to drug abuse treatment admissions in Newark, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston, and it ranked a close second to cocaine in New York and Seattle.

Monitoring the Future Study (MTF)
According to the 1997 MTF, an annual survey of drug use among 8th-, 10th-, and 12th- graders, rates of heroin use remained relatively stable and low since the late 1970s. After 1991, however, use began to rise among 10th- and 12th- graders, and after 1993, among 8th- graders. In 1997, prevalence of heroin use was comparable for all three grade levels. Although the annual prevalence rates for heroin use remained relatively low in 1997, these rates are approximately two to three times higher than those reported in 1991.

Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG)
In December 1996, CEWG reported that the availability of low-priced, high-quality heroin continues to increase, especially in the East and some areas of the Midwest. This increase has also been reported in some cities that previously had escaped the influx of high-quality heroin.

Quantitative indicators and field reports continue to suggest an increasing incidence of new users (snorters) in the younger age groups, often among women. One concern is that young heroin snorters may shift to needle injecting, because of increased tolerance, nasal soreness, or declining or unreliable purity. Injection use would place them at increased risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

In some areas, such as Boston and San Francisco, the recent initiates increasingly include members of the middle class. In Newark, heroin users are usually found in suburban populations.

National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA)
The 1996 NHSDA shows a significant increase from 1993 in the estimated number of current (once in the past month) heroin users. The estimates have risen from 68,000 in 1993 to 216,000 in 1996.

Among individuals who had ever used heroin in their lives, the proportion who had ever smoked, sniffed, or snorted heroin increased from 55 percent in 1994 to 82 percent in 1996. During the same period, the proportion of users who injected heroin remained about the same, at about 50 percent.

How is heroin used?
Heroin is usually injected, sniffed/snorted, or smoked. Typically, a heroin abuser may inject up to four times a day. Intravenous injection provides the greatest intensity and most rapid onset of euphoria (7 to 8 seconds), while intramuscular injection produces a relatively slow onset of euphoria (5 to 8 minutes). When heroin is sniffed or smoked, peak effects are usually felt within 10 to 15 minutes. Although smoking and sniffing heroin do not produce a "rush" as quickly or as intensely as intravenous injection, NIDA researchers have confirmed that all three forms of heroin administration are addictive.

Route of Administration Among Heroin Treatment Admissions in Selected Areas
Injection continues to be the predominant method of heroin use among addicted users seeking treatment; however, researchers have observed a shift in heroin use patterns, from injection to sniffing and smoking. In fact, sniffing/snorting heroin is now a widely reported means of taking heroin among users admitted for drug treatment in Newark, Chicago, New York, and Detroit.

With the shift in heroin abuse patterns comes an even more diverse group of users. Older users (over 30) continue to be one of the largest user groups in most national data. However, several sources indicate an increase in new, young users across the country who are being lured by inexpensive, high-purity heroin that can be sniffed or smoked instead of injected. Heroin has also been appearing in more affluent communities.

What are the short-term effects of heroin use?
Soon after injection (or inhalation), heroin crosses the blood-brain barrier. In the brain, heroin is converted to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors. Abusers typically report feeling a surge of pleasurable sensation, a "rush."

The intensity of the rush is a function of how much drug is taken and how rapidly the drug enters the brain and binds to the natural opioid receptors. Heroin is particularly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. With heroin, the rush is usually accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the extremities, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and severe itching.

After the initial effects, abusers usually will be drowsy for several hours. Mental function is clouded by heroin's effect on the central nervous system. Cardiac functions slow. Breathing is also severely slowed, sometimes to the point of death. Heroin overdose is a particular risk on the street, where the amount and purity of the drug cannot be accurately known.

What are the long-term effects of heroin use?
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 neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain. Heroin also produces profound degrees of tolerance and physical dependence, which are also powerful motivating factors for compulsive use and abuse.

As with abusers of any addictive drug, heroin abusers gradually spend more and more time and energy obtaining and using the drug. Once they are addicted, the heroin abusers' primary purpose in life becomes seeking 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. Withdrawal may occur within a few hours after the last time the drug is taken. Symptoms of withdrawal include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold sweats with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), and leg movements. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose of heroin and subside after about a week. However, some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months. Heroin withdrawal is never fatal to otherwise healthy adults, but it can cause death to the fetus of a pregnant addict.

At some point during continuous heroin use, a person can become addicted to the drug. Sometimes addicted individuals will endure many of the withdrawal symptoms to reduce their tolerance for the drug so that they can again experience the rush.

Physical dependence and the emergence of withdrawal symptoms were once believed to be the key features of heroin addiction. We now know this may not be the case entirely, since 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) have few if any problems leaving opiates after their pain is resolved by other means. This may be because the patient in pain is simply seeking relief of pain and not the rush sought by the addict.

What are the medical complications of chronic heroin abuse?
Medical consequences of chronic heroin abuse include scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses (boils) and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications (including various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis) may result from the poor health condition of the abuser as well as from heroin's depressing effects on respiration. Many of the additives in street heroin may include substances that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. Immune reactions to these or other contaminants can cause arthritis or other rheumatologic problems.

Of course, sharing of injection equipment or fluids can lead to some of the most severe consequences of heroin abuse - infections with hepatitis B and C, HIV, and a host of other blood-borne viruses, which drug abusers can then pass on to their sexual partners and children.

How does heroin abuse affect pregnant women?
Heroin abuse can cause serious complications during pregnancy, including miscarriage and premature delivery. Children born to addicted mothers are at greater risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), as well. Pregnant women should not be detoxified from opiates because of the increased risk of spontaneous abortion or premature delivery; rather, treatment with methadone is strongly advised. Although infants born to mothers taking prescribed methadone may show signs of physical dependence, they can be treated easily and safely in the nursery. Research has demonstrated also that the effects of in utero exposure to methadone are relatively benign.

Why are heroin users at special risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C?
Because many heroin addicts often share needles and other injection equipment, they are at special risk of contracting HIV and other infectious diseases.

Infection of injection drug users with HIV is spread primarily through reuse of contaminated syringes and needles or other paraphernalia by more than one person, as well as through unprotected sexual intercourse with HIV-infected individuals. For nearly one-third of Americans infected with HIV, injection drug use is a risk factor. In fact, drug abuse is the fastest growing vector for the spread of HIV in the nation.

NIDA-funded research has found that drug abusers can change the behaviors that put them at risk for contracting HIV, through drug abuse treatment, prevention, and community-based outreach programs. They can eliminate drug use, drug-related risk behaviors such as needle sharing, unsafe sexual practices, and, in turn, the risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Drug abuse prevention and treatment are highly effective in preventing the spread of HIV.

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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:45 am

Inhalants Information

Taken from: http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/DrugIssue/News/New_Findings_on_Inhalants_Parent_and_Youth

Introduction
In 1995, an alarming one-quarter (23%) of teens had abused inhalants. After substantial progress in reducing teen inhalant abuse, which fell 22 percent between 1995 and 2001, recent data show that a new generation of children is vulnerable.

Youth who are exposed to inhalants as they enter middle school today were too young to have learned the risks from campaigns in the 1990’s. This group is increasingly less aware of the risks of inhalants and more likely to abuse inhalants than students just a few years ago.

Background
Inhalant abuse is the intentional inhalation of a volatile substance for the purpose of achieving a euphoric state or psychoactive (mind-altering) effect. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there are four general categories of inhalants: volatile solvents, aerosol, gases, and nitrites. Hundreds of household and industrial products can be misused as inhalants.

Volatile solvents are liquids that vaporize at room temperatures, including paint thinners and removers, gasoline, glues, correction fluids, and felt-tip marker fluids.

Aerosols are sprays that contain propellants and solvents such as spray paints, deodorant and hair sprays.

Gases include medical anesthetics, such as ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide or "laughing gas," and gases found in butane lighters, propane tanks and whipped cream dispensers.

Nitrites are different than other inhalants because they primarily dilate blood vessels and relax the muscles. They include cyclohexyl nitritem in room odorizers; amyl nitrite and butyl nitrite both called "poppers."

Prolonged sniffing of solvents or aerosol sprays can lead to heart failure and death within minutes of a session of prolonged sniffing. Known as "sudden sniffing death," this can result from a single session of inhalant use by an otherwise healthy young person. Chronic exposure to inhalants can cause long-lasting damage to the brain and significant damage to the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys.

Younger adolescents are more likely than older adolescents to abuse inhalants.

The Problem
In 1995, too few adolescents were aware of the serious dangers of inhalant abuse. Only two thirds (64%) knew inhalants can kill. Twenty three percent of 7th to 12th graders reported abusing inhalants. Further, trends in the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey showed that trial use of inhalants among 8th graders had increased from 18 percent in 1991 to 22 percent in 1995.

At the same time, parents had a limited understanding of the inhalants problem. They believed the behavior was limited to model airplane glue-sniffing and did not realize how easily children could obtain this wide range of products — only 38% knew inhalants were very easy to obtain. Only one-third (34%) had spoken to their child about inhalants.

Low levels of perception of risk are an important indicator because attitudes drive behavior. According to Monitoring the Future, perception of risk (how dangerous consumers view a particular drug) has a negative correlation with drug use. Generally speaking, when people see increasing risk in using drugs, drug use declines. Similarly, the opposite holds true.

Increasing adolescents’ perception of risk was key to reducing inhalant use.

A National Response
In April 1995, the Partnership launched the first national media-based education campaign to combat inhalant abuse among adolescents. The program targeted kids aged 9-17 in two separate groups younger/older as well as their parents. Separate campaigns each with a progressively greater level of detail were created for these each segment to avoid educating youth about the behavior. The goal of the youth campaign was to increase perception of risk and reduce inhalant abuse. The goal of the parent campaign was to increase awareness and motivate parents to talk to their children about inhalant abuse.

To accomplish this, the Partnership developed television, radio and print messages, worked with television script writers and talk shows to get the issue on air, and developed a special Reader’s Digest supplement on inhalants.

Significant Progress Achieved
Between the 1995 peak in inhalant abuse and 2001, teen (7th through 12th graders) perceptions of risk in inhalant use increased significantly.
Correspondingly, teen inhalant abuse declined significantly.

The Partnership inhalant program received a gold “EFFIE Award” for proven effectiveness in the marketplace (the most significant award in advertising, recognizing creative achievement in meeting and exceeding campaign objectives).

Current Situation
Over time, other drugs of abuse came to the fore and national campaign focus shifted to address emerging threats such as the spread of Ecstasy and methamphetamine.

However, it is important to realize that each year a new cohort of youth is exposed to inhalant abuse as they enter middle school. Today’s youth were simply too young to benefit from successful efforts of the 1990s.

During the past few years, middle-school students’ perception of risk of inhalant abuse has fallen. Correspondingly, all measures of inhalant abuse by 6th through 8th graders increased in 2003 and have remained at these elevated levels. Inhalant abuse among the entire 7th though 12th grade sample remains stable and below 1998 levels. However, past year use has increased slightly since 2002.

Parental Awareness & Actions
Parents, for the most part, are aware of the risks in inhalant abuse.
Parents are also aware that inhalants are the more available to their child than other drugs. In spite of this awareness, parents are less likely to discuss inhalants with their child than they are to discuss cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol or other drugs. Why is this? Parents mistakenly believe their children see as much risk in inhalant abuse as they do. Believing their children know the risks of inhalants removes the perceived need to educate them.

As with other drugs, few parents believe their child has tried inhalants. Only four percent of parents of 6th to 8th graders believe their child has tried inhalants. Youth are five times as likely to have tried inhalants; 22 percent of 6th to 8th graders report having tried inhalants.

This “disconnect” between parents and adolescents is a consistent finding in PATS. Parents significantly underestimate the vulnerability of their child to substance abuse. There are two components of this. Parents overestimate the risk they believe their child sees in drug use, and they underestimate the likelihood that their child has tried.

This disconnect represents a serious barrier to prevention: if parents don’t perceive their children to be vulnerable to drug use they are less likely to take steps to prevent the activity.

Anti-Drug Messages Help Decrease the Disconnect
Parents who receive frequent messages about the risks of drugs are more likely to be aware that their child may have tried inhalants and to address the issue.

Parents who are exposed to prevention / education messages in the media almost everyday or more are more likely to think their child has tried inhalants than parents who see the advertising less than once a week.
Parents who are more exposed to messages are also more likely to have taken action by discussing drugs with their children frequently. These parents are also more likely to have discussed specific drugs, including inhalants, with their child.

Conclusion & Recommendations
In 1995, an alarming one-quarter (23%) of teens had abused inhalants. After substantial progress in reduced teen inhalant abuse, which fell 22 percent between 1995 and 2001, recent data show that a new generation of children is vulnerable.

Youth who are exposed to inhalants as they enter middle school today were too young to have learned the risks of inhalants from campaigns of the 1990s. This group is increasingly less aware of the risks of inhalants and more likely to abuse inhalants than students just a few years ago.

Inhalants are in every home, but not every youth is aware that these products can be used to get high. Therefore, youth targeted anti-inhalant advertising must be careful not to educate kids about the potential behavior and inadvertently increase use.

Educating parents about the risks of inhalant use so that they educate their children is an important step in addressing inhalant abuse. Research from PATS has consistently shown that teens who learn a lot about the risks of drugs from their parents are up to 50 percent less likely to use drugs. Yet too few teens (only about 32 percent) say they learn a lot about the risks from their parents.

While parents are aware of the dangers of inhalant abuse and the availability of these substances, they are still not educating their children about the risks. Their inaction is fueled, in large part, by the mistaken belief that their child knows the risks and is not trying.

Efforts to educate parents about inhalant abuse must work to correct this misperception. Parents need to get the message that their own middle school student is unaware of these risks (which include sudden death) and is five times more likely to have tried inhalants than they think. Research suggests that media messages can help to accomplish this goal.

In June 2004, the Partnership re-launched messages in television, radio and print via a nationwide distribution to its network of statewide and city alliances. Since that time, the number of inhalants messages reaching young people and parents has increased significantly.

Concurrently, an effort sponsored by the Alliance for Consumer Education (ACE) delivered inhalant abuse prevention materials to schools in select states across the nation.

The nationwide inhalant media campaign to deliver prevention and education messages must be sustained and also refreshed with new messages in order to continue to capture attention, change attitudes and reduce abuse. Specifically, the Partnership has recommended a new effort to serve parents utilizing messages in magazines and newspapers to provide in-depth information to parents and caring adults on the risks of inhalant use facing their child.

Further, the Partnership has recommended and is actively exploring expanded resources for parents delivered via the Internet; consumer public relations to deliver educational content via news and earned media; and, new television and radio messages to expand and refresh the existing inhalant prevention / education campaign. Funding is currently being sought to support these important forward steps.

Partnership Attitude Tracking Study
The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) is the largest drug-related attitudinal tracking study in the country. PATS 2004 is the 17th wave of this annual survey.

Conducted by Roper Public Affairs and Media, Inc., the PATS 2004 adolescent sample includes a sub sample of 7,314 youth in grades 7 through 12 in public, private and parochial high schools nationwide. The margin of error for this sample is +/– 1.5 percent. PATS 2004 also includes a sub sample of 3,840 youth in grades 6 through 8 in public, private and parochial middle schools nationwide. The margin of error for this sample in +/- 2.8 percent.

The 2004 Parent Study was conducted with 1,205 parents of children under 19 in their homes nationwide. The margin of error for the parent sample in +/- 2.8 percent.

The surveys were fielded in the spring of 2004. African- and Hispanic-American populations were oversampled and then weighted to reflect the national population. Questionnaires were anonymous, self- administered and completed under the supervision of Roper Public Affairs and Media. Results are nationally projectable.

~

Taken from: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/Inhalants.html

Inhalants are breathable chemical vapors that produce psychoactive (mind-altering) effects. A variety of products common in the home and in the workplace contain substances that can be inhaled. Many people do not think of these products, such as spray paints, glues, and cleaning fluids, as drugs because they were never meant to be used to achieve an intoxicating effect. Yet, young children and adolescents can easily obtain them and are among those most likely to abuse these extremely toxic substances.

Inhalants fall into the following categories:

- Volatile Solvents
-- Industrial or household solvents or solvent-containing products, including paint thinners or removers, degreasers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, and glue

-- Art or office supply solvents, including correction fluids, felt-tip-marker fluid, and electronic contact cleaners

- Aerosols
-- Household aerosol propellants and associated solvents in items such as spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products, and vegetable oil sprays

- Gases
-- Gases used in household or commercial products, including butane lighters and propane tanks, whipping cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases

-- Medical anesthetic gases, such as ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide ("laughing gas")

- Nitrites
-- Organic nitrites are volatiles that include cyclohexyl, butyl, and amyl nitrites, commonly known as "poppers." Amyl nitrite is still used in certain diagnostic medical procedures. Volatile nitrites are often sold in small brown bottles labeled as "video head cleaner," "room odorizer," "leather cleaner," or "liquid aroma."

Health Hazards
Although they differ in makeup, nearly all abused inhalants produce short-term effects similar to anesthetics, which act to slow down the body’s functions. When inhaled in sufficient concentrations, inhalants can cause intoxication, usually lasting only a few minutes.

However, sometimes users extend this effect for several hours by breathing in inhalants repeatedly. Initially, users may feel slightly stimulated. Repeated inhalations make them feel less inhibited and less in control. If use continues, users can lose consciousness.

Sniffing highly concentrated amounts of the chemicals in solvents or aerosol sprays can directly induce heart failure and death within minutes of a session of repeated inhalations. This syndrome, known as "sudden sniffing death," can result from a single session of inhalant use by an otherwise healthy young person. Sudden sniffing death is particularly associated with the abuse of butane, propane, and chemicals in aerosols.

High concentrations of inhalants also can cause death from suffocation by displacing oxygen in the lungs and then in the central nervous system so that breathing ceases. Deliberately inhaling from a paper or plastic bag or in a closed area greatly increases the chances of suffocation. Even when using aerosols or volatile products for their legitimate purposes (i.e., painting, cleaning), it is wise to do so in a well-ventilated room or outdoors.

Chronic abuse of solvents can cause severe, long-term damage to the brain, the liver, and the kidneys.

Harmful irreversible effects that may be caused by abuse of specific solvents include:

- Hearing loss—toluene (spray paints, glues, dewaxers) and trichloroethylene (dry-cleaning chemicals, correction fluids)

- Peripheral neuropathies, or limb spasms—hexane (glues, gasoline) and nitrous oxide (whipped cream dispensers, gas cylinders)

- Central nervous system or brain damage—toluene (spray paints, glues, dewaxers)

- Bone marrow damage—benzene (gasoline)

Serious but potentially reversible effects include:

- Liver and kidney damage—toluene-containing substances and chlorinated hydrocarbons (correction fluids, dry-cleaning fluids)

- Blood oxygen depletion—aliphatic nitrites (known on the street as poppers, bold, and rush) and methylene chloride (varnish removers, paint thinners)

Extent of Use
Initial use of inhalants often starts early. Some young people may use inhalants as an easily accessible substitute for alcohol. Research suggests that chronic or long-term inhalant abusers are among the most difficult drug abuse patients to treat. Many suffer from cognitive impairment and other neurological dysfunction and may experience multiple psychological and social problems.

Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey
According to the 2005 Monitoring the Future survey, lifetime use of inhalants measured 17.1 percent among 8th-graders, 13.1 percent among 10th grade students, and 11.4 percent among 12th-graders in 2005.

Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN)
The 2003 Drug Abuse Warning Network Interim Report estimates 627,923 drug-related emergency department visits for the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2003. Inhalants were attributed to 1,681 of these reported visits.

2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
Among youths age 12 to 17, 10.6 percent were current illicit drug users in 2004, and 1.2 percent of those reported current inhalant use. Among 12- or 13-year-olds, 1.2 percent reported current inhalant use; 1.6 percent of 14- or 15-year-olds reported current use.

Lifetime use of inhalants was down in 2004 among Americans in the 18–20 age group. While declines were reported also for lifetime use among Asians age 18–25, their past-month use of inhalants rose significantly. Past-year use rose significantly among 21 year-olds in 2004.

In 2004, the number of new inhalant users was about 857,000.

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:45 am

Pharmaceuticals Information

Taken from: http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs1/1010/odd.htm

Diverted Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals are diverted, distributed, and abused in Illinois; however, the threat posed by the diversion, distribution, and abuse of pharmaceuticals is lower than that of other illicit drugs. Commonly abused pharmaceuticals include OxyContin, Valium, Vicodin, and Xanax. Pharmaceuticals generally are acquired by abusers and distributors through forged or stolen prescriptions, "doctor shopping" (individuals who may or may not have a legitimate ailment visit numerous physicians to obtain drugs in excess of what should be legitimately prescribed), and theft from pharmacies and nursing homes.

~

Taken from: http://www.healthandfitnessadvices.com/articles/health/pharmaceuticals-the-next-frontier-in-americas-war-on-drugs.html

Pharmaceuticals: The Next Frontier in America's War on Drugs
America's war on drugs, which has been fought in the opium
fields of Afghanistan and the cocaine plantations of
Columbia, will have to reinvent itself to combat what is set
to be America's biggest drug abuse problem, pharmaceuticals.
One in five American's, nearly 48 million, have used
prescription drugs for non-medical purposes at least once in
their lives. The current past month misuse rate among
Americans is 6.2 million. According to a recent white paper
by Carnevale Associates, this rate of use is already higher
than the historical highs of both cocaine and heroin
epidemics.

For some, the road to illicit use of prescription
medications starts innocently. After a car accident, back
injury, or, even, a mental/emotional breakdown a physician
prescribes medication for a legitimate use. Over time,
tolerance builds up so that more and more of the drug is
needed until a state of dependence is reached. At this
point, there is no easy way to get off the drug, and
stopping can involve painful withdrawal symptoms. Some
doctors have been known to become afraid and cut their
patients off at this point. Patients have been known to
steal prescription pads, or visit numerous doctors to get
the drugs they have become addicted to.

However, contrary to popular belief, it is not older adults
or any adults who are most likely to abuse pharmaceuticals.
In the past decade, abuse of prescription meds among youth
has been growing at an alarming first-time use rate of more
than fifty percent each year. In 2002, the latest year for
which there are statistics, approximately 2.5 million
American's misused prescriptions for the first time and 44%
of them were under the age of 18.

Unfortunately, as the media fixes its gaze on the
methamphetamine problem; and the Office of National Drug
Control Policy spends much of its time focusing on Marijuana
the opportunity to address the pharmaceutical addiction and
abuse is being missed. While certain steps have been taken
they have been tentative. The ONDCP has drawn up a strategy
for addressing synthetic drugs, but no serious media
campaign to educate Americans about the problem has been
undertaken. Nor has any pharmaceutical company been brought
to heel for manufacturing drugs with high abuse potential
even when alternatives may exist.

The next battle in America's war on drugs must draw a bead
on pharmaceuticals. The ONDCP must be willing to launch the
same type of hard hitting ad campaigns against prescription
drug abuse as it has against, marijuana, ecstasy and
cocaine. The FDA must not be afraid to sanction drug
manufacturers who continue to make unsafe drugs where safe
alternatives exist. Pharmaceutical manufactures must become
better citizens and spend the research and development
dollars to make safe and effective drugs, rather than taking
the easy way out.

This new phase of the war on drugs, without easily targeted
foreigners to blame for America's drug abuse problems, will
take unwavering political resolve, corporate citizenship and
ingenuity. Even then it is likely to take years before the
trend of increases in prescription medicine abuse and
addiction can be reversed.

Common Prescription Drugs of Abuse
- Opioids: these are synthetic versions of opium. Intended for
pain management opioids are the most commonly abused
prescription drugs. OxyContin (oxycodone), Vicodin
(hydrocodone) and Demerol (meperidine) are the most popular
for abuse. Short-term side effects can include pain relief,
euphoria, and drowsiness. Overdose can lead to death.
Long-term use can lead to dependence or addiction.

- Depressants: These drugs are commonly prescribed to treat
anxiety; panic attacks, and sleep disorders. Nembutal
(pentobarbital sodium), Valium (diazepam), and Xanax
(alprazolam) are just three of the many drugs in this
category. Immediately slow down normal brain functioning and
can cause sleepiness Long-term use can lead to physical
dependence and addiction.

- Stimulants: Doctors may prescribe these to treat the
sleeping disorder narcolepsy or
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. Ritalin
(methylphenidate) and Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) are two
commonly prescribed stimulants. These drugs enhance brain
activity and increase alertness and energy in much the same
way as cocaine or methamphetamine. They increase blood
pressure; speed up heart rate, and respiration. Very high
doses can lead to irregular heartbeat and hyperthermia.

~

Taken from: http://www.adhdinfo.com/startnow/startnow_parents5.jsp?usertrack.filter_applied=true&NovaId=7852773733817342179

Misuse and Abuse of Stimulant Medications
Patterns of misuse and abuse include:

- Taking higher than prescribed doses.
- Frequent episodes of binge use followed by severe depression.
- An overpowering desire to continue inappropriate use of the medication despite serious adverse medical and social consequences.

Stimulant medications are classified as Schedule II by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Schedule II drugs are medicines of accepted medical value that, if misused or abused, can lead to tolerance and psychological dependence. Codeine is an example of another Schedule II drug. Codeine is found in Tylenol® with Codeine, Robitussin® A-C and other medications commonly given to children. These medications should only be taken by mouth as prescribed by a doctor. Inappropriate use of these medications can be highly dangerous. When used as indicated, these drugs are safe, effective and non-addictive.

As the DEA explains, this does not mean that a child or young adult who is properly diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed a stimulant medication as part of his or her treatment will become "addicted" or become a drug abuser. Low-dose, oral ADHD medication is generally not associated with misuse or addiction when taken as prescribed. In fact, study findings suggest that appropriate use of stimulants in children with ADHD may decrease the likelihood of drug abuse in later life.

What Can Happen When Stimulant Medications are Misused or Abused?
As with other prescription medications, taking stimulants in a way other than intended can have serious consequences. According to the DEA, abuse of stimulant medications may result in the following:

- Short, intense periods of high energy; feelings of nervousness or stress, uncontrollable shaking, rapid beating of the heart, forcible or irregular pulsing of the heart that is noticeable to the person experiencing it, and high blood pressure from very high doses.
- Psychotic episodes, paranoid delusions, hallucinations and bizarre behavior.

If your child demonstrates any of these symptoms or behaviors, talk to your child and a healthcare professional immediately.

How Common is Misuse and Diversion of Stimulant Medications?
You may have seen reports about misuse and abuse of stimulant medications on TV or read about this issue in the newspaper or in a magazine. While there has been a lot of media coverage on the topic, until recently there were not any wide-scale studies to determine just how common the problem is. In 2001, the investigative arm of Congress known as the General Accounting Office (GAO) surveyed principals of public middle and high schools across the United States. Eight percent of these principals reported knowing of ADHD medications being given away, stolen or misused/abused at their school. Most of those principals reported knowing of only one incident. The GAO report also stated that increasing use of once-daily medications may reduce the potential for diversion.

The extent of the problem may vary in different schools and your child's experiences might be very different from someone else's. The important thing is to be aware that there is the potential for others to want to experiment with or to gain access to your child's ADHD medication.

Following the storage and safety guidelines discussed in this brochure may help reduce the likelihood of stimulant abuse and diversion. Nevertheless, it is important to be able to spot warning signs such as the following:

- Withdrawn, depressed, or tired behavior.
- Hostile or uncooperative attitude.
- Strained or changed relationships with family members

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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:46 am

Steroids Information

Taken from: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/Steroids.html

Anabolic-androgenic steroids are man-made substances related to male sex hormones. “Anabolic” refers to muscle-building, and “androgenic” refers to increased masculine characteristics. “Steroids” refers to the class of drugs. These drugs are available legally only by prescription, to treat conditions that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone, such as delayed puberty and some types of impotence. They are also prescribed to treat body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases that result in loss of lean muscle mass. Abuse of anabolic steroids, however, can lead to serious health problems, some irreversible.

Today, athletes and others abuse anabolic steroids to enhance performance and also to improve physical appearance. Anabolic steroids are taken orally or injected, typically in cycles of weeks or months (referred to as “cycling”), rather than continuously. Cycling involves taking multiple doses of steroids over a specific period of time, stopping for a period, and starting again. In addition, users often combine several different types of steroids to maximize their effectiveness while minimizing negative effects (referred to as “stacking”).

Health Hazards
The major side effects from abusing anabolic steroids can include liver tumors and cancer, jaundice (yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids), fluid retention, high blood pressure, increases in LDL (bad cholesterol), and decreases in HDL (good cholesterol). Other side effects include kidney tumors, severe acne, and trembling. In addition, there are some gender-specific side effects:

- For men — shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, increased risk for prostate cancer.
- For women — growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice.
- For adolescents — growth halted prematurely through premature skeletal maturation and accelerated puberty changes. This means that adolescents risk remaining short for the remainder of their lives if they take anabolic steroids before the typical adolescent growth spurt.

In addition, people who inject anabolic steroids run the added risk of contracting or transmitting HIV/AIDS or hepatitis, which causes serious damage to the liver.

Scientific research also shows that aggression and other psychiatric side effects may result from abuse of anabolic steroids. Many users report feeling good about themselves while on anabolic steroids, but researchers report that extreme mood swings also can occur, including manic-like symptoms leading to violence. Depression often is seen when the drugs are stopped and may contribute to dependence on anabolic steroids. Researchers report also that users may suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility.

Research also indicates that some users might turn to other drugs to alleviate some of the negative effects of anabolic steroids. For example, a study of 227 men admitted in 1999 to a private treatment center for dependence on heroin or other opioids found that 9.3 percent had abused anabolic steroids before trying any other illicit drug. Of these 9.3 percent, 86 percent first used opioids to counteract insomnia and irritability resulting from the anabolic steroids.

Extent of Use

Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey
MTF annually assesses drug use among the Nation’s 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students. Annual** use of anabolic steroids remained stable at under 1.5 percent for students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades in the early 1990s, then started to rise. Peak rates of annual use occurred in 2002 for 12th-graders (2.5 percent), in 2000 and 2002 for 10th-graders (2.2 percent), and in 1999 and 2000 for 8th-graders (1.7 percent). Eigth-graders reported significant decreases in lifetime and annual steroid use in 2004, as well as a decrease in perceived availability of these drugs. A significant decrease in lifetime use was also measured among 10th-graders for 2004.

Most anabolic steroids users are male, and among male students, past year use of these substances was reported by 1.3 percent of 8th-graders, 2.3 percent of 10th-graders, and 3.3 percent of 12th-graders in 2004.

~

Taken from: http://www.recovery.org.uk/druginfo/index.html

What are they?
Steroids are drugs derived from hormones. Anabolic steroids are one group of these drugs.

Anabolic steroids - or more precisely, anabolic/androgenic steroids - belong to a group known as ergogenic, or so-called 'performance-enhancing,' drugs. They are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, a natural male hormone. 'Anabolic' means growing or building. 'Androgenic' means masculinizing or generating male sexual characteristics.

Medicinal uses
Anabolic steroids are used in small quantities by physicians for treating some types of anaemia, thrombosis, some breast cancers, osteoporosis, endometriosis and hereditary angioedaema, a rare disease involving swelling of some parts of the body.

How do they work?
Anabolic steroids are designed to mimic the body-building traits of testosterone - by increasing protein production within cells - while minimizing its masculinizing effects. There are several types, with various combinations of anabolic and androgenic properties.
These drugs also appear to increase blood volume and glycogen (blood sugar), and to inhibit the natural process whereby muscles cells that are no longer required are eliminated.

Abuse of anabolic steroids
The abuse of anabolic steroids by a small minority of athletes is relatively new. They were first developed in 1958 and although it was soon realized these drugs had unwanted side effects, it was too late to halt their spread into the sports world.

Early users were mainly bodybuilders, weightlifters, discus, shot put or javelin throwers -all competitors who rely heavily on physical bulk and strength. During the 1970's demand grew as athletes in other sports sought the competitive edge that anabolic steroids seemed to provide.

The abuse of anabolic steroids is not confined to males. Professional and amateur female athletes-track and field competitors, swimmers and bodybuilders may also abuse them.

By the 1980's, as non-athletes also discovered the body-enhancing properties of steroids, a black market began to flourish for the illegal production and sale of the drugs.

It's not only athletes who may use anabolic steroids. It may be an 18-year-old who loathes his skinny body. Or a 15-year old in a hurry to reach maturity, or a person who wants more muscle power to do their job.
Increasing numbers of adolescents are turning to steroids for cosmetic reasons.

Anabolic steroids are usually taken in pill form. Some that cannot be absorbed orally are taken by injection. The normal prescribed daily dose for medical purposes usually averages between 1 and 5 milligrams. Some athletes may take up to hundreds of milligrams a day, far exceeding medically recommended dosages.
Until recently most anabolic steroids that were abused were lawfully manufactured drugs that were diverted to the black market through theft and fraudulent prescriptions.

Now black-market anabolic steroids are either made overseas and smuggled into the UK or are produced in clandestine laboratories here. These counterfeit drugs may present greater health risks because they are manufactured without controls and thus may be impure, mislabeled or simply bogus.

Sales of anabolic steroids are made in gyms, health clubs etc., and by overseas mail-order. Suppliers may be drug dealers or they may be trainers, physicians, pharmacists or friends.

What effect do they have?
Athletes who have used anabolic steroids report a significant increases in lean muscle mass, strength and endurance, but no studies have shown that these drugs enhance performance.

Consequences of steroid abuse

For men
Men who take large doses of anabolic steroids typically experience changes in sexual characteristics. Although derived from a male sex hormone, the drug can trigger a mechanism in the body that can actually shut down the healthy functioning of the male reproductive system. Some possible side effects are:

- Shrinking of the testicles
- Reduced sperm count
- Impotence
- Baldness
- Difficulty or pain in urinating
- Development of breasts

For women
Females may experience 'masculinization' as well as other problems such as:

- Growth of facial hair
- Changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle
- Enlargement of the clitoris
- Deepened voice
- Breast reduction
- Enlarged prostate

For both sexes
For both men and women, continued use of anabolic steroids may lead to health conditions ranging from merely irritating to life-threatening. Some effects are:

- Acne
- Jaundice
- Trembling
- Swelling of feet or ankles
- Bad breath
- Reduction in HDL, the 'good' cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Liver damage and cancers
- Aching joints
- Increased chance of injury to tendons, ligaments, and muscles

Many athletes report 'feeling good' about themselves while on a steroids regimen. Yet large mood swings are commonly seen, ranging from periods of aggression to bouts of depression when the drugs are stopped.

Addiction
Long-term steroids users seem to experience many of the characteristics of classic addiction: cravings, difficulty in ceasing steroids use and withdrawal symptoms.
It appears that abusers can develop a psychological, if not physical, dependence on anabolic steroids. A classic symptom of this is that users tend to overlook or simply ignore the physical dangers and moral implications of taking illegal substances.

Certain delusional behavior that is characteristic of addiction can occur. Some athletes who 'bulk up' on anabolic steroids are unaware of body changes that are obvious to others, experiencing what is sometimes called reverse anorexia.

Legal consequences
At present it is legal to possess anabolic steroids in the UK. However, it is an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act to supply anabolic steroids to another person. Under present UK law the penalties for supplying anabolic steroids are the same as those for supplying any Class B controlled substance.
The International Olympics Committee banned steroids use by all athletes in its member associations in 1975. Since then most major amateur and professional organizations have put the drugs on their list of banned substances. Such bans do not carry any legal penalties.

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:47 am

Analgesics (painkillers) Information

Taken from: http://www.recovery.org.uk/druginfo/index.html

Analgesics are substances that provides relief from pain. Mild analgesics, such as the many brand-named preparations of aspirin or paracetemol, are relatively harmless. Analgesic drugs of abuse are far stronger than this and are all powerful pain killers. Some are refined from an extract obtained from opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) and are classed as "opiates" and some are produced by chemical synthesis.

Opiates include Opium itself, which is the resin obtained from the seed pod of the opium poppy, along with Morphine, Heroin and Codeine. These can all be produced from raw opium by fairly simple chemical processing.

Synthetic analgesics are manufactured as powders, tablets or liquids. They include Methadone (usually as a syrup), Physeptone (a methadone tablet), Pethidine, Diconal and Palfium.

Which analgesics are abused?
Analgesics - particularly opiates - have a high potential for abuse. Heroin is the most widely abused opiate analgesic but morphine, paregoric (which contains opium) and cough syrups that contain codeine are also abused.

Many synthetic opiates are abused, usually by heroin users as an alternative to that drug. Methadone - prescribed as an alternative to heroin - has been much abused in recent years and is responsible for many deaths in the UK.

Diconal, Physeptone, Pethidine and palfium tablets are usually crushed up and injected by drug abusers. These tablets contain solids such as chalk, which can block veins when injected and lead to gangrene or a stroke.

What do they look like?
Opium is a dark brown slightly sticky resin with the consistency of stiff putty and is usually smoked or eaten. Heroin is a white or brownish powder which is usually dissolved in water and then injected, although it can be smoked. Most street preparations of heroin are diluted, or 'cut' with other substances such as lactose or quinine.

Other analgesics, including all synthetics, come in a variety of forms including capsules, tablets, syrups, solutions and suppositories.

What are the effects of analgesics?
Opiate and synthetic analgesics tend to relax the user. When they are injected, the user feels an immediate 'rush' - that is a strong wave of pleasurable relaxation and relief from anxiety. Unpleasant effects may include restlessness, nausea, and vomiting. The user may go 'on the nod' - going back and forth from feeling alert to drowsy. With large doses, the user cannot be awakened and the skin becomes cold, moist and bluish in color. Breathing slows down and death may occur.

Where analgesics are taken as a syrup, tablets or capsules etc. the effects are similar to that after injection but are milder and without any immediate 'rush'.

~

Taken from: http://ncadistore.samhsa.gov/catalog/facts.aspx?topic=57&h=drugs

Statistics
Concern about the abuse of prescription painkillers has risen dramatically in the U.S. Of particular concern is the abuse of pain medications containing opiates (also known as narcotic analgesics), marketed under such brand names as Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, Demerol, and Darvon. According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), the incidence of emergency department (ED) visits related to narcotic analgesic abuse has been increasing in the U.S. since the mid-1990s, and more than doubled between 1994 and 2001.

- In 2001, there were an estimated 90,232 ED visits related to narcotic analgesic abuse, a 117 percent increase since 1994.
Nationally, narcotic analgesics were involved in 14 percent of all drug abuse-related ED visits in 2001.

- In 2001, approximately one-third of the narcotic analgesics reported to DAWN were not specified by name (32,196 mentions). Among the named narcotic analgesics, hydrocodone led with 21,567 mentions, followed by oxycodone (18,409 mentions).

- Oxycodone mentions increased 70 percent from 2000 to 2001, compared to the 186 percent surge in mentions from 1999 to 2000. However, mentions of most narcotic analgesics did not increase from 2000 to 2001.

- From 1994 to 2001, the only narcotic analgesic that declined was codeine. Mentions decreased 61 percent, from 9,439 to 3,720.

- Dependence was the most frequently mentioned motive for narcotic analgesic abuse cases (38,941), followed by suicide (24,576), psychic effects (13,949), unknown motive (11,039), and other motives (1,727).
In 2001, the average age was 37 for patients who attended the ED because of narcotic analgesic abuse.

~

Taken from: http://www.painfullyobvious.com/analgesics_3.asp

Using prescription opioid analgesics to get "high" is drug abuse. It's unsafe and it can cause very serious physical problems.

Prescription opioid analgesics are effective medications for people with pain caused by disease or injury when used under the care of a doctor or other healthcare professional. They can be dangerous when used improperly or abused.

No one should ever abuse prescription medications. They are to be taken only when prescribed by a doctor or other healthcare professional, and only for the condition being treated.

You can die the very first time you misuse or abuse a prescription opioid analgesic.

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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:48 am

Tranquilizers/Sleeping pills Information

Tranquilizers

Taken from: http://www.egetgoing.com/drug_rehab/tranquilizers.asp

Tranquilizers are drugs used to treat anxiety or problems with sleep. They have a calming effect by depressing the nervous system in a way similar to alcohol. Tranquilizers are among the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medications. The FDA estimates that over 60 million people receive prescriptions for tranquilizers every year.

In some ways, the term "tranquilizer" is inaccurate. Although they may produce specific anxiety-reducing effects, the members of the tranquilizer group of drugs have the same clinical effects as sedatives [5.9.2.3.2 Sedatives] such as the barbiturates (downers). The much-sought relaxing and anxiety-reducing effects of the tranquilizers are simply the early stages of the biochemical process of sedation. The effects of sedation are a continuum from relaxation to significant sedation to coma to death. Central nervous system depressants, including minor tranquilizers, sedatives, and alcohol, place the user on the sedation continuum. The specific dosage and drug used determines how far the user goes on that pathway.

Tranquilizers are frequently abused because of their ability to reduce anxiety. They are addictive because tolerance develops rapidly, and more and more are needed to be effective.

Types
Minor Tranquilizers
The most commonly known forms of tranquilizers are the benzodiazepines (or "benzos"). These include Xanax, Ativan, Valium, and Librium. Those with sedating effects are used as sleeping pills, such as Restoril, Halcion, Dalmane, Serax, and others (see sedatives).

Major Tranquilizers
Major tranquilizers are called "anti-psychotics" because they are generally used to treat symptoms of paranoia, psychosis, or serious distortions in the perception of reality such as hallucinations or delusions. These drugs include Haldol, Navane, Thorazine, Mellaril, and others. They are not central nervous system depressants like benzodiazepines but can be sedating in higher doses. While they are not useful in normal alcohol withdrawal, they can be useful for the psychosis and agitation associated with Delirium Tremens (DTs).

Methods of Use
Tranquilizers are usually swallowed or injected.

Effects on the Central Nervous System
Minor tranquilizers seem to have direct depressant effects on brain areas that regulate wakefulness and alertness, very similar in effect to alcohol and sedative barbiturates. They enhance the action of receptors that inhibit central nervous system stimulation, and conversely, inhibit the action of receptors that stimulate the nervous system. In other words, if the nervous system were a car, these drugs help press down the brakes but make it harder to press down on the gas.

Since the minor tranquilizers of the benzodiazepine family have an effect similar to alcohol on the nervous system, they are useful in treating alcohol withdrawal. Those with a longer duration of action, such as Librium and Valium, are used most often.

Major tranquilizers primarily affect specific receptors in the brain that reduce psychotic thoughts, perceptions and agitation.

Intoxication
Tranquilizers are powerful drugs that can impair our ability to function and should only be used as directed by a physician. Abusive or improper use may result in unpleasant and/or dangerous side effects such as:

- Difficulty concentrating
- A "floating" or disconnected sensation
- Depressed heartbeat
- Depressed breathing
- Excessive sleep and sleepiness
- Mental confusion and memory loss

Life Risks
Tranquilizers are particularly dangerous in combination with other depressants, such as alcohol or barbiturates, because they magnify each other's effects. In some rare instances, tranquilizers may produce a so-called "paradoxical effect," leading to increased anxiety and agitation. Paradoxical reactions may be more common among children and the elderly. Long-term use of some of these drugs has been associated with increased aggressivity and significant depression. Tranquilizer use may be associated with memory problems and cerebral atrophy (brain shrinkage).

Withdrawal
Essentially, withdrawal symptoms for the tranquilizers feel like the opposite of the therapeutic effects. The short-acting benzodiazapines (Xanax, Halcion, Restoril, Ativan, and Serax) can produce especially severe withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms, that are similar to those in alcohol withdrawal, include jittery, shaky feelings and any of the following:

- Rapid heartbeat
- Shaky hands
- Insomnia or disturbed sleep
- Sweating
- Irritability
- Anxiety and agitation

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Taken from: http://www.zoot2.com/justthefacts/drugs/tranquilizers.asp

Q: What are tranquilizers?
A: Tranquilizers are a group of drugs that are used to treat medical conditions such as severe anxiety, stress disorders and muscle tension. Doctors to treat these conditions prescribe them.

Q: So are sleeping pills tranquilizers?
A: Most sleeping pills prescribed these days have the same chemical make up as tranquilizers. Medically speaking, drugs used to calm people are known as tranquilizers and those used to treat sleeping problems are called sleeping pills. Some of the most commonly prescribed tranquilizers are Valium®, Librium®, Ativan®, and Serax®. Some common sleeping pills include Dalmane®, Halcion®, Restoril® and Mogadon®.

However, some sleeping pills are not classified as tranquilizers, they are barbiturates.

Q: What is the difference between a tranquilizer and a barbiturate?
A: The main difference lies in their chemical structure. In general, tranquilizers and barbiturates have similar effects, but barbiturates are stronger.

Q: What do tranquilizers and sleeping pills do to the body?
A: Both tranquilizers and sleeping pills are known as depressants. This means they reduce the amount of activity in the brain and central nervous system. The reduced activity produces a sense of calm and well–being, which is why tranquilizers are used to treat anxiety.

Sleeping pills reduce the amount of activity in the brain further than tranquilizers. This larger reduction eventually causes users to fall asleep.

Q: What are some other effects of tranquilizers and sleeping pills?
A: Tranquilizers and sleeping pills can relax people to the point where they get clumsy and have trouble thinking straight. Remember, sleeping pills make people very tired and, just as when you are trying to fight off sleep, which means it is dangerous for people to drive a car when taking sleeping pills or tranquilizers.

Q: Are tranquilizers and sleeping pills legal?
A: In Canada, they are legal only when prescribed by a doctor. Because of their effects, tranquilizers and sleeping pills are sometimes stolen and sold illegally on the street.

Q: So what is the danger if a doctor prescribes tranquilizers and sleeping pills?
A: The danger of tranquilizers and sleeping pills are the same whether a doctor prescribes them or they are bought illegally. The most danger lies in taking too many of them at any given time. A doctor's prescription will include instructions about how many tranquilizers or sleeping pills to take and how often this should be done.

Ignoring these instructions or using illegal tranquilizers without medical advice can cause a lot of problems.

Q: Like what?
A: The exact effect varies with the type of tranquilizer and the size of the dose. In large doses (or doses that exceed the prescribed dose) tranquilizers and sleeping pills can cause problems with thinking, memory and judgment. Users also have trouble speaking clearly and some people can become hostile and go into a rage.

Q: Anything else?
A: There are some other less common effects that come from abusing tranquilizers and sleeping pills. These include physical effects like headaches, skin rashes and impotence, and mental effects like disturbing dreams.

Q: Is it dangerous to take other drugs with tranquilizers and sleeping pills?
A: Remember that mixing two kinds of any drugs is always risky. With tranquilizers and sleeping pills, a big danger comes when they are taken with alcohol. The danger comes from the fact that both alcohol and tranquilizers/sleeping pills have similar effects on the body. Both reduce the amount of activity in the central nervous system. If someone drinks alcohol and takes a tranquilizer or a sleeping pill, the amount of activity in their nervous system will be greatly reduced. This can lead to death.

Q: Are tranquilizers and sleeping pills addictive?
A: People do develop tolerance to tranquilizers and sleeping pills. This means they need to take more of them in order to feel the same effects they used to feel after taking smaller amounts.

Tolerance can lead to abuse and dependence on tranquilizers and sleeping pills.

When people who are dependent on tranquilizers and sleeping pills suddenly stop taking them, they can go through withdrawal. Besides craving the drugs, they can experience sleep problems, restlessness, loss of appetite and the shakes.

----------------------

Sleeping Pills

Taken from: http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Making+sense/makingsenseofsleepingpills.htm

How do sleeping pills work?
Most sleeping pills are closely related to the drugs that are given for anxiety to help people feel calmer (sedatives). Drugs prescribed as sedatives will help you sleep if taken at night, while sleeping pills will sedate you if taken during the day. Generally speaking, the short-acting drugs are those that are prescribed as sleeping tablets, and the longer-acting are prescribed for anxiety.

Sleeping drugs are more likely to be effective in cases where the difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep (insomnia) is short-lived. They are less helpful when the insomnia has been going on for a long time. No sleeping pills should be used for long-term treatment.

When do doctors prescribe sleeping pills?
If someone is having problems sleeping, every effort should be made to treat the underlying problems and develop successful sleeping habits more naturally before resorting to sleeping drugs. Current advice is that sedatives should only be used for short periods, and only for insomnia that is severe, disabling, or causing extreme distress.

The British National Formulary (BNF) - the twice-yearly book which gives details of all the drugs licensed for use in this country - advises that sleeping tablets should only be prescribed when the cause of insomnia is known and underlying factors have been treated. This is because the drugs are likely to cause dependence; meaning people may have great difficulty coming off them. Also, people are likely to become so used to them (tolerant) that they need to take increasing doses to achieve the same effect. This increases the risk of side effects and of having difficulties withdrawing from them.

In spite of this, these drugs are still widely prescribed and sleeping pills are frequently given in hospital. Many people take sleeping pills for the first time while they are patients on a hospital ward. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has now also issued guidelines. They state that sleeping drugs should only be used for severe insomnia, for short periods, and only after considering other forms of treatment, such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).

What should I know before taking these drugs?
The law says that you have the right to make an informed decision about which treatment to have, and whether or not to accept the treatment a doctor suggests. To consent, properly, you need to have enough information to understand the nature, likely effects and risks of the treatment, including its chance of success, and any alternatives to it. Generally, you can only receive treatment that you have specifically agreed to. Once you have given your consent, it isn't final and you can always change your mind. This consent to treatment is fundamental, and treatment given without it can amount to assault and negligence.

Patient information leaflets
People who are prescribed medication as outpatients, or from their GP, should find with it an information sheet called a patient information leaflet (PIL), in accordance with a European Union directive. Inpatients may have to ask for it, specifically. The EU directive sets out what information should be included in the leaflet, and in what order. It starts with the precise ingredients of the medicine, including the active ingredient, the drug, and the extra contents that hold it together as a tablet or capsule, such as maize starch, gelatine, cellulose and colourings. This information is important because some people may be allergic to one of the ingredients, such as lactose. The leaflet gives the name of the pharmaceutical company that made the drug. It explains what the drug is prescribed for, any conditions which mean you should avoid it, and anything else you should know before taking it. The leaflet states whether the drug is dangerous with other medicines, and, if so, which types. There are details about how to take it: by mouth or other means, when to take it in relation to meals (if necessary), the usual dose levels, and what to do if you take too much or forget to take it. Next, comes the list of possible side effects, and then the storage instructions.

The final item on the leaflet tells you that it contains only the most important information you need to know about the medicine, and that if you need to know more, you should ask your doctor or your pharmacist. Pharmacists are drug specialists, and may be more knowledgeable about your drugs than the doctor who prescribes them. They may be more aware of possible side effects, and also possible interactions with other drugs. This is when a drug changes the effect of other drugs you are taking, makes them less effective, or causes additional side effects.

Pharmacists are usually very willing to discuss drugs with patients, and some high-street chemists have space set aside where you can talk privately.

This is a lot of information to include in the PIL, so it s often printed in very small type, on a piece of paper that is folded many times, which may get thrown away with the packaging by mistake. If you do not receive this information with your medicine, you should ask for it from the person who makes up your prescription. Many people would like to have all this information in advance and not after they have obtained the drugs. The following are questions you might like to raise with your doctor when she or he gives you a prescription for a drug:

- What is the name of the drug, and what is it for?
- How often do I have to take it?
- If I am taking any other drugs, will it be all right to take them together?
- Will I still be able to drive?
- What are the most likely side effects, and what should I do if I get them?
- When I want to stop taking it, am I likely to have any problems with withdrawal?

You may well think of other questions you wish to ask.

When may sleeping pills be helpful?
Sleeping pills can be helpful for short-term sleeping problems when the cause of the problem is understood. Often, short-term sleeping difficulties are related to an emotional problem such as bereavement, or to serious illness. Sleeping tablets should not be used for more than three weeks, and preferably for no more than a week. It's also best not to take them every night.

Sleeping pills rarely help long-term sleep problems. Instead, doctors should investigate and treat the underlying problems. Sleeping pills may be used to try and break a bad sleep habit, but other techniques, such as CBT, have been found to be more effective for some people. In some instances, your doctor may be able to refer you to a specialist sleep laboratory, which would assess your insomnia and sleep patterns.

How can I improve my sleep without pills?
There are some simple steps you can take to begin with:

- Make sure your bed and mattress are comfortable.
- Think about whether the level of light suits you (some people like it really dark; others sleep better with a light on).
- Make sure that you are not going to be disturbed by noise.
- Go to bed only when you are feeling tired. If you don't sleep within about 20 minutes, get up and relax in another room for a while before going back to bed.
- Don't read or watch television in bed. These activities will only encourage you to stay awake.
- Avoid coffee, tea, and other caffeine-containing drinks in the evening. A hot, milky drink may help you to sleep.
- Get enough exercise during the day; fit people sleep better.
- Don't eat a large meal too late in the day. Eating gives you an energy boost, which may keep you awake.
- Try to relax before you go to bed, so that you are not preoccupied with daytime concerns. Yoga and meditation could prove helpful.
- Avoid alcohol! Although alcohol is sedating and may help you get to sleep initially, it interferes with sleep later on in the night. Because it's a diuretic (increasing urine production) it may cause you to wake up to use the toilet or because you are thirsty. After long-term use, it disturbs sleep patterns and causes insomnia.

There are many possible causes for sleeping difficulties - including stress, ill health, old age or emotional difficulties - and there are various ways of tackling them. These include changes to lifestyle, holistic approaches, such as homeopathy or herbal remedies, or talking treatments, such as counselling or CBT.

Are sleeping pills ever dangerous?
There are some medical conditions that make sleeping pills dangerous to take. (This does not necessarily apply to antihistamines). These are:

- obstructive sleep apnoea (periods when breathing stops briefly during sleep; often associated with heavy snoring)
- breathing or lung problems
- heart disease
- severe liver or kidney disease
- myasthenia gravis (a serious illness affecting muscle control)
- psychotic states (when people are out of touch with reality and may have perceptions that are not shared by others, such as hearing voices).

In addition (as with all drugs) doctors are warned that they should always be used with caution for people who have liver or kidney disease. It may be possible to take a reduced dose if the condition is not too severe.

You should not use sleeping pills if you are pregnant, unless (rarely) the doctor decides that the possible benefits to you outweigh the possible risks to your child. There is some evidence that taking benzodiazepines during pregnancy may be linked to problems in the newborn baby, including breathing difficulties, poor muscle tone, cleft palate, low birth weight and signs of addiction. Sleeping pills should not be used while breastfeeding, either, because they may get into the breast milk.

There are particular concerns about older people taking sleeping pills, since the drugs tend to remain in their system longer. This can lead to feeling tired and sedated during the day and may cause confusion and affect the memory.

All sedative drugs carry a warning about driving and operating machinery, and it's very important to take this seriously. A recent study has shown that users of benzodiazepines and zopiclone were more likely to have a road traffic accident. Research into a number of different studies of benzodiazepines suggests that the short increase in sleep time they offered was not worth the increased drowsiness and dizziness that followed, and the increased risk of road accidents and falls.

What side effects do these drugs have?
All drugs have side effects, although some people may be more likely to get them than others. Doctors should always be cautious about prescribing the drugs to people with certain medical conditions. (These conditions are listed under the descriptions of the drugs and their possible side effects.)

Sleeping pills may interact with other drugs and change their effects, or make either drug less effective, or cause additional side effects. Taking sleeping pills with medication that already makes you sleepy will obviously cause more sedation. If your doctor or psychiatrist suggests prescribing a sleeping pill for you, you may like to make sure they know about any other medication you are taking, including over-the-counter (non-prescription) remedies and herbal remedies.

Alcohol increases the sedative effect of sleeping pills. There are no interactions that are classed as hazardous between sleeping pills and other psychiatric drugs listed in the BNF. However, they do interact with some antidepressants and some antipsychotics, and zaleplon interacts with carbamazepine.

Is it difficult coming off sleeping pills?
People can become dependent on sleeping pills - a combination of physical and psychological need for the drug. The drug may become less effective, but the person may feel anxious about being able to manage without it. A pattern of withdrawal symptoms can emerge when the drug is stopped, which makes it very difficult to stop taking it.

Problems with dependence and withdrawal from sleeping pills mainly involve the benzodiazepine group, but can also occur with the other types of drugs. The risk of such problems increases the longer someone has been taking the drugs. Because of this, doctors are advised to prescribe the drugs only if absolutely necessary, and only for short periods. Tolerance to their effects (meaning that they become less effective) may develop in three to 14 days.

Withdrawal symptoms vary from person to person, but may include: increased anxiety and depression, insomnia, muscle tension, tight chest, sweating, trembling, shaking, dizziness, headaches, nausea, blurred vision, increased sensitivity to light, noise, touch and smell, jelly legs, tingling in hands and feet, loss of interest in sex, nightmares, restlessness, panic attacks and agoraphobia. At the extreme, severe symptoms can include: hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, confusion and epileptic fits.

Withdrawal symptoms may occur within a few hours of stopping a short-acting benzodiazepine (the type most likely to be used as sleeping pills). The symptoms may not start until about three weeks after stopping a long-acting benzodiazepine. The length of time they last is very variable, but people who have been taking these drugs for many years may be troubled by withdrawal symptoms for weeks or months after stopping the drugs.

Withdrawal programmes will often involve switching from a short-acting to a long-acting benzodiazepine (usually diazepam, Valium) and then cutting down the dose very gradually. Your GP should be able to help with this. There are a number of supportive organisations that are very helpful and also some very useful books.

The sleeping pills and their side effects
Drugs can have two types of names: their general (generic) name and the trade name given by the drug company (starting with a capital letter). The same drug can have several different trade names. When a drug is listed as a controlled drug, it means that the rules for storing it, and writing and dispensing prescriptions are stricter than for other drugs.

Benzodiazepines
These have been available since the 1960s, and are the most commonly used sleeping pills. They include:

- nitrazepam (trade names Mogadon, Remnos, Somnite)
- flurazepam (Dalmane)
- loprazolam
- lormetazepam
- temazepam

Although all of these are prescription-only medicines, none of them is available on the NHS under its trade name, but only under its generic (-azepam) name.

Temazepam is particularly subject to abuse as street drugs, and is therefore a controlled drug. It used to be available in the form of gel-filled capsules, which were abused by users who melted the gel and injected it. This practice caused blocked blood vessels, leading to gangrene and amputations, in some cases. For this reason, the drug in this form is no longer available on the NHS. Temazepam is still available as tablets and as an oral liquid.

Nitrazepam and flurazepam are relatively long-acting and may give a hangover effect the next day. Loprazolam, lormetazepam, and temazepam are all short-acting and produce little or no hangover. However, they are more likely to produce withdrawal symptoms. Benzodiazepines that are normally used for anxiety, such as diazepam (Valium), may also be used as sleeping pills

Possible side effects
The benzodiazepines all have similar side effects. The most common effects are: drowsiness and light-headedness the next day, confusion and unsteadiness (especially in older people), forgetfulness, dependence and problems with withdrawal, increase in aggression, and muscle weakness.

Occasional side effects include: headache, vertigo, changes in saliva production, low blood-pressure, stomach upsets, rashes, visual disturbances, joint pain, tremor, changes in libido (interest in sex), incontinence (loss of bladder control), difficulty urinating, blood disorders, and jaundice.

A few people experience 'paradoxical effects': the drugs, rather than calming, cause increased excitement ranging from talkativeness to aggression, hostility, and anti-social acts.

They should be used with caution in: people who have respiratory disease (such as bronchitis or asthma), muscle weakness, a history of drug or alcohol abuse, and marked personality disorder (a psychiatric diagnosis). The dose should be reduced in older people and others whose metabolism is slow (because the drugs stay in the system longer) and in those with porphyria (a rare, inherited illness).

Zolpidem, zopiclone and zaleplon
Zolpidem tartrate (trade name Stilnoct), zopiclone (Zimovane) and Zeleplon (Sonata) have been introduced more recently than the benzodiazepines. Although they are different from them, they act on the same brain receptors (the area of the brain where the drug has its main chemical effect). They are short acting and have little or no hangover effect.

Because problems of dependence and withdrawal occur with these drugs, as well as with the benzodiazepines, guidelines for all of them say that they should be given at the lowest effective dose, for the shortest possible time, and they should be withdrawn gradually. For zolpidem and zopiclone, a course of treatment should not last longer than four weeks, including the tapering off. For zaleplon, the manufacturer recommends that treatment should be as short as possible, and a maximum of two weeks.

Zaleplon (Sonata) appears to have less hangover effect than other sleeping pills, but is also less effective in keeping people asleep. It's another option for people who have difficulty falling asleep, but will be less helpful for people who wake frequently. A study of zaleplon in older people showed that they got to sleep more quickly and stayed asleep for longer after zaleplon than after a placebo (dummy pill), and there seemed to be no significant hangover effects next day.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) says there is no evidence that these drugs are a better option, and that doctors should prescribe short-acting benzodiazepines. However, the British Sleep Society, a professional organisation for medical and scientific staff who deal with sleep disorders, disputes this. They say that benzodiazepines should not be considered short-acting, because they remain in the system the next day, while the so-called Z drugs are considered likely to be free of significant hangover effects the next day.

Possible side effects
- Zolpidem (Stilnoct)
Diarrhoea, feeling or being sick, dizziness, headache, daytime drowsiness, weakness, memory problems, dependence, nightmares, restlessness at night, depression, reduced alertness, confusion, gait disturbances or unsteadiness, falls, double vision, upset stomach, changes in libido, skin rashes, and paradoxical excitement or hostility (see above).

It should be used with caution for people with depression, a history of drug or alcohol abuse and for older people.

- Zopiclone (Zimovane)
Mild bitter or metallic after-taste, mild stomach upset (including feeling or being sick), dizziness, headache, drowsiness and dry mouth. More rarely: irritability, aggressiveness, confusion, depression, difficulty remembering new information, hallucinations, nightmares, skin rashes, light-headedness, and loss of coordination.

It should be used with caution for older people, those with a history of drug abuse, and psychiatric illness.

- Zaleplon (Sonata)
Loss of memory, tingling sensations, drowsiness, loss of energy. Less commonly: feeling sick, loss of appetite, feeling weak, hypoaesthesia (reduced sensation), malaise, sensitivity to light, unsteadiness, confusion, loss of concentration, apathy, feeling detached from things, depression, dizziness, hallucinations, slurred speech, and visual disturbances, and paradoxical excitement or hostility. Very rarely: severe allergic reactions.

It should be used with caution for people with a history of alcohol or drug abuse, psychotic illness and depression. Zaleplon interacts with carbamazepine.

Chloral and related drugs
The drugs in this group are chloral hydrate (Welldorm, Somnwell) and triclofos sodium. These used to be given to children, but nowadays giving children sleeping drugs is not recommended. Nor is there any convincing evidence that they are particularly useful in older people, and so they are not much used as sleeping drugs, any more. Triclofos is available only as a syrup in the UK.

Possible side effects
Abdominal distension and wind, feeling unwell, feeling or being sick, blood changes, unsteadiness, drowsiness, headache, light-headedness, staggering gait, vertigo, confusion, excitement, hangover, nightmares, allergic reactions and skin rashes.

They should be used with caution for people who have a history of drug or alcohol abuse, and marked personality disorder. Contact with the skin should be avoided.

Clomethiazole (chlormethiazole, Heminevrin)
This should be prescribed only for older people (and only for the short term), and for very short-term use in younger people who are going through alcohol withdrawal.

Possible side effects
Nasal congestion and irritation, eye irritation, and headache. More rarely: excitement, confusion, dependence, stomach upsets, rashes, severe allergic reaction and alterations in liver function. It should be used with caution for people who have a history of drug abuse, marked personality disorder, and for older people. People who are still alcohol-dependent should not use it.

Antihistamines
Some antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine (Dreemon, Medinex, Night-calm or Nytol) and promethazine (Phenergan Nightime or Sominex) are available, without a prescription, to treat insomnia. Antihistamines are primarily used for treating allergic reactions and conditions such as hay fever. They can be used for short-term sleeping problems, because they cause drowsiness, which is their main side effect. Diphenhydramine is also available as Panadol Night, combined with paracetamol, for relief of temporary insomnia and night-time pain. These drugs are long-acting and so often leave a hangover the following day. They may be slow to act, and their sedative effect may diminish after a few days.

Possible side effects
Dizziness, restlessness, headaches, nightmares, tiredness and disorientation. Occasionally, especially in older people: blurred vision, dry mouth, urinary retention, confusion, and excitement (also, especially in children). More rarely: loss of appetite, stomach discomfort, palpitations, low blood pressure, disturbances of heart rhythm, shaking, muscle spasms, tic-like movements, blood disorders, and sensitivity to sunlight.

They should be used with caution for men with an enlarged prostate, people with problems urinating (urinary retention), glaucoma (an eye disease), liver disease, epilepsy and porphyria (a rare, inherited problem).

They should not be used during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.

If you are in any doubt about whether they are suitable for you, or if you are taking any other medication, you should discuss this with the pharmacist before you buy them.

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:48 am

Getting Help For Yourself

- Steps for Getting Yourself Help

- Substance Abuse Resources

- SAMHSA: Substance Abuse Treatment Page for the Public

- Focus Adolescent Services
(Help Centers on left hand side)

- Finding Help for Teen Drug Abuse: Twelve Oaks Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center

- Youthwork Links and Ideas

- Drug and Alcohol Abuse Hotline

- The Science Behind Drug Abuse

~

Taken from: http://www.healthnetwork.com.au/substance-abuse/substance-abuse.asp

There are all kinds of avenues available today in society where someone addicted to any sort of substance can receive help. Support for substance abuse includes groups, individual counseling or therapy sessions, and meetings of addicts where you can slip in the back door, sit in the back row and pretend you really shouldn’t be there. Drug hot lines, Suicide Prevention telephone centers, forums online run by reputable therapists trying to help as many people as possible.

Substance abuse treatment
Many insurance companies will gladly cover time spent in a rehabilitation center or recovery house. They would rather their policyholder be substance-free and healthy versus drugged out and sickly.

Schools attempt to “scare teens straight” by employing tough love tactics and showing videos of men and women who have been in prison for life due to their substance abuse.

Literature is sent home in kids’ notebooks, the airwaves are flooded with public service announcements of the dangers of smoking, drinking and using drugs.

It is a time to make the right choices for your life. A time to understand the heavy risks involved in following substance abuse down a path of destruction. The risks not only involve you or your life, but that of your loved ones, your family, your children, and your spouse.

After you get help and have checked out and are back in your life, you will be tested time and again. I have a dear friend who is fighting her demons. She is an alcoholic and her demons are strong. She only stops drinking for short periods of time and then finds herself back among the old crowd, the parties, the stress of her life and she gives in and takes a drink, and then another, and another. She has lost her job, her family, her dignity, her pride.

Make the right choices even if the choices are difficult. Find someone that will mentor you and stay strong in your resolve to get straight, to stay clean. It isn’t easy, but no one ever said that life is.

Nikolita
Captain

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Nikolita
Captain

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Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:49 am

Seeking Help For Others

Taken from: http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/helping.asp

If you are worried about a friend…
Talk to your friend. Listen openly, without judging, and make sure your friend knows that you care. Help your friend understand that no matter how overwhelming his or her problems seem, help is available.

Encourage your friend to find help. Remember that you’re not a professional therapist and that the most helpful thing you can do is make sure your friend gets help. Encourage your friend to talk to a professional, such as a school counselor or family doctor, or to a trusted family member.

If your friend doesn’t seek help quickly, talk to an adult you trust and respect, especially if your friend mentions death, suicide, or plans for violence. Even if it will anger your friend, talk with an adult you trust about your friend's situation so that you aren't carrying the burden by yourself. Do not try to "rescue" your friend or be a hero and try to handle the situation on your own. You can be the most help by referring your friend to someone with the professional skills to provide the help that he or she needs, while you continue to offer support.

~

Taken from: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/gettinghelp.cfm

If unsure where to go for help, talk to someone you trust who has experience in mental health—for example, a doctor, nurse, social worker, or religious counselor. Ask their advice on where to seek treatment. If there is a university nearby, its departments of psychiatry or psychology may offer private and/or sliding-scale fee clinic treatment options. Otherwise, check the Yellow Pages under "mental health," "health," "social services," "suicide prevention," "crisis intervention services," "hotlines," "hospitals," or "physicians" for phone numbers and addresses. In times of crisis, the emergency room doctor at a hospital may be able to provide temporary help for a mental health problem, and will be able to tell you where and how to get further help.

Listed below are the types of people and places that will make a referral to, or provide, diagnostic and treatment services.

- Family doctors
- Mental health specialists, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, or mental health counselors
- Religious leaders/counselors
- Health maintenance organizations
- Community mental health centers
- Hospital psychiatry departments and outpatient clinics
- University- or medical school-affiliated programs
- State hospital outpatient clinics
- Social service agencies
- Private clinics and facilities
- Employee assistance programs
- Local medical and/or psychiatric societies

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:51 am

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