Getting High: The Effects of Drugs

By Edward J. Benavidez

Addicts, abusers and users know about the euphoric feeling they get from their drug(s) of choice, but what they dont know or choose to ignore is the negative effects these same drugs have on their bodies.
This was the basis for this book. I have had clients tell me that their drug of choice had no negative effect on their bodies. As I began to research the effects of drugs I realized that there are a lot of myths and misinformation available. In this book I have tried to use the best information and empirical research available.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781479794508

Edward J. Benavidez

Edward is a Certified Addiction Treatment Counselor and Certified Addiction Preventionist. He has worked as a counselor and group facilitator in treatment center in Los Angeles, California. He returned to school for training as a Substance Abuse Counselor, following a long career in retail sales. While searching for a second career, he saw the need for trained counselors, seeing the problem of drug and alcohol abuse growing. He is currently completing his Master of Arts Degree in Psychology.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Edward J. Benavidez.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013902718

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4797-9449-2

                Softcover       978-1-4797-9448-5

                Ebook            978-1-4797-9450-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 02/22/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

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www.Xlibris.com

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126802

Contents

•   Introduction

•   Effects Of Addiction

•   Effects Of Alcohol

•   Effects Of Anabolic Steroids

•   Effects Of Cocaine

•   Effects Of Disassociatives (Pcp, Dxm, Ketamine)

•   Effects Of Ecstasy

•   Effects Of Ghb & Rohypnol

•   Effects Of Hallucinogens

•   Effects Of Heroin

•   Effects Of Inhalants

•   Effects Of Marijuana

•   Effects Of Methamphetamine

•   Effects Of Nicotine

•   Effects Of Oxycodone

•   Effects Of Prescription Drugs

•   Drugs And The Adolescent Brain

•   Prevention

•   Intervention

•   Conclusion

•   Test Your Knowledge

•   Controlled Substances

•   Drug Use Time Table

•   Glossary

•   References

This book is dedicated to

everyone involved in

substance abuse treatment

with the prayer that lives will be impacted.

INTRODUCTION

JUST SAY KNOW

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Working as a substance abuse counselor, I have seen this quote to be especially true.

Addicts, abusers and users know about the euphoric feeling they get from their drug(s) of choice, but what they don’t know or choose to ignore is the negative effects these same drugs have on their bodies.

This was the basis for this book. I have had clients tell me that their drug of choice had no negative effect on their bodies. As I began to research the effects of drugs I realized that there are a lot of myths and misinformation available. In this book I have tried to use the best information and empirical research available.

When a young person starts out with drugs, at first there is curiosity and excitement. In exchange, the drug demands the user’s money. As tolerance to the drug increases, the dose needed for a satisfactory high becomes overwhelming so the expense goes up exponentially.

Then the money runs out and the next thing to go is the addict’s honesty and integrity. Activities which he or she would never have considered engaging in before are now considered by the user acceptable solutions to getting more drugs. Users even lie to themselves. Then the honesty and integrity are gone too, and the Addiction is much more pressing.

The price is going up. The next item the addict gives over to the addiction is their family and friends. Families are amazingly supportive institutions and it takes a lot to ruin a relationship like that, but eventually there isn’t one person in the family, not one friend who will continue to support this self-destructive behavior.

Now the list of things left to trade for the drug is growing thin. The next thing to go is the addict’s health. Although he or she isn’t nearly as healthy as before the drug use started, whatever health is left is given away, a piece at a time to the drug. The person is left in emotional wreckage and what is the usual answer to this new problem? MORE DRUGS! Drugs to cover up pains, drugs to wake up and drugs to go to sleep. One day the addict discovers that his health is all gone. He or she has nothing left to trade. But still the drug is there, demanding more. The ultimate price of drug abuse is lives. Lives of the addicted persons and the lives of their families, spouses and friends.

I have used the following format throughout the book to keep a consistency, and make it easier for the reader to follow and reference.

Description

Street Names

Route of Administration

Federal Drug Classification

Effects and Consequences

Short term effects

Long term effects

The Brain

The Heart

The Liver

The Lungs

Sexual Dysfunction

Pregnancy

Summary

I hope as you read this book, Getting High: The Effects of Drugs, you will have a better understanding on the harmful effects of drugs on the body. As a pebble that makes ripples when tossed in a pool of water; my prayer is that this book will make a ripple in the lives of the reader. Then you will carry this ripple to others that many lives may be changed maybe even yours.

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EFFECTS

OF

ADDICTION

What is Addiction?

People allude to addiction in everyday conversation casually referring to themselves as chocolate addicts or workaholics." The term addiction does not appear in any diagnostic manual; current classification systems favor other categories such as dependence abuse, and impulse control disorder. In the absence of an official diagnosis of addiction, clinicians and laypeople alike often use a conventional definition that invokes three C’s

o   Craving for the object of addiction, which can be mild to intense.

o   Loss of Control over use of the object of addiction.

o   Continued engagement with the object of addiction despite adverse consequences."

(Overcoming Addiction, Harvard Health 2012)

Addiction can be defined as a compulsive need for or use of a habit forming substance that leads to substance dependence and psychological symptoms with withdrawal or stopping.

Substance Dependence

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), people who are dependent on substances exhibit at least three of the following symptoms or behaviors during the same 12-month period:

o   Greater tolerance: using higher doses of the substance to reach the same level of intoxication, or being able to use more than others without becoming intoxicated.

o   Withdrawal symptoms: experiencing certain physical symptoms when use of the substance is stopped or cut back, such as anxiety, sweating, trembling, trouble sleeping, and nausea or vomiting.

o   Ongoing desire to quit using: attempting to cut down or quit without success.

o   Loss of control over quantity or involvement: using greater amounts, or using over a longer period than intended.

o   Greater focus on the substance: spending a lot of time thinking about using, making plans to use, using, and recovering from the effects of the substance.

o   Less focus on other things: spending less time doing other things—engaging in sports, being with family and friends, and pursuing hobbies.

o   Ignoring problems: continuing to use despite recognizing that it’s causing problems, such as interfering with relationships or declining health.

How People Develop Addiction

Nobody wakes up one day and tells themselves I want to be an addict, but people are drawn to certain substances or behaviors for specific reasons. Most of these objects of addiction give people pleasure or at least an escape from displeasure. This is only a partial picture.

People choose substances that fill a real or perceived void in their lives. People, who are anxious, sometimes turn to alcohol to calm them or make them feel comfortable in a social setting. People who have persistent pain can turn to opioids for relief. In some cases, people find the benefits of certain substances offer psychological, social or biological rewards. These rewards can become compelling, causing the substance or behavior to become appealing, even though it can come at a cost and present negative outcomes.

Risk Factors for Addiction

The following is quoted from the Harvard Health School Special Report, Overcoming Addiction 2012. Studies of twins and of families that are prone to addiction suggest that about 50% of the risk for drug addiction is genetically based. The genetic ties to behavioral addictions have not been studied as thoroughly, but there is evidence that genes play a similar role in gambling disorders. A few reports even hint at a genetic link to compulsive shopping. More importantly, experts in the field propose that there is genetic load" or constellation of genes that predisposes people to addiction, but not necessarily to a specific type of addiction. In other words, the same genes that drive substance dependence may drive compulsive shopping and compulsive gambling.

The environment in which people grow up and their personal histories also affect how likely they are to develop addiction. People who abused or neglected as children, for example, have a higher risk of developing addiction than those who were nurtured as children. Similarly, people who have gone through traumatic events such as rape or a natural disaster are more prone to addiction than those who have been spared trauma.

People with mental illness also seem to be particularly vulnerable to addiction, studies reveal addiction and mental illness overlap. By some estimates as many as 65% of people of people who have drug addiction also have mental illness such as depression, anxiety, or a personality disorder. Many experts believe that untreated mental illness may lead people to self-medicate with substances to ease their suffering."

The Brain Pathway

Although some people are at greater risk for addiction than others, no one is immune. Those who do not use psychoactive drugs or engage in risky behaviors still have a chance of developing addiction. This is because we are all wired to respond to rewards in our brain pathway similarly.

The brain registers pleasure rewards in the same way; it does not differentiate between a psychoactive drug, monetary reward, a sexual encounter, or satisfying meal. In the brain, pleasure has a universal signal, the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is released in the part of the brain called the nucleus acumens, commonly known as the pleasure zone.

Every drug from nicotine to heroin causes a surge in the dopamine in the nucleus acumens. Drugs of abuse can release two to ten times as much dopamine as do natural rewards. A growing body of evidence says that dopamine is the signal for wanting rather than liking which helps explain the ability to reinforce behaviors. Another body of evidence points to a role of dopamine in learning and memory. In this scenario dopamine allows the brain to compare expected outcomes with actual outcomes. Dopamine surges tell the brain that the outcome is better or worse than expected.

Cost of Drug Abuse to Society

Just as it isn’t really possible to accurately estimate the costs of drug abuse in terms of lives ruined, diminished capacities and lost dreams, it is impossible to put a dollar figure to the immense waste of resources and potentials that drugs extract from the peoples of Earth today.

A recent guess from NIDA, (National Institute on Drug Abuse), said $143 billion in only one year in the US alone. That comes to a cost of more than five hundred dollars for every man woman or child in the country each year.

Think drug use doesn’t hurt anyone? Think again.

It’s sometimes hard to see the damage that drugs cause—there’s drug addiction, of course, but there’s a whole lot more; the families, the medical system, the environment, innocent kids, caught in the crossfire, drivers killed or injured by those under the influence. Babies found at meth labs, their toys covered with chemicals, victims of terrorists, whose acts are financed with drug profits.

Over 26,000 individuals died from drug-induced causes in the United States in 2002, seven times more than those killed in all of the September 11 attacks. Direct costs include those for drug treatment, health care, costs of goods and services lost to crime, law enforcement, incarceration, and the judicial system fees. Indirect costs are those due to the loss of productivity from death, human suffering, drug abuse-related illnesses, crime and all the victims of crime.

Most people affected by drugs aren’t users—but they pay the price… and so do you. And when people choose to use, they are not just hurting themselves. Drug use isn’t a victimless crime, although many people want you to believe that. Where do you think the money for a bag of Marijuana goes? Or for a kilo of Heroin? Or a gram of Cocaine?

Where do you think the chemicals used in meth labs go once they are discarded? Where do they take the babies whose parents get sent to prison for manufacturing? Who pays to take care of these kids?

And what about you—do you mind sharing the road with a drugged driver? Do you want your little sister or brother riding on a school bus while the driver’s high on drugs?

What is the human cost?

When a young person starts out with drugs, at first there is curiosity and excitement. In exchange, the Drug demands the user’s money.

As Tolerance to the drug increases, the dose needed for a satisfactory high gets larger and larger so the expense gets higher and higher.

Then the money runs out and the next thing to go is the addict’s honesty and integrity. Activities which he or she would never have considered engaging in before are now considered by the user acceptable solutions to getting more drugs. Users even lie to themselves.

Then the honesty and integrity are gone too, and the Addiction is much more pressing.

The price is going up.

The next item the addict gives over to the addiction is the family and friends. Families are amazingly supportive institutions and it takes a lot to ruin a relationship like that, but eventually there isn’t one person in the family, not one friend who will continue to support this self-destructive behavior.

Now the list of things left to trade for the drug is growing thin. The next thing to go is the addict’s health. Although he or she isn’t nearly as healthy as before the drug use started, whatever health is left is given away, a piece at a time to the drug. The person is left in miserable condition and what is the usual answer to this new problem? MORE DRUGS! Drugs to cover up pains, drugs to wake up and drugs to go to sleep.

One day the addict discovers that his health is all gone. He or she has nothing left to trade. But still the drug is there, demanding more. The dearest price of Drug abuse is lives: lives of the addicted persons and the lives of their families, spouses and friends.

EFFECTS

OF

ALCOHOL

Alcohol is a depressant drug that slows down brain function and body reaction. Alcohol is scientifically known as ethyl alcohol or ethanol. It is not considered a drug by many people because it is legal and used in many social situations. It is considered a drug because of its addictive nature and used in excess can cause serious health problems.

Street Names: Booze, Brew, Chug, Cold one, Hooch, Kool Aid, Sauce, Vino

Route of Administration: Oral intake (swallowed)

Effects and Consequences:

Alcohol abuse: People with alcohol abuse don’t have the same compulsion as those with alcohol dependence. However they do drink to excess, even to the point of blacking out. People with alcohol abuse issues may use alcohol to escape difficult problems or life situations.

Risky drinking: Even those who don’t meet the criteria for alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse can still have at risk behaviors. Drinkers may be consuming more than is safe on a regular basis or occasion. Some people drink too much every night, but may not show signs of abuse or dependence. Others may not drink for extended periods but then have a binge of heavy drinking. Risky drinking can put the drinker at greater danger for developing serious problems with alcohol or other health disorders associated with alcohol use.

Short Term: The most common short term effect of alcohol consumption is inebriation (drunkenness). A person who is in an inebriated state is not in control of their thoughts, actions, speech, or muscles. Due to the altered state of consciousness a person may experience blackouts and lose chunks of memory during their inebriation.

The amount and circumstances of consumption are a factor in the level of intoxication; each person is an individual and is affected differently. Some of these factors are amount and type of alcohol consumed (beer, wine, or hard liquor), physical weight, and amount of food consumed.

Effects at Specific B.A.C. Levels

The effects of alcohol intoxication are greatly influenced by individual variations among users. Some users may become intoxicated at a much lower Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level than is shown.

0.02-0.03 BAC: No loss of coordination, slight euphoria and loss of shyness. Depressant effects are not apparent. Mildly relaxed and maybe a little lightheaded.

0.04-0.06 BAC: Feeling of well-being, relaxation, lower inhibitions, sensation of warmth. Euphoria. Some minor impairment of reasoning and memory, lowering of caution. Your behavior may become exaggerated and emotions intensified (Good emotions are better, bad emotions are worse)

0.07-0.09 BAC: Slight impairment of balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing. Euphoria. Judgment and self-control are reduced, and caution, reason and memory