The Pocket Guide to Drugs and Health

By Shane Darke, Julia Lappin and Michael Farrell

The aim of our pocket guide is to provide "at a glance" key points for the busy clinician to access when dealing with a patient, presenting the pathologies pertinent to each drug, and options for the treatment of substance dependence. In the "The Pocket Guide to Drugs and Health" we have extended the drugs covered to include the major licit psyc

• Language: English
• Publisher: Silverback Publishing
• Release date: Oct 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781912141173

Book preview

Preface

In 2019 we published a comprehensive reference book that examined in detail each of the major illicit drugs and their specific health effects (Darke, S., Lappin, J. & Farrell, M., 2019, The Clinician‘s Guide to Illicit Drugs and Health. London: Silverback Publishing). In doing so we hope that we have filled a significant gap in the clinical literature. While that book was designed as a detailed reference source, it became clear that there was also a need for a pocketbook reference for clinicians, as has been provided for areas such as general medicine and psychiatry. The aim of our pocket guide is to provide at a glance key points for the busy clinician to access when dealing with a patient, presenting the pathologies pertinent to each drug, and options for the treatment of substance dependence. In the The Pocket Guide to Drugs and Health we have extended the drugs covered to include the major licit psychoactive drugs: alcohol, hypnosedatives, and nicotine & tobacco.

Each major drug class is examined individually (Alcohol, Cannabis, Hallucinogens, Hypnosedatives, Nicotine & tobacco, New Psychoactive Substances, Opioids, Psychostimulants). In each chapter we present information on withdrawal and dependence syndromes, toxicity, the effects upon major organ systems, and psychiatric morbidities. There are also dedicated chapters on the medical complications of injecting drug use, and the treatment of drug dependence. It is our hope that this book will form a core pocket guide for medical practitioners, physicians in training and nurses.

The research for the book was funded by the National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW (Sydney), which is supported by funding from the Australian Government.

Chapter 1: The major drug classes

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1.1 What are the main drug classes?

Eight main classes (Table 1.1):

Alcohol (cf. Chapter 2)

Cannabis (cf. Chapter 3)

Hallucinogens (cf. Chapter 4)

Hypnosedatives (cf. Chapter 5)

Nicotine & tobacco (cf. Chapter 6)

Novel Psychoactive Substances (cf. Chapter 7)

Opioids (cf. Chapter 8)

Psychostimulants (cf. Chapter 9)

Table 1.1 Major drug classes and their effects

1.1f.2

1.1f.3

1.1f.4

1.1f.5

1.1g

1.1h

1.1.1 Alcohol

The active psychoactive ingredient of all alcoholic drinks is ethyl alcohol (Table 1.2).

While excitatory in low doses, at high doses it is a powerful CNS depressant associated with marked respiratory depression.

Measured in standard drinks, a measure which varies markedly across countries from 8-20 grams of pure ethanol. The most common measure is approximately 10 grams of ethanol, though this varies from country to country.

Denatured alcohol (methylated spirits, rectified spirit) is ethyl alcohol spirits used for cleaning and industrial purposes that has had bittering agents added to discourage consumption.

Ethyl alcohol is not to be confused with methyl alcohol (methanol, wood alcohol), an industrial product. Methanol is highly toxic and not safe to consume in any amount.

Table 1.2 Alcohol