Ch 11: Drug Abuse & Addiction

Addiction

A treatable chronic disease characterized by a compulsive dependence on a behavior or substance despite ongoing negative consequences.

Psychoactive Drugs

Drugs that enter the blood stream and reach the brain.

Physiological Dependence

The adaptive state of brain and body processes that occur with regular addictive behaviors.

What are the main characteristics of physiological dependence?

Withdrawal & tolerance.

Psychological Dependence

Dependency of the mind on a substance or behavior, which can lead to psychological withdrawal symptoms.

What are signs of psychological dependence?

Anxiety, irritability, or craving.

What does tolerance do to a person?

Makes it so you only feel the effects of the drug after taking a lot.

What are the four Processes of Addiction?

1) Compulsion

2) Loss of Control

3) Negative Consequences

4) Denial

Compulsion

The overwhelming need to use.

Loss of Control

Inability to predict reliably whether a particular instance of involvement with an addictive substance or behavior.

Negative Consequences

Physical damage, legal trouble, social life trouble, etc.

Denial

Inability to get away from the harmful substance/behavior.

Why do drugs work?

Because they have chemicals that naturally occur in the body.

How do psychoactive drugs effect the brain?

By latching onto neurotransmitters that release pleasure hormones into the brain (serotonin, dopamine).

What are the routes of drug administration?

• Oral ingestion

• Inhalation

• Injection

• Transdermal/inunction

Oral ingestion

Ingesting a drug (most commonly) through the mouth.

Inhalation

Sniffed, smoked, inhaled

What is the quickest route to the brain for drug ingestion?

Inhalation; quickest but shortest effect duration.

Injection

Administered either intravenously, intramuscularly, or subcutaneously.

Transdermal/inunction

Absorbed through the skin, vagina, or anus.

What are the injection types?

• Intravenously (in the veins)

• Intramuscularly (in the muscles)

• Subcutaneously (through the skin)

Poly-drug Use

When several substances are used at once.

Synergism/potentiation

Where the effects of two or more drugs are multiplied beyond what is expected if each were taken alone.

Inhibition

Where the effects of one drug are eliminated or reduced by the presence of another drug

Cross-tolerance

Where tolerance to one drug transfers to a second drug.

What drug category is similar to alcohol?

Opioids

Drug Misuse

Using a drug for a purpose other than that for which it was intended.

Drug Abuse

The excessive use of any drug and may cause serious harm.

What are the drug categories?

• Stimulants

• Cannabis

• Narcotics

• Depressants

• Hallucinogens

• Inhalants

• Anabolic

Stimulant drugs

Cocaine (most powerful), amphetamines, methamphetamines, caffeine

What is the drug caffeine made from?

Xanthines

Cannabis drug examples

Marijuana, hashish, hash oil, synthetic marijuana/K2

What is the psychoactive drug in marijuana?

THC

What does THC do to the body?

Dilation of the blood vessels in the eyes, dry mouth, increased appetite, lowered blood pressure, mild muscular weakness

Effects of narcotics/opiates/opioids

Depressant of the central nervous system.

Nicotine

Highly addictive chemical stimulant.

What does tar do to the body?

Accumulates in the lungs and causes lung and throat cancers.

Phenols

Chemicals irritants in smoke that may combine with other chemicals to contribute to the development of lung cancer.

Carbon Monoxide

A gas found in cigarette smoke that binds to oxygen receptor sites in blood.

Types of tobacco products

• Menthol cigarrettes

• E-cigarrettes/Vapes

• Hookahs

• Pipes

• Dip

Side effects of Vaping

• Nicotine addiction

• Heart attacks

• Seizures

• Strokes

• Severe lung injury

• Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia

Leukoplakia

Pre-cancerous lesions that look like white patches in the mouth (tongue, cheek, gums).

Health hazards from smoking tobacco

• Cancer (lungs, pancreatic, kidney, bladder, larynx)

• Cardiovascular disease

• Stroke

• Chorionic Bronchitis

• Emphysema

• Sexual dysfunction

Chronic Bronchitis

A COPD in which the lungs become inflamed and contain excess mucus.

Emphysema

A COPD in which the air sacs in the lungs are permanently destroyed