Drugs&Behavior- Final Exam: Cocaine and Amphetamines

Amphetamines Use

diet pills - women; to stay awake - long distance truckers

Amphetamines taken by inhalation…

meth

Ecstacy

MDMA; similar to amphetamines and hallucinogens

Inca Civilization (13-15 century)

Indigenous people learned to use the coca leaves as a stimulant (relatively small amounts) because they worked in high altitudes and needed to stay awake

19th Century Europe

• Cocaine first isolated in the lab

• Vin Mariani

• US pharmacist John Pemberton

what did the isolation of cocaine allow for?

much larger quantities to be produced

Vin Mariani

cocaine mixed with wine

cocaethylene toxicity

cocaine is a relatively safe drug, very unlikely to pass away from use, BUT mixing it with alcohol makes it dangerous

US pharmacist John Pemberton

wanted a non-alcoholic Vin Marini, so he combined it with caffeine - creation of Coca-Cola

1970-1980

peak use of cocaine

freebasing

how people smoked cocaine since it was salt based and salt doesn’t burn, so they took the base out and replaced it with solvents that were highly flammable (was dangerous)

anti-drug abuse act of 1986

minimum sentence standards for first offenders; 100:1 powder cocaine to crack for sentencing

what was 100:1 reduced to in 2010?

18:1

anti-drug abuse act of 1988

federal crime for minimal amounts of controlled substance

problems with anti-drug abuse act of 1988

overwhelmed the CJ system - allowed violent offenders to go because of overcrowding with first-time offenders

routes of administraction

inhalation, injection, absorption

speedball

mixing a stimulate and a sedative (dangerous)

acute effects on the CNS

dopamine systems, synthetic autonomic nervous system (SANS), mesolimbocortical tracts

SANS effects - fight or flight

dilated pupils, energy, psych motive, agitation, heightened motor response, dysregulation of body temp, delusional thinking

acute psychosis effects

formication

formication

scratching/cutting “bugs” out of skin; looks like a suicide attempt if people cut their skin, making it important to look at motivation

chronic effects

kindling, septum lesions, suicidal ideation

kindling

seizure based disorder - people who do cocaine have a higher risk of having a seizure; happens with increased use over time

septum lesions

cocaine is salt based, snorting it over and over can cause lesions

examples of amphetamines

Right (d-amphetamines) and Left (I-amphetamines), methamphetamines, methylphenidate, MDMA (ecstasy)

Ma huang (5000 BC)

china - used amphetamines to treat asthma

1887 - epthedrine

amphetamines isolated in lab

1932 - amphetamine

first synthetic form

what were synthetic amphetamines used for

appetite suppressor (women), branchial dilator (children), WWI as stimulant (men in military)

Biker Gangs

conflicts with marijuana users (hippies - against Vietnam war); Altamont Free Concert

development of MDMA (1980s)

• used by couples therapists in CA

• schedule 1 - young people were using it at raves

• PTSD

shift of origin centers of drugs - meth

shift from inner cities (urban) to rural America (meth) because of how smelly it is

combat methamphetamine epidemic act of 2005

restricting access to pseudoepinephrine

rise of ADHD

• 46% increase in children (2002-2010)

• Adderall (amphetamine drug), don’t know what it’s going to do to them

acute effects of amphetamines

• similar to cocaine, longer effects

• 8-24 hours

• appetite suppression

chronic effects of amphetamines

• “tweaking” (kindling)

• increase risk for Parkinson’s (age 50)

• meth mouth or sores (formication)

treatment

• inpatient (encouraged) v intensive out-patient

• cocaine anonymous (12 step)

• pharmacological interventions

• South Dakota campaign ($1.4 spent on controversial billboards)