Basic Science – Drug Abuse and Its Effects

Week 5

Topic: Drug Abuse

Introduction                                            

Drug abuse is a serious public health problem. It affects almost every community and family.

Meaning of drug and drug abuse

Drug: is a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.

Drug abuse: is the use of illegal drugs or the misuse of prescription or over-the-counter drugs for at least a year with negative consequences. In the word, drug abuse is the habitual use of drugs to alter one’s mood, emotion, or state of consciousness.The terms “drug abuse” or “substance abuse” is defined as the use or misuse of chemical substances which leads to an increased risk of problems and an inability to control the use of the substance. Drug abuse also plays a role in many major social problems, such as drugged driving, violence, stress, and child abuse. Drug abuse can lead to homelessness, crime, and missed work or problems with keeping a job. It harms unborn babies and destroys families.

Methods of Drug Use

This is also called drug delivery. The most common methods of delivering drug include:

1. Non-invasive oral (mouth/ingestion)
2. Nasal or Pneumonial (inhalation)
3. Smoking
4. Injection
5. Tattooing

Common Ways of Misusing Drugs

Some people misuse drugs ignorantly while others do so by the profession they have chosen in life e.g. athletes, wrestler. Ways of misusing drugs include:

• By addiction: This is recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in an activity that is difficult to discontinue once the individual has commenced the activity. The term addiction is often reserved for the abuse of substances that directly stimulate the brain. It has been extended to activities such obsessive gambling, drinking, smiting and eating.

• Self Injecting: some athletes indulge in self-injecting of drugs in order to improve their performances. This is called doping.

• Over-dose and over eating: by own mistake, a patient may ingest more tablets of prescribed drugs in order to quicken recovery. This is mere ignorant. Excessive eating of certain food items like kolanut during examination can leads to misuse.

• Abduction, kidnapping and raping action: some activities such as raping, kidnapping or abduction are done under the influence of conscious drug abuse in other to succeed. Also, the victim may be drugged purposely so that he/she would not raise alarm or resist the action.

Signs and Symptoms of Drug Abuse

• Sudden mood swings.
• Changes in normal behavior.
• Lack of hygiene and grooming.
• Withdrawal from friends and family.
• Loss of interest in normal social activities and hobbies.
• Changes in sleeping patterns.
• Bloodshot or glassy eyes.
• Constant sniffles or runny nose.

Social Risk Factors in Drug Abuse

1. Social Isolation
2. Broken Homes
3. Peer influence
4. Wealth Acquisition (Materialistic value)
5. Workplace Violence
6. Social Anxiety
7. Drug Court
8. War on Drugs
9. Drug Prohibition

Each drug will have its own set of specific symptoms, but these are usually found in most drug abusers. For example:

• People who abuse methamphetamines may seem high strung or wired.
• Cocaine abusers usually exhibit a loss of appetite.
• Those who abuse tranquilizers or barbiturates may be lethargic and disoriented.

Commonly Abused Drugs and their Side Effects

The following are many of the drugs and types of drugs that are commonly abused and/or result in dependence:

• Alcohol: Although legal to 18+, alcohol is a toxic substance, especially for a developing fetus when a mother consumes this drug during pregnancy. One of the most common addictions, alcoholism can have devastating effects on the alcoholic individual’s physical well-being, as well as his or her ability to function interpersonally and at work.
• Caffeine: While it is consumed by many, coffee, tea, and soda drinkers, when consumed in excess, this substance can be habit-forming and produce palpitations, insomnia, tremors, irritability, and significant anxiety.
• Hallucinogens: Examples include LSD and mescaline, as well as so-called naturally occurring hallucinogens like certain mushrooms. These drugs can be dangerous in their ability to alter the perceptions of the user. For example, a person who is intoxicated (“high” on) with a hallucinogen may perceive danger where there is none and to think that situations that are truly dangerous are not. Those misperceptions can result in dangerous behaviors (like jumping out of a window because the person thinks they have wings and can fly).
• Ecstasy: Also called MDMA to denote its chemical composition (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), this drug tends to create a sense of euphoria and an expansive love or desire to nurture others. In overdose, it can increase body temperature to the point of causing death.
• Amphetamines: This group of drugs comes in many forms, from prescription medications like methylphenidate (for example, Ritalin, Concerta, Focalin) and dextroamphetamine and amphetamine (Adderall) to illegally manufactured drugs like methamphetamine (“crystal meth”). Overdose of any of these substances can result in seizure and death.
• Anabolic steroids: A group of substances that is most often abused by bodybuilders and other athletes, this group of drugs can lead to devastating emotional symptoms like aggression and paranoia, as well as severe long-term physical effects like infertility and organ failure.
• Inhalants: One of the most commonly abused group of substances due to its easy accessibility, inhalants are usually in household cleaners, like ammonia, bleach, and other substances that emit fumes. Brain damage, to the point of death, can result from using an inhalant even just once or over a period of time, depending on the nature of the individual using it. Other effects of inhalants are –
  • Euphoria.
  • Apathy.
  • Dizziness.
  • Tremors.
  • Stupor.
  • Nausea or vomiting.
  • Hallucinations.
  • Lethargy.
  • Poor judgment.
  • Delusions.
  • Impaired coordination.
  • Muscle weakness.
  • Blurred vision.
  • Slurred speech.
  • Slowed or delayed reflexes.
  • Slow movement and thought.
  • Coma.
• Cannabis: More usually called marijuana.The negative effects the drug itself can produce (for example, infertility, difficulties with sexual performance, paranoia, lack of motivation), the fact that it is commonly mixed (“cut”) with other substances so drug dealers can make more money selling the diluted substance or expose the user to more addictive drugs exposes the marijuana user to the dangers associated with those added substances. Examples of ingredients that marijuana is commonly cut with include baby powder, oregano, embalming fluid, phencyclidine (PCP), opiates, and cocaine.
• Sedative, hypnotic, or antianxiety drugs: The second most commonly used group of illicit drugs, these substances quiet or depress the nervous system. They can therefore cause death by stopping the breathing (respiratory arrest) of the individual who either uses these drugs in overdose or who mixes one or more of these drugs with another nervous system depressant (like alcohol, another sedative drug, or an opiate).
• Nicotine: The addictive substance found in cigarettes, nicotine is actually one of the most addictive substances that exists. In fact, nicotine addiction is often compared to the intense addictiveness associated with opiates like heroin.
• Cocaine: A drug that tends to stimulate the nervous system, cocaine can be snorted in powder form, smoked when in the form of rocks (“crack” cocaine), or injected when made into a liquid.
• Opiates: This group is also called narcotics and includes drugs like heroin, codeine, hydrocodone, morphine, methadone, Vicodin, OxyContin. This group of substances sharply decrease the functioning of the nervous system. The lethality of opiates is often the result of the abuser having to use increasingly higher amounts to achieve the same level of intoxication, ultimately to the point that the dose needed to get high is the same as the dose that is lethal by overdose for that individual by halting the person’s breathing (respiratory arrest). Other effects are –
  
  • Euphoria followed by apathy.
  • Drowsiness.
  • Memory impairments.
  • Slurred speech.
  • Dysphoria, or unease.
  • Nausea.
  • Vomiting.
  • Inattention to the environment.
  • Slowed thinking and movements.
  • Pinpoint pupils.
  • Itching skin.
  • Attention problems.
  • Coma.
• Phencyclidine: Commonly called PCP, this drug can cause the user to feel highly suspicious, become very aggressive, and to have an exceptional amount of physical strength. This can make the person quite dangerous to others.

Psychological Effect of Drug Abuse

The psychological effects of drug addiction come from the reason the user is addicted to drugs, as well as the changes that take place in the brain once a person becomes a drug addict. Initially, many people start using drugs to cope with stress or pain. An effect of drug addiction is creation of a cycle where anytime the user encounters stress or pain, they feel the need to use the drug. This is one of the psychological effects of drug addiction involved in “craving” of the drug. Craving is an effect of drug addiction whereby the addict is obsessed with obtaining and using the drug, to the exclusion of all else. One of the psychological effects of addiction involved in craving is the belief the addict cannot function or handle life without use of the drug.

Other psychological effects of drug addiction include:

• Wild mood swings, depression, anxiety, paranoia, violence
• Hallucinations
• Confusion
• Decrease in pleasure in everyday life
• Psychological tolerance to the drug’s effects creating a desire to do ever-increasing amounts of the drug
• Complication of mental illness
• Desire to engage in risky and dangerous behavior

Physical Effects of Drug Abuse

• Contraction of HIV, hepatitis and other illnesses
• Abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea
• Heart rate irregularities, heart attack
• Seizures, stroke, brain damage
• Respiratory problems such as lung cancer, emphysema and breathing problems
• Changes in appetite, body temperature and sleeping patterns
• Kidney and liver damage

Ways of Preventing Drug Abuse

Drug abuse or drug misuse may be prevented in the following ways:

1. Appropriate but harsh legislation against abusers.
2. Application of religious ethics.
3. Avoiding the sharing of injection needles so as to reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS infection.
4. Using drugs only as prescribed by doctors.
5. Regular awareness campaign against drug misuse.

Alcohol Abuse

However, frequent heavy drinking can cause:  

• serious illness, especially stomach and liver problems
• Stupor
• Coma
• worsen other medical conditions
• Mood swings
• interfere with needed medications
• Impaired judgment
• Coordination issues
• greatly decrease overall quality of life
• Uncontrolled eye movements
• contribute to falls and injuries
• impaired sleep
• Trouble concentrating
• Memory problems
• Slurred speech

Long Term effect of Alcohol Abuse

 

• Cirrhosis.
• Weakened immune system.
• Alcoholic hepatitis.
• Liver cancer.
• Stroke.
• Mouth and throat cancer.
• Pancreatitis.
• Irregular heart rhythm.
• High blood pressure.
• Breast cancer.
• Cardiomyopathy (stretching and weakening of heart muscle)
• Irritability.
• Suicide.

 

Tobacco Abuse
Tobacco abuse includes cigarette, pipe or cigar smoking.  Smoking is the cause of many serious heart and lung diseases, as well as cancer, in older people. It also makes many diseases, such as diabetes, more complicated and disabling.