Topic: Drugs And Alcohol Abuse

Introduction

• Sur­veys indi­cate a ris­ing trend of drug and alco­hol abuse, par­tic­u­lar­ly among youth.
• This is a seri­ous con­cern due to the poten­tial for harm­ful effects.
• Edu­ca­tion and guid­ance are cru­cial to pro­tect young peo­ple from these dan­ger­ous behav­iors and pro­mote healthy lifestyles.

Commonly Abused Drugs

• Opi­oids:
  • Bind to opi­oid recep­tors in the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem and gas­troin­testi­nal tract.
  • Hero­in (smack): Diacetyl­mor­phine, a white, odor­less, bit­ter crys­talline com­pound.
  • Derived from mor­phine, extract­ed from the latex of the pop­py plant Papaver som­nifer­um.
  • Usu­al­ly tak­en by snort­ing or injec­tion.
  • Acts as a depres­sant, slow­ing down body func­tions.
• Cannabi­noids:
  • Inter­act with cannabi­noid recep­tors pri­mar­i­ly in the brain.
  • Nat­ur­al cannabi­noids obtained from the inflo­res­cences of the Cannabis sati­va plant.
  • Dif­fer­ent forms: mar­i­jua­na, hashish, cha­ras, and gan­ja (pro­duced using flower tops, leaves, and resin).
  • Typ­i­cal­ly tak­en by inhala­tion or oral inges­tion.
  • Known to affect the car­dio­vas­cu­lar sys­tem.
• Coca Alka­loids:
  • Cocaine (coke/crack): Obtained from the coca plant Ery­throx­y­lum coca.
  • Inter­feres with dopamine trans­port.
  • Usu­al­ly snort­ed.
  • Potent stim­u­lant of the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem, caus­ing eupho­ria and increased ener­gy.
  • High dos­es can lead to hal­lu­ci­na­tions.
• Oth­er Hal­lu­cino­gens:
  • Atropa bel­ladona and Datu­ra are oth­er plants with hal­lu­cino­genic prop­er­ties.
• Pre­scrip­tion Drugs:
  • Bar­bi­tu­rates, amphet­a­mines, ben­zo­di­azepines, and oth­er sim­i­lar drugs used for men­tal health con­di­tions like depres­sion and insom­nia are often abused.
  • Mor­phine, a potent seda­tive and painkiller, is ben­e­fi­cial post-surgery but also has abuse poten­tial.

Drug Abuse Defined

• Using sub­stances for non-med­i­c­i­nal pur­pos­es or in amounts/frequencies that impair phys­i­cal, phys­i­o­log­i­cal, or psy­cho­log­i­cal func­tions.
• Many plants, fruits, and seeds with hal­lu­cino­genic prop­er­ties have been used in tra­di­tion­al med­i­cine and rit­u­als, but their mis­use con­sti­tutes drug abuse.

Smoking and Tobacco

• Tobac­co has been used for over 400 years (smoked, chewed, or as snuff).
• Con­tains numer­ous chem­i­cals, includ­ing nico­tine (an alka­loid).
• Nico­tine stim­u­lates the adren­al gland to release adren­a­line and nora­dren­a­line, increas­ing blood pres­sure and heart rate.
• Smok­ing is linked to increased risk of:
  • Can­cers (lung, uri­nary blad­der, throat)
  • Bron­chi­tis
  • Emphy­se­ma
  • Coro­nary heart dis­ease
  • Gas­tric ulcers
• Tobac­co chew­ing increas­es the risk of oral cav­i­ty can­cer.
• Smok­ing increas­es car­bon monox­ide (CO) lev­els in the blood, reduc­ing oxy­gen-car­ry­ing capac­i­ty and caus­ing oxy­gen defi­cien­cy.
• Despite warn­ings on cig­a­rette packs, smok­ing remains preva­lent.

Addressing Drug and Alcohol Abuse

• Aware­ness of the dan­gers of smok­ing, chew­ing tobac­co, and drug use is cru­cial, espe­cial­ly for young peo­ple.
• Addic­tion requires coun­sel­ing and med­ical inter­ven­tion.