Thursday's Internet Edition, December 04, 2008.
effects of illegal drug usage
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SPAY DAY 2008- Fifty male cats were neutered during Spay Day 2008 in Hamilton. The local Spay Day was hosted by Huts for Mutts and Animal Birth Control Clinic from Waco provided the veterinary services. Spay Day events were held across the country.
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The brain includes areas that control movement, sensations, vision, coordination, memory, reward and judgment. Unnatural chemicals interfering with these message centers can have tragic results, especially in young people, whose brains are not fully developed. Is it worth the risk?
Let’s start with marijuana, the cannabis sativa leaf, also known as mary jane, weed, ganja, reefer, grass or pot. It is the most commonly abused drug, but did you know that the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of marijuana has increased dramatically since the 1960s and ’70s? The higher the THC, the more powerful and dangerous.
Marijuana can be smoked, brewed as tea or mixed in food. It acts on the reward system part of the brain to cause a high. It also can increase your heart beat by up to 50 beats per minute, cause lung infections, short-term memory loss, cancer of the respiratory tract and lungs, emphysema and chronic bronchitis or amotivational syndrome.
Do the math: Teens with an average grade of D or below are four times more likely to have used marijuana in the past year than those with an A average. And students who have smoked pot in the past year are two times more likely to cut class than those who did not smoke. So much for the myth that marijuana is only a “mellow” drug.
More than 750,000 16- and 17-year-old surveyed reported driving under the influence of illicit drugs. Driving high is a road to nowhere. You can lose your license, or worse, your life.
On to methamphetamines. Meth is available in three forms – powder, pill and crystal. It’s smoked, snorted, injected or swallowed. Like marijuana, it has many names: tina, crank, croak, crypto, crystal ice, fire, glass, meth, tweek and white cross.
Meth is made in labs using chemicals and household items including lye, drain cleaner, iodine, battery acid, cold medicine, kitty litter, antifreeze, acetone and other unnatural substances. It is highly addictive, easy to acquire and the third most frequently used drug behind only alcohol and marijuana.
Meth can cause addiction, paranoia, hallucinations, insomnia, arrhythmia, heart attack, stroke, confusion, delusions such as insects creeping on the skin, anxiety, depression, extreme violent behavior, meth mouth and risky behavior that can lead to increased risk of HIV, hepatitis or trauma.
Meth doesn’t make you grow up; it makes you grow old. Users suffer physical damage from the ravages of meth. Their skin, teeth, hygiene, eating, sleeping – are all neglected for the high that meth temporarily brings. Users smell like chemicals; some smell like cat urine. It’s not a pretty picture.
Meth mouth is a common condition among methamphetamine users. Poor hygiene, dry mouth from the chemicals in meth and overall physical neglect result in rotten teeth. Some users lose teeth as they eat ordinary food like sandwiches. Many who are in prison for meth cooking and trafficking are having their decayed teeth pulled, adding costs to taxpayers to cover dental care for prisoners.
Because of the toxic nature of meth, many users experience the sensation of bugs crawling under their skin. They call it crank bugs, and they pick these areas in an effort to find relief, which creates open sores that become ugly and infected.
Cocaine is a powerful stimulant derived from coca leaves grown in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. The most common methods of use are snorting the cocaine powder, or smoking the crack form (freebasing).
Its street names are coke, flake, snow, crack, coca, blanca, perico, nieve and sodacot, and it is sold in small, inexpensive doses. Its effects are felt immediately and are very intense and short-lived.
The intensity of the psychological effects of cocaine depends on the dose and rate of entry to the brain. Cocaine reaches the brain through the snorting method in three to five minutes; intravenous injection produces a rush in 15-30 seconds; and smoking produces an almost immediate intense experience. These intense effects can be followed by a “crash.”
Cocaine’s effects include increased alertness, excitation, euphoria (sometimes followed by a dysphoric “crash”), increased pulse rate and blood pressure, insomnia and loss of appetite. Overdose effects are agitation, increased body temperature, hallucinations, convulsions, heart attack, stroke, arrhythmia and possible death.
Heroin is a narcotic that also can be injected, smoked or snorted. It comes from the opium poppy grown in Asia, Mexico and Colombia. It comes in several forms, the main ones being “black tar” from Mexico, found primarily in the Western United States, and white heroin from Colombia, which is primarily sold on the East Coast.
Its street names are diamorphine, horse, smack, black tar, chiva and negra (black tar), and it causes euphoria, drowsiness, respiratory depression, constricted pupils, nausea, dry mouth and warm skin. Signs of overdose are slow and shallow breathing, clammy skin, convulsions, coma and possibly death.
Chronic use complications of heroin are heart infections, liver disease/viral hepatitis, HIV, pneumonia, skin infections and addiction.
Street names for steroids include depo testosterone, sustanon, sten and cypt. Anabolic steroids are synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone. The two main effects of these drugs are androngenic (developing male characteristics) and anabolic (building muscles).
The three main patterns of steroid abuse include cycling, which is alternating periods of use; stacking, which is using 2 or more at the same time; and pyramiding, which is progressively increasing and then decreasing doses and types of steroids.
The effects of steroid abuse include virilization, edema, testicular atrophy, gynecomastia, acne and aggressive behavior. Among the most prevalent side effects are the development of female characteristics in males (developing breasts) and the masculization of women.
Schedule III anabolic steroids are used medically to treat hormonal imbalances and other medical conditions. Harmful effects of abuse are prostate and liver cancers, acne/balding, suicide, mood swings, heart attacks, strokes, high cholesterol and blood clots.
Most teens are smart and stay away from steroids. They know that happiness and athletic success don’t come from a pill or needle, but from hard work and practice. However, 2.5% of eighth graders have tried them, as well as 3.5% of 10th graders and 4% of 12th graders.
My hope is that by providing this information, parents and teens can be aware of the consequences of drug abuse in its many forms. If you suspect your child or your friend is in trouble with drugs, the time to speak up is now.