Drug Abuse in 2013
According to recent statistics, Drugs
take a life every 14 minutes in the United States. That alone should be cause
for alarm, but the figure does not include traffic fatalities and injuries that
are the result of drug and alcohol abuse. Nor does it include the crime statistics
directly linked to drug use and the illicit drug trade. It also does not count
the shattered lives and broken homes inextricably connected to drugs and
alcohol.
Welcome to 2013,
where it’s not just crack, heroin, or the devastating nature of alcoholism. New
synthetic, psychoactive and addictive drugs are released on a routine basis,
and they are insidiously marketed under
the radar with names like “plant food,” “herbal incense,” and most
notoriously “bath salts.” And it’s not just the illegal or quasi-legal drugs
that are abused. Name brands like Vicodin and OxyContin take their toll and also
take lives.
Counter Attack
The primary attack against drug abuse is not more imprisonment
and more jails. The first and foremost anti-drug strategy is through EDUCATION
and KNOWLEDGE. Ask any drug enforcement agent and he’ll more than likely tell
you the exact same thing. Through drug education and
staying enlightened on the latest trends, we empower youth and adults with the
wisdom to make sensible decisions. In keeping with this tactic, here is
information on five commonly abused drugs:
Marijuana
Pot, dope,
weed, herb, ganja, grass, hemp, smoke, blunt, chronic, Mary Jane – just a
few of its street names. Marijuana is a drug – classified as a hallucinogenic –
that acts upon the brain chemistry of the user. The psychoactive properties of
cannabis (marijuana or hashish) are due its content of the chemical compound tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC). People smoking pot
hold the smoke in longer than a cigarette, which severely impacts the user’s lungs.
The estimate is that a joint is roughly equivalent to five cigarettes. Smoking
weed escalates the risk of respiratory inflammation, bronchitis, emphysema
(damaged lungs), and lung cancer. People using pot can experience poor muscle
control, sensory distortion, panic attack, and accelerated heart rate.
Continued use causes such things as suppression of the immune system, sexual
dysfunction, damage to brain cells, impaired comprehension, and an overall lack
of motivation.
The adverse effects do not seem to deter
millions of people from using the drug. After the “high” comes a low (often
described as depression), and the low is usually lower than before. The
user’s answer is to take the drug again. After a while, a person builds up
tolerance and requires a higher dose to get the high, which can lead to a
destructive pursuit of harder drugs. I am well aware of this vicious cycle because
I experienced it for many years of my life, before I got clean and started
helping people get off drugs. Many of the addicts I deal with started with
booze and weed.
Cocaine
Cocaine and crack (crystalized, 75-100% pure coke)
are derived from the leaves of the coca plant. The drug has been reported as
second only to methamphetamine in creating the greatest psychological
dependency of any drug. It brings about a state of extreme euphoria which is
soon followed by intense depression, anxiety and a craving for more cocaine. Other
effects of cocaine include accelerated heart rate, muscle spasms, irregular
sleep, seizure, erratic behavior, hostility, paranoia, disturbing hallucinations,
and psychosis. Overdose can result in sudden death. Using coke over a longer
period causes: eroded nose tissue when snorted; infections and abscesses when
injected; severe tooth decay; damage to internal organs (blood vessels, liver,
kidney, lungs, brain, reproductive organs); and severe, protracted depression.
Rx Abuse
“Rx
abuse” refers to the abuse of prescription drugs, which has gained disturbing
momentum in recent years. One reason for this could be the heavy availability
of these prescription “meds.” The list includes painkillers (Vicodin,
OcyContin, Percocet), depressants (Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata), stimulants
(Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall), and antidepressants (Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor). Adderall
and Vicodin
are now in the top four amongst drugs
abused by 12th graders (with marijuana and synthetic marijuana at
the top). Many youth think that the pills are OK because they are prescribed by
a doctor. The truth is that a drug prescribed for one person (like a painkiller
for a broken bone) could be harmful – even fatal – when taken by another. Many
teenagers go to parties where a punch bowl is set out full of a random
selection of multi-colored pills. They grab the pills and take them with no
idea as to what they are. Antidepressants, for example, have been proven to
cause alarming side-effects such as insomnia, extreme agitation, confusion, “akathisia”
(painful inner agitation and inability to sit still), paranoia, psychosis,
suicidal thoughts, completed suicide, and violence brought on by delusion and
hallucination.
Inhalants
Inhalants are
ordinary products such as glue, shoe polish, spray paint, lighter fluid, solvents,
nitrous oxide (anesthetic gas, also called a “whippet”), and amyl nitrate
(fluid used to widen blood vessels, also called a “popper”), which are inhaled,
sniffed, and “huffed” (breathing the fumes from rags soaked in the chemical).
Kids – many 12 years of age of younger – inhale and huff to induce a quick
euphoria or delusory state. Inhaling these toxic chemicals is one of the
quickest ways I know of to achieve instantaneous nerve and brain damage. The
chemicals can be severely addictive. Anyone who is doing it is literally
killing themselves. Inhalants cut off oxygen from the brain and body. The user
can experience headaches that feel like their skulls are in a vice or being
cleaved in two. Other effects include nausea, nosebleed, muscle atrophy,
hallucination, heart failure, damage to internal organs (liver, lungs, kidneys,
brain), and sudden death from asphyxiation. It is a tragic fact that youth may
try this because it’s easy and free. Equally tragic is the use of inhalants by
homeless children in areas like Southeast Asia, Kenya, Mexico, and Brazil. In
Karachi, Pakistan, it is estimated that 80-90% of street kids sniff glue or
solvents.
Synthetic Drugs
Over the last few years, the scourge of synthetic
drugs has hit our neighborhoods and schools. They are packaged with harmless names
like “bath salts,” “herbal incense,” “insect repellent,” “plant fertilizer,”
and now “jewelry cleaner” and “iPod screen cleaner.” They are available on the street
or in retail outlets. Most of these are still “legal” as the FDA and DEA
haven’t quite caught up to the trend. New variations are routinely available. “Bath
salts” contains any number of chemicals including an amphetamine-like compound called
mephedrone, a drug which became popular
in the UK with names like “meph,” “MCAT”, and “meow meow.” Bath salts also has a large number of “brand names” such as Red Dove, Blue Silk, Cloud Nine, Vanilla
Sky, Ocean Snow, Scarface, White Lightning, Hurricane Charlie, Zoom, Bloom, and
Aura. The drug acts harshly upon brain chemistry and produces addiction.
Although long-term effects have yet to be documented, poison control centers and
law-enforcement agencies are reporting the short-term effects: chest pain, high
blood pressure, accelerated heart rate, severe confusion, paranoia,
hallucination, self-destructive behavior, psychosis, violence, and death.
“Synthetic marijuana” is designed to approximate the
effects of cannabis. With names like “Spice and “K2,” these too are marketed
under misleading titles like “plant food” and labeled “not for human
consumption.” Since these are relatively new, their effects have not been
detailed in any great length. Reports so far indicate such symptoms as dilated
pupils, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, increased heart rate, high blood pressure,
tremors, seizure, kidney failure, and hallucination.
Summary
I could detail endlessly the harmful effects of drugs
upon the body, mind and soul. But you probably get the idea by now. As I
said before, the high is followed by the inevitable crash. The drug
user will continue to take the drug (whatever it is), and will very often add
other drugs to the list. The “recreational user” may one day look around at the
wreckage – or look in the mirror – and come to the realization that they have
become an addict. Every youth we educate, every addict we rehabilitate, brings us closer
to a society free from the pain and devastation of drug abuse.
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