Understanding the Drugs of Abuse

A general overview of the drug trends of today

A little about myself…

• Gyna Juarez, MPA ACPS• 8 years substance abuse prevention• PRC Coordinator• Prevention Resource Center-Region 8• San Antonio Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Why is this important?

• Prevention is education.

• If you’re not talking about drugs and alcohol, they are getting their messages from elsewhere.

• Youth are bombarded with thousands of messages each day.

The Drug of Abuse

• Alcohol• Tobacco• Marijuana• K2/ Spice• Bath Salts • Prescription Drugs• Novelty Items

Alcohol

• Alcohol is the primary drug of abuse in Texas.1

• Intoxication can impair brain function and motor skills; heavy use can increase risk of certain cancers, stroke, and liver disease.

• In Bexar County Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis is the third leading cause of death for 45 to 65 year olds.

http://www.utexas.edu/research/cswr/gcattc/documents/2011Trends.pdf

According to the U.S. Surgeon General

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44356/

Underage Drinking in Texas• In 2010, 62 percent of Texas secondary school students (grades 7–

12) had ever used alcohol.

• The peak years of alcohol initiation are 7th and 8th grades.

• In 2010, 12 percent of all secondary students said that when they drank, they usually drank five or more beers at one time.

• Among students in grades 4–6 in 2010, 22 percent had ever drunk alcohol, and 14 percent had drunk alcohol in the past school year. Eleven percent of fourth graders had used alcohol in the school year, compared with 19 percent of sixth graders .

http://www.utexas.edu/research/cswr/gcattc/documents/2011Trends.pdf

Social Access

Source: Circles of San Antonio Community Coalition Environmental Strategies Instrument, 2008

Most underage drinkers in Bexar County obtain alcohol from social sources

Minor In PossessionAttempt to Purchase, Consumption,

Purchase, Possession, Misrepresentation of Age

1st Up to $500 8-12 hours 30 days Required None

2nd Up to $500 20-40 hours 60 days Optional with judge None

3rd or more $250-$2000 None 180 days Optional

with judgeUp to 180

days

Deferred Disposition is conviction for enhancement.

PENALTIES

No Deferred Disposition on 3rd or more.

Offense FineCommunity

ServiceLoss of License Education Jail

Providing Alcohol to a Minor

• Purchase for or giving alcohol to a minor is illegal unless it is the minor’s• Adult parent• Adult guardian• Adult spouse• Adult court custodian

• Provider must be visibly present

Penalties

Up to $4,000 fine Up to 1 year in jail

Alcohol’s effect on the young body…

Healthy Brain Activity Drinker’s Brain Activity

What is Alcoholism?• According to the NIAA, alcoholism is a disease that includes

the following four symptoms:– Craving --A strong need, or urge, to drink. – Loss of control --Not being able to stop drinking once drinking has

begun. – Physical dependence --Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea,

sweating, shakiness, and anxiety after stopping drinking. – Tolerance --The need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to get

"high."

Alcoholism is a disease. The craving that an alcoholic feels for alcohol can be as strong as the need for food or water. An alcoholic will continue to drink despite serious family, health, or legal problems.

Alcohol and Pregnancy• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of

conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy.

• FASDs refer to the whole range of effects that can happen to a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy.

To diagnose FAS, doctors look for:• Abnormal facial features (e.g., smooth ridge between nose

and upper lip)• Lower-than-average height, weight, or both• Central nervous system problems (e.g., small head size,

problems with attention and hyperactivity, poor coordination)

Tobacco • Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability,

and death in the United States.

• Each year, almost 50,000 nonsmokers die from diseases caused by secondhand smoke exposure.

• It’s the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. Nicotine is only one of more than 4,000 chemicals, many of which are poisonous, found in the smoke from tobacco products. Smokeless tobacco products also contain many toxins, as well as high levels of nicotine

• Tobacco causes about 440,000 deaths or 1 out of 6 deaths in the U.S. each year.

The Negative Health Consequences• More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from

human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.

• Smoking causes an estimated 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80% of all lung cancer deaths in women.

• An estimated 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease are caused by smoking.

• Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/

Smokeless Tobacco• May contain more nicotine than a cigarette, depending on

the size of pinch.

• May cause oral, esophageal and pancreatic cancer.

Minors & Tobacco $250 fine if found with tobacco under the

age of 18

8-40 hours of community service

Tobacco Awareness classes

Driver’s License revoked for 180 days

1 pack a day for a year costs $2,555.00

1 pack a day for 5 years = $12,775.00

Marijuana• Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the

United States.

• The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

• THC can cause distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory.

• Withdrawal symptoms including: irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug cravings.

Marijuana vs. Tobacco• Marijuana has 4 times as much cancer causing tar than a

cigarette.

• Marinol is the pill form of THC. Prevents nausea and vomiting after cancer chemotherapy and to increase appetite in people with AIDS.

Smoking marijuana = health risk: Increased risk of heart attack, heightened risk of chronic cough and respiratory infections.

• The risks of using marijuana far outweigh the benefits. Marijuana is ILLEGAL in Texas.

Marijuana Paraphernalia

Treatment Center Admissions to DSHS Funded Facilities, 2009

Youth Adult

Heroin 203 8215

Alcohol 203 6593

Cocaine 176 4002

Marijuana 3551 3889

Total 4133 22699

K2/Spice (fake weed)

• Since January 2010, approximately 600 calls were made to the Texas Poison Center Network related to Spice/K2 exposure.

• Effects: delusions, hallucinations, loss of consciousness, paranoia, panic attacks, increased aggravation, vomiting, dilated pupils,

• At least one case of JWH-018 dependence has been reported. On October 15, 2011, coroner reports released to the media reveal that the death of a South Carolina college basketball player was attributed to "drug toxicity and organ failure" caused by JWH-018. The user consumed JWH-018 daily for eight months.

• Five chemicals, JWH -018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497, and cannabicyclohexanol that are found in K2 were placed on the Schedule. Legal penalties include up to a $4,000 fine and jail time.

Inhalants• Inhalants are a diverse group of volatile substances whose chemical

vapors can be inhaled to produce psychoactive (mind-altering) effects.

• Among new users ages 12–15, the most commonly abused inhalants are glue, shoe polish, spray paints, gasoline, and lighter fluid. Among new users age 16 or 17, the most commonly abused products are nitrous oxide or whippets. Nitrites are the class of inhalants most commonly abused by adult.

• Inhalants can be breathed in through the nose or mouth in a variety of ways (known as “huffing”), such as sniffing or snorting fumes from a container, spraying aerosols directly into the nose or mouth, or placing an inhalant-soaked rag in the mouth.

http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/inhalants.html

Inhalants and the Brain• The effects of inhalants slurred speech, lack of coordination,

euphoria, and dizziness. Inhalant abusers may also experience lightheadedness, hallucinations, and delusions.

• Chemicals found in different types of inhaled products may produce a variety of additional effects, such as confusion, nausea, or vomiting.

• Depriving the brain of oxygen (Hypoxia) may lose the ability to learn new things or may have a hard time carrying on simple conversations.

What Types of Products Are Abused as Inhalants

• Volatile solvents—liquids that vaporize at room temperature; including paint thinners or removers, degreasers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, and lighter fluid, Art or office supply solvents, including correction fluids, felt-tip marker fluid, electronic contact cleaners, and glue.

• Aerosols—sprays that contain propellants and solvents; Household aerosol propellants in items such as spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products, and vegetable oil sprays.

• Gases—found in household or commercial products and used as medical anesthetics; including butane lighters and propane tanks, whipped cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases

• Nitrites—used primarily as sexual enhancers; When marketed for illicit use, organic nitrites are often sold in small brown bottles labeled as “video head cleaner,” “room odorizer,” “leather cleaner,” or “liquid aroma.”

Inhalant Paraphernalia

Heroin• Heroin is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is

obtained from the opium poppy. It is a “downer” or depressant that affects the brain’s pleasure systems and interferes with the brain’s ability to perceive pain.

What does it look like?• White to dark brown powder or tar-like substance.

How Is It Used?• Heroin can be injected into a vein (“mainlining”), injected into a muscle,

smoked in a water pipe or standard pipe, mixed in a marijuana joint or regular cigarette, inhaled as smoke through a straw, known as “chasing the dragon,” snorted as powder via the nose.

• What are its short-term effects? After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria (“rush”) accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following this initial euphoria, the user goes “on the nod,” an alternately wakeful and drowsy state.

• What are its long-term effects? Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, cellulites, and liver disease. Pulmonary complications, including various types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health condition of the abuser, as well as from heroin’s depressing effects on respiration.

http://www.drugfree.org/drug-guide/heroin

Cocaine• Three routes of administration are commonly used for cocaine: snorting,

injecting, and smoking. Crack is the street name given to the form of cocaine that has been processed to make a rock crystal, which, when heated, produces vapors that are smoked

• The intensity and duration of cocaine’s effects—which include increased energy, reduced fatigue, and mental alertness—depend on the route of drug administration. The faster cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the brain, the more intense the high.

• Abusing cocaine has a variety of adverse effects on the body. For example, cocaine constricts blood vessels, dilates pupils, and increases body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. It can also cause headaches and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain and nausea. Because cocaine tends to decrease appetite, chronic users can become malnourished as well.

http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/cocaine.html

Cocaine and the Brain• Normally, once dopamine has attached to a nerve cell’s receptor and

caused a change in the cell, it’s pumped back to the neuron that released it. But cocaine blocks the pump, called the dopamine transporter.

• That’s why someone who uses cocaine feels an extra sense of pleasure for a short time.

• If a long-term user of cocaine stops taking the drug, the person feels tired and sad, and experiences strong craving for the drug. These feelings can last for a long time, until the brain (and the person) recovers from addiction.

http://teens.drugabuse.gov/mom/mom_stim3.php

Prescription Drug Abuse• According to the CDC, More people die in America every year from

prescription drug abuse than die from heroin and cocaine combined.

• According to NIDA, most commonly abused PD are the opiates (OxyContin, Darvon, Vicodin ), depressants (Nembutal, Valium and Xanax), and stimulants (Dexedrine, Ritalin and Adderall) .

• Among those who abuse prescription drugs, high rates of other risky behaviors, including abuse of other drugs and alcohol, have also been reported.

http://www.nida.nih.gov/tib/prescription.htmlNational Institute of Drug Abuse

According to a report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy

• Teens are turning away from using street drugs to get high and using prescription drugs.

• Prescription drugs are the most commonly abused drug among 12-13 yrs olds. (NSDUH, 2006)

• Teen (12-17) and young adults (18-25) were more likely than older adults to start abusing prescription drugs in the past year (SAMHSA, 2006)

“Teens and Prescription Drugs: An Analysis of Recent Trends of the Emerging Drug Threat”, 2007

Prescription Drug Abuse• Painkiller abuse can be dangerous, even deadly, with too high a dose or

when taken with other drugs, like alcohol. Short-term effects of painkiller abuse may include lack of energy, inability to concentrate, nausea and vomiting, and apathy. Significant doses of painkillers can cause breathing problems. When abused, painkillers can be addictive.

Brand names include: Vicodin, Tylenol with Codeine, OxyContin, and Percocet

Prescription Drug Abuse• Depressants, or downers, are prescribed to treat a variety of health

conditions including anxiety and panic attacks, tension, severe stress reactions, and sleep disorders. Also referred to as sedatives and tranquilizers, depressants can slow normal brain function.

• Health risks related to depressant abuse include loss of coordination, respiratory depression, dizziness due to lowered blood pressure, slurred speech, poor concentration, feelings of confusion, and in extreme cases, coma and possible death.

Brand names include: Klonopin, Nembutal, Soma, Ambien, Valium, and Xanax.

Prescription Drug Abuse• Stimulants or uppers, are most commonly prescribed for attention

deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but they are also used to treat a variety of conditions such as asthma, respiratory problems, obesity, and sleep disorders such as narcolepsy.

• Health risks related to stimulant abuse include increased heart and respiratory rates, excessive sweating, vomiting, tremors, anxiety, hostility and aggression, and in severe abuse, suicidal/homicidal tendencies, convulsions, and cardiovascular collapse.

Brand names include: Concerta, Dexedrine, and Ritalin.

Over the Counter - Cough Syrup• Effects

confusion, dizziness, double or blurred vision, slurred speech, impaired physical coordination, abdominal pain, nausea

vomiting, rapid heart beat, drowsiness, numbness of fingers and toes, and disorientation

• DXM abusers describe different "plateaus" ranging from mild distortions of color and sound to visual hallucinations and

• "out-of-body," dissociative, sensations, and loss of motor control.

http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/drug_guide/DXM

Over the Counter - Cough SyrupDextromethorphan (DXM)

http://www.dextroverse.org/sources.html

Skittles

Over the Counter – Cough Syrup

• Signs of Abuse• Empty cough syrup bottles, or boxes• Visiting pro drug websites• http://www.third-plateau.org/index.htm• Change in friends, physical appearance• Hostile uncooperative• Lost interest in hobbies, school• Missing money

http://www.fivemoms.com/signs-of-couh-medicine-abuse/

These bath salts are not drugs

Dangerous Bath Salts

3, 4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone - MDPV

What is MDPV (bath salts)

– The term ‘bath salts’ refer to commercially available products containing the legal stimulant called 3, 4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV.

– While they have become popular under the guise of selling as

‘ bath salts ’, they are sometimes sold as other products such as insect repellant , or plant food with names like “Bonsai Grow” among others.

– Much like the marketing of Synthetic Cannabinoids (Spice/K2) as incense, MDPV has been market as “bath salts” and just like Spice/K2 MDPV is specifically labeled “ not for human consumption.”

Common names of Bath SaltsThey are sold mostly on the internet, but can also

be found in select shops locally.

• “Red Dove,” “Blue Silk,” “Zoom,” “Bloom,” “Cloud Nine,” “Ocean Snow,” “Lunar Wave,”

“Vanilla Sky,” “Ivory Wave,” “White Lightning,” “Scarface” “Purple Wave,” “Blizzard,” “Star Dust,”

“Lovey, Dovey,” “Snow Leopard,” “Aura,” and• “Hurricane Charlie.”

The Effects of MDPV • Mental: euphoria, increases in alertness & awareness, increased

wakefulness and arousal, anxiety, agitation, perception of a diminished requirement for food and sleep.

• MDPV reportedly has four times the potency of Ritalin and Concerta.

• The effects have a duration of roughly 3 to 4 hours, with after effects such as tachycardia, hypertension, and mild stimulation lasting from 6 to 8 hours.

• High doses have been observed to cause intense, prolonged panic attacks in stimulant-intolerant users, and there are anecdotal reports of psychosis from sleep withdrawal and addiction at higher doses or more frequent dosing intervals

The Anti-Energy Drink• Mimics the "purple drank"

cough syrup drink

• The contains the hormone melatonin and the herb valerian root, and the can carries this warning: "This product may cause drowsiness.

• Not recommended more than 2 servings within a 24 hour period."

The Lazy Cake• The “faux” pot brownie.

• Infused with 3.9 mg of melatonin, compared to the 0.3mg our bodies make naturally.

• Warning label on the back, “recommended for adults only”.

Drunk Gummies

What are they?• Gummy candies being soaked in vodka or rum , candies absorb

the alcohol.

• When gummies are soaked in alcohol, they appear larger and have a very sticky, tacky texture and have the odor of the alcohol.

• With very small volumes of ethanol being absorbed per individual gummy would likely take such a large volume of candy to get a decent ethanol concentration that people would likely first get GI symptoms JUST from the volume of candy.

Do You Know Where To Look?

http://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.com/identify/your_home.html

SACADA Program Services• The Prevention Resource Center• Youth Prevention Programs • Circles of San Antonio Coalition (COSA)• Veterans Intervention Program (VIPS)• First Friday Workshops• MIP Tobacco/Alcohol Awareness/DWI

Classes• HYPE Productions/HYPE Youth Coalition

ResourcesPartnership for a Drug Free Americahttp://www.drugfree.org/

• Dept. of State Health Services http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/

• Street Drugs www.streetdrugs.org

• National Institute on Drug Abuse

http://www.nida.nih.gov/

Resources

• Office of National Drug Control Policyhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp

• Partnership Drug Free America-DXM Stories http://www.dxmstories.com/

• United Way – 211http://www.unitedwaysatx.org/

Question #1

• Of of the six drugs of abuse we talked about today, can

someone name 4 of those topics?

Question #2

• What are the 4 symptoms of alcoholism?

Question #3

•What are the 4 categories types of

inhalants?

Question #4

•What is the name of the pill form of THC?

Question #5

• How many milligrams of melatonin are in Lazy Cakes?

Question #6

• Name 3 of the program services provided by

SACADA?

Thank you for you time!SACADA7500 Hwy 90 W, Ste. 100San antonio, TX 78227Phone (210) 225-4741

Follow us online!www.sacada.org Twitter.com/SACADATexFacebook.com/SACADATex

Sources• http://www.cdc.gov/• http://healthliteracy.worlded.org• http://www.cancer.gov/ • http://drugabuse.gov/ • http://quitoncechicago.com/marijuana-vs-t

obacco-consider-the-facts/

• http://www.utexas.edu/research/cswr/gcattc/documents/2011Trends.pdf