Drugs and You

What Are Drugs?

They are natural and synthetic chemical substances which can be used to affect:

• Your body and its processes.
• Your mind and nervous system
• Your behavior and feelings

Used properly...
To treat a medical problem, drugs can:

• Correct imbalances in body chemistry
• Protect against disease
• Relieve tension, fatigue, pain

But when drugs are abused they can cause...

• Health Problems:
Every year, thousands of people are treated in hospitals for drug-related
accidents and mental and physical illness. More than 25, 000 die every year.

• Legal Problems:
About 2 million people are arrested each year for alcohol and drug-related offenses.

• Financial Hardships:
From $15 a week for cigarettes to $100 a day for heroin, drug abuse can be an expensive habit.

• Social Difficulties:
Instead of trying to work out their problems, some people try to run from their problems by using drugs. This usually makes the problem worse, and creates new ones.

Why Some People Turn To Drugs

There are many different factors. Some reasons include:

• See what its like
• Feel like part of the crowd
• Try to escape feelings of loneliness

There are several categories of drugs that are commonly abused:

1. Alcohol
How Taken: By mouth
Effects: Greatly impaired driving ability; reduced coordination and reflex
action; impaired vision and judgment; inability to divide attention; lowered
inhibitions.
Overuse Can Cause: Headaches, nausea, dehydration, unclear thinking,
unsettled digestion; aching muscles; tolerance, physical and psychological
dependence can develop; long-term heavy drinking is a factor in liver and
heart damage, malnutrition, cancer, and other illnesses.

2. Marijuana
How Taken: By smoking or mouth
Effects: Impaired driving ability for four to six hours after one joint;
restlessness; inability to concentrate; increased pulse and blood pressure;
rapid changes of emotion; erratic behavior; altered sense of identity;
impaired memory; dulling of attention; hallucinations, fantasies, and
paranoia; reduction or loss of fertility.

3. Cocaine
How Taken: Mouth or by injection
Effects: Rush of pleasurable sensations; heightened (momentary) sense
of confidence, strength, and endurance; accelerated pulse, blood
pressure, and respiration; impaired driving ability; paranoia, may trigger
mental disorders; repeated sniffing; mood swings; anxiety; reduced sense
of humor; compulsive behavior.

4. Amphetamines
How Taken: By mouth or injection
Effects: Restlessness, anxiety, mood swings; paranoia, hallucinations;
loss of appetite; irritability, anxiety; increase heart rate and blood
pressure; eye focus problems; excessive perspiration, headaches;
insomnia.

5. Opiates
How Taken: Injection, sniffing, or smoking
Effects: Short-lived state of euphoria; impaired driving ability; drowsiness
then sleep; constipation; decreased physical activity; reduced vision;
change in sleeping habits; possible death.

6. PCP
How Taken: Injection, sniffing, or smoking
Effects: It can produce violent and bizarre behavior; extreme agitation,
drowsiness; perspiration; repetitive speech patterns; blank stare.

7. Nicotine in Tobacco
Effects: Increased heart rate, blood pressure; shortness of breath.
Hazards: Physical and psychological dependence can develop; long-term
smoking can cause emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease, death.

8. Caffeine in Coffee, Tea, Cola, etc.
Effects: Raised blood pressure; increased secretion of stomach acids;
feelings of energy and alertness; nervousness from too much caffeine.
Hazards: Caffeine can aggravate ulcer conditions; tolerance develops with
habitual use.

How Does Alcohol Affect Your Body?

Take this simple quiz to find out.

1. How long does it take for one “drink” to enter your system after drinking?
2. How much does one “drink” raise your blood alcohol concentration?
3. How many drinks can you have and still be safe to drive?
4. What will the alcohol concentration be at 7:00 a.m. the next morning of a
160 lb man who goes out bowling and drinks 12 cans of beer between 9 p.m. - 12 a.m.?

Quiz Answers

1. On an empty stomach, between 10-30 minutes, with food, slightly longer.
2. The average is between .015 to .02.
3. Any amount of alcohol can cause impairment. Even slight amounts of
alcohol affect your body’s sense of vision, hearing, balance, depth
perception and various motor skills.
4. Between .03 - .04.

Facts About Nicotine

Facts About Smoking

Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is
addictive and can make it very hard, but not impossible, to quit.

Cigarette smoking is the major cause of:

• Emphysema
• Lung Cancer
• Chronic Bronchitis

Smoking costs the nation $65 billion per year in health costs and lost
productivity, that’s $ 262 per American, per year.

Nicotine is just as addictive as heroin and cocaine.

Tips to Help You Stop Smoking

1. Set a date for quitting.
2. Remove cigarettes, ashtrays, matches and lighters from your home, office, and car.
3. Keep a supply of low calorie snacks handy.
4. Spend more time in places that don’t allow smoking.
5. Plan what you will do instead of smoking.
6. Call a friend if you need help.
7. Start a money jar with the money you would normally spend on cigarettes.

Smokeless Tobacco

Smokeless tobacco comes in different forms. You may know it as chewing
tobacco or snuff.

Tobacco Addiction

• People who dip or chew often use a can of snuff or a pouch of chew every day or two.
• After using tobacco for a short time, you need another dip every 20 to 30 minutes.
• One can of snuff per day delivers as much nicotine as 60 cigarettes.

Cancer And Other Mouth Problems

• Using smokeless tobacco can cause cancer, especially in your cheeks, gums, and throat.
• But even before cancer develops, changes occur in your mouth – sometimes after only a few weeks of dipping.
• Your gums and lips can sting, crack, bleed, wrinkle, and get sores and white patches. These white patches may become cancerous.

Heart Effects

• Chewing and dipping may make you feel relaxed, but the nicotine in
tobacco causes your heart to beat faster and your blood pressure to increase.
Long-term snuff users have a 50% greater risk of developing oral cancer than
nonusers because the nicotine in tobacco contains cancer-causing agents, such as
nitrosamines.

The Smoke Around You

Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is a combination of side stream smoke
from the burning end of the cigarette, pipe, or cigar, and the exhaled mainstream
smoke from the smoker.

When a cigarette is not being inhaled, it burns at a lower temperature. This
leads to incomplete combustion, which creates smoke that is much dirtier than the
mainstream smoke the smoker inhales while drawing on a cigarette.

Secondhand Smoke is considered a Class A carcinogen, one that causes cancer
in humans. It contains over 4000 chemicals, at least 43 of which are known to be
carcinogenic.

Secondhand Smoke causes approximately 3000 annual cancer deaths in
healthy nonsmokers.

Secondhand Smoke increases the frequency and severity of symptoms in
100,000 to 200,000 children with asthma.

Secondhand Smoke increases the risk of developing asthma.

An EPA review of more than 30 human studies proved that nonsmokers who are
exposed to secondhand smoke face a 50% greater risk of developing lung cancer than
do nonsmokers who are not exposed.

Creating A Smoke-Free Environment

A smoke-free policy does not mean that smokers are not wanted, just that the
smoke is not invited.

Employers should protect nonsmokers from Environmental Tobacco Smoke
(ETS) by isolating smokers.

Management and labor should work together to develop appropriate nonsmoking
policies that include some of the following:

• Prohibit smoking at the workplace and provide sufficient disincentives for those who do not comply.
• Distribute information about health and the harmful effects of smoking.
• Offer smoking cessation classes that could include counseling and information about off-site options.
• Establish incentives to encourage workers to stop smoking.
• Implement the policy by holding a series of open meetings to allow for venting feelings and making suggestions.
• Provide designated smoking areas clearly identified by signs.

Facts On Marijuana

What Is Marijuana

Marijuana, or cannabis, is a plant found in many areas of the world. It contains
the mind altering substance, THC. THC disrupts nerve cells in the part of the brain
where memories are formed. This may make it hard for the user to recall events.
Some studies have shown that users of marijuana over a long period of time can have
impaired brain function. There are also 400 other chemicals in the marijuana plant.

If you or someone you know uses marijuana and it has become a problem, help
is available. Contact your local EAP assessment service for more information.

The effects of marijuana depend on dose, strength of the drug, how it is taken,
the experience of the user, and whether the user is drinking alcohol or using other
drugs.

Short-term Effects Of Marijuana

• Sleepiness and increased hunger
• Headache and dizziness
• Paranoia and hallucinations
• Can trigger seizures in people with epilepsy
• Reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration, such as driving a car
• Increases heart rate
• Potential cardiac dangers for those with preexisting heart disease
• Impaired or reduced short-term memory

Long-term Effects Of Marijuana

• Enhanced cancer risk
• Lung tissue becomes inflamed
• Decreased testosterone levels for men
• Increased testosterone levels for women, which can increase facial and body hair growth
• Risk of lasting changes in brain function
• Increased risk of infertility in women
• Lowers sperm count in men
• Diminished or extinguished sexual pleasure
• Use during pregnancy may affect the baby during and after birth
• Psychological dependence

Marijuana Facts

• A recent study of 1,023 patients admitted to a trauma unit that receives
only the most seriously injured accident victims found that one-third had
detectable levels of marijuana in their blood.

• In laboratory tests, tars from marijuana smoke have produced tumors
when applied to animal skin.

• People can become addicted to marijuana. There are over 100,000
people that seek treatment per year.

• Marijuana use, possession, delivery, possession with intent to deliver, and
manufacture of the drug are illegal. Penalties include imprisonment and
fines.

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