Drugs and You

What Are Drugs?

Drugs 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.

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