drugs+and+alcohol+effects+note+page

Drugs are chemicals that enter the brain and mess with the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. Some imitate natural neurotransmitters; for example, narcotic pain relievers mimic the effects of endorphins, the body’s natural “feel-good” chemical. Or they are similar enough to the brain’s natural chemical messengers that they trick brain receptors into activating nerve cells. Stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines cause the neurons to release too much of the neurotransmitters, causing the sensation users describe as the brain “racing.” People who are suffering emotionally use drugs not so much for the rush but to escape from their problems. They’re trying to self-medicate themselves out of loneliness, low self-esteem, unhappy relationships, stress, and many other types of problems. Drug use doesn’t solve any of those problems, and it can easily make them worse or create new ones. But even if the user knows that, the short-term escape drugs provide can be so attractive that the dangerous consequences of abuse can seem unimportant.

"E" is for Empty: Daniel's Story
By Laura D'Angelo http://teens.drugabuse.gov/stories/story_xtc1.asp Daniel, 17, of San Clarita Valley, California, wanted prom night to be special. So, he reached into his tuxedo pocket and took out pills stamped with images of Tweety Bird and Buddha. Ecstasy (also called E, X, XTC, Adam, hug, love drug, and beans) looked harmless enough. But Daniel found out the hard way how dangerous it can be. "My heart was racing so fast. I thought I was having a heart attack," Daniel said. A friend helped him into the prom because his legs wouldn't stop trembling. The dance floor was located on a Hollywood movie set. Daniel tingled from head to toe. "Then I hit a peak," he said. "I felt like a movie star." Later at a friend's house, Daniel crashed into gloom and confusion. He swallowed two more "E" pills. Taking multiple doses within a relatively short time multiplies the toxic risks of any drug. With ecstasy, "stacking," or doubling the dose, carries especially high risk. The level of ecstasy builds and the user's body can't keep up with the amount of drug in his or her blood. That's what happened to Daniel. "I lay down and couldn't lift my head," he said. "My legs were rocking back and forth." The following weekend, Daniel dropped "E" at a rave where some 200 kids danced on a dirt clearing. Before long Daniel was selling ecstasy. "I'd walk into raves and yell E and people would crowd around. I felt a sense of power." With the profits, he bought more ecstasy which he took often, always with other kids. "I did drugs so I didn't have to feel alone," he said. When Daniel's father worked nights, friends flocked to his house. Adorned with glow-in-the-dark shirts and beads, they danced to trance music and chewed pacifiers to keep their teeth from grinding. 

Lives Destroyed
Soon Daniel was dropping up to five "E" pills a day. Desperate to feed his habit, he started selling cocaine and Methamphetamine as well as ecstasy. "I was skinny. My skin was the color of paper. My teeth were rotting out," Daniel said. "I would steal anything I could get my hands on. I stole valuables from my dad. I didn't see anything wrong with the way I was acting." Once, a friend's mother wanted to buy drugs from Daniel. When he delivered the bag of speed to the house, Daniel watched his friend's face crumple in sadness. "I felt really bad. I saw lives being destroyed because of what I was doing," he said. On New Year's Eve, Daniel's girlfriend called him a "drug addict" and a "lowlife." He jumped out of her car. "Staring at the city hotels and gas stations, I thought I'm going to be living alone in the streets and that scared the daylights out of me," Daniel recalled. The next morning, he went to his father and said, "Dad, I need help." 

New Year/New Beginning
A resident of Phoenix House, a drug-treatment center in Lake View Terrace, California, Daniel has been clean for six months. He's gained weight, and he cares about himself again. But he worries about ecstasy's effects. "I feel like I've suffered brain damage," he said. "Sometimes I get stuck in conversations, because I can't find a word." Other times he walks the unit and stops in horror, forgetting where he's going. Daniel is trying to understand his past and piece his life back together. "I got into drugs because I felt like no one liked me. Then nobody wanted to be around me because of the drugs, and I ended up completely alone," he said. "I feel like a new person now." Hydrocodone is an antitussive (cough suppressant) and analgesic agent for the treatment of moderate to moderately severe pain. Studies indicate that hydrocodone is as effective, or more effective, than codeine for cough suppression and nearly equipotent to morphine for pain relief. Hydrocodone is the most frequently prescribed opiate in the United States with nearly 130 million prescriptions for hydrocodone-containing products dispensed in 2006. There are several hundred brand name and generic hydrocodone products marketed. All are combination products and the most frequently prescribed combination is hydrocodone and acetaminophen (Vicodin®, Lortab®, Lorcet®). Hydrocodone diversion and abuse has been escalating in recent years. In 2006, hydrocodone was the most frequently encountered opioid pharmaceutical in drug evidence submitted to the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) with 25,136 exhibits; the System to Retrieve Investigational Drug Evidence (STRIDE) analyzed 654 exhibits in 2006. In the 2005 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) combination products were associated with more emergency room visits than any other pharmaceutical opioid with an estimated 51,225 emergency room visits. Poison control data, medical examiners’ reports, and treatment center data all indicate that the abuse of hydrocodone is associated with significant public health risks, including a substantial number of deaths.  When the CSA was enacted in 1971, hydrocodone as a substance by itself was placed in schedule II while products, containing hydrocodone in specified amounts and in combination with other active ingredients, were placed in schedule III and V. At that time, hydrocodone was primarily utilized as a cough suppressant with limited prescriptions. Today, hydrocodone products are increasingly utilized for pain management and are the most frequently dispensed opioid pharmaceuticals in the United States. Vikes, Hydro, Norc Hydrocodone in an analgesic and antitussive agent structurally similar to codeine but with effects more similar to morphine.  Hydrocodone is abused for its opioid effects. Widespread diversion via bogus call-in prescriptions, altered prescriptions, theft and illicit purchases from Internet sources are made easier by the present controls placed on hydrocodone products. Hydrocodone pills are the most frequently encountered dosage form in illicit traffic. Hydrocodone is generally abused orally, often in combination with alcohol.
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 As with most opiates, abuse of hydrocodone is associated with tolerance, dependence, and addiction. The co-formulation with acetaminophen carries an additional risk of liver toxicity when high, acute doses are consumed. Data suggests that some individuals who abuse very high doses of acetaminophen-containing hydrocodone products may be spared this liver toxicity if they have been chronically taking these products and have escalated their dose slowly over a long period of time. 
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Hydrocodone has been encountered in tablets, capsules and liquid form in the illicit market. However, tablets containing acetaminophen are the most frequently encountered products. Hydrocodone is not clandestinely produced and diverted pharmaceuticals are the primary source of the drug for abuse purposes. In 2006 alone, the DEA has documented the diversion of millions of dosage units of hydrocodone from illicit Internet sources. Doctor shopping, altered or fraudulent prescriptions, bogus call-in prescriptions, diversion by unscrupulous physicians and pharmacists, and drug theft are also major sources of the diverted drug. 
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Every age group has been affected by the relative ease of hydrocodone availability and the perceived safety of these products by medical prescribers. Sometimes viewed as a “white collar” addiction, hydrocodone abuse has increased among all ethnic and economic groups. Of particular concern is the prevalence of illicit use of hydrocodone among school age children. In 2006, the Monitoring the Future Survey (commonly referred to as the high school survey) reported that 3%, 7% and 9.7% of 8 th, 10 th, and 12 th graders, respectively, reported non-medical use of Vicodin ® in the previous year.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The DEA is currently reviewing a petition to increase the regulatory controls on hydrocodone combination products from schedule III to schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
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 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">**info from http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/hydrocodone.html**

Oxycontin

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">OxyContin® is a prescription painkiller used for moderate to high pain relief associated with injuries, bursitis, dislocations, fractures, neuralgia, arthritis, lower back pain, and pain associated with cancer. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Oxycodone is a Schedule II narcotic analgesic and is widely used in clinical medicine. It is marketed either alone as controlled release (OxyContin®) and immediate release formulations (OxyIR®, OxyFast®), or in combination with other nonnarcotic analgesics such as aspirin (Percodan®) or acetaminophen (Percocet®). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Kicker, OC, Oxy, OX, Blue, Oxycotton, Hillybilly Heroin are onle some of the street names. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Pharmacological effects include analgesia, sedation, euphoria, feelings of relaxation, respiratory depression, constipation, papillary constriction, and cough suppression. A 10 mg dose of orally-administered oxycodone is equivalent to a 10 mg dose of subcutaneously administered morphine as an analgesic in a normal population. Oxycodone’s behavioral effects can last up to 5 hours. The drug is most often administered orally. The controlled-release product, OxyContin®, has a longer duration of action (8-12 hours) <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The most serious risk associated with opioids, including OxyContin®, is respiratory depression. Common opioid side effects are constipation, nausea, sedation, dizziness, vomiting, headache, dry mouth, sweating, and weakness. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Chronic use of opioids can result in tolerance for the drugs, which means that users must take higher doses to achieve the same initial effects. Long-term use also can lead to physical dependence and addiction -- the body adapts to the presence of the drug, and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced or stopped. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As with most opiates, oxycodone abuse may lead to dependence and tolerance. Acute overdose of oxycodone can produce severe respiratory depression, skeletal muscle flaccidity, cold and clammy skin, reduction in blood pressure and heart rate, coma, respiratory arrest, and death. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Pharmaceuticals such as OxyContin® can be diverted in many ways. The most popular form is known as "doctor shopping," where individuals, who may or may not have legitimate illnesses requiring a doctor's prescription for controlled substances, visit many doctors to acquire large amounts of controlled substances. Other diversion methods include pharmacy diversion and improper prescribing practices by physicians. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Many States have launched efforts to curb the illegal use of OxyContin®. Louisiana, Maine, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee have enacted legislation to deal with this issue. California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Washington have established prescription monitoring programs. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Steriods <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Anabolic steroids are synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone. Both males and females have testosterone produced in their bodies: <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">males in the testes, and females in the ovaries and other tissues <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> The full name for this class of drugs is androgenic (promoting masculine characteristics) anabolic (tissue building) steroids (the class of drugs). Some of the common street (slang) names for anabolic steroids include arnolds, gym candy, pumpers, roids, stackers, weight trainers, and juice. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Currently, there are more than 100 different types of anabolic steroids that have been developed, and each requires a prescription to be used legally in the United States. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Anabolic steroids can be taken orally, injected intramuscularly, or rubbed on the skin when in the form of gels or creams. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">These drugs are often used in patterns called cycling, which involves taking multiple doses of steroids over a specific period of time, stopping for a period, and starting again. Users also frequently combine several different types of steroids in a process known as stacking. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Arnolds, gym candy, pumpers, roids, stackers, weight trainers, gear, and juice <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Arnolds, gym candy, pumpers, roids, stackers, weight trainers, gear, and juice. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> are some street names. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Anabolic steroid abuse has been associated with a wide range of adverse side effects ranging from some that are physically unattractive, such as acne and breast development in men, to others that are life threatening. Most of the effects are reversible if the abuser stops taking the drug, but some can be permanent. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Most data on the long-term effects of anabolic steroids on humans come from case reports rather than formal epidemiological studies. From the case reports, the incidence of life-threatening effects appears to be low, but serious adverse effects may be under-recognized or under-reported. Data from animal studies seem to support this possibility. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Steroid abuse has been associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including heart attacks and strokes, even in athletes younger than 30. Steroids contribute to the development of CVD, partly by changing the levels of lipoproteins that carry cholesterol in the blood. Steroids, particularly the oral types, increase the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and decrease the level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). LSD

<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Chemist Albert Hofmann, working at the Sandoz Corporation pharmaceutical laboratory in Switzerland, first synthesized LSD in 1938. He was conducting research on possible medical applications of various lysergic acid compounds derived from ergot, a fungus that develops on rye grass. Searching for compounds with therapeutic value, Hofmann created more than two dozen ergot-derived synthetic molecules.LSD is sold on the street in tablets, capsules, and occasionally in liquid form. It is an odorless and colorless substance with a slightly bitter taste that is usually ingested orally. It is often added to absorbent paper, such as blotter paper, and divided into small decorated squares, with each square representing one dose.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Acid, blotter acid, window pane, dots, mellow yellow || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">