DRUG ABUSE
DRUG: An externally administered chemical substances that modifies or affect chemical reaction
in the body.
Drugs can be administered into the body by four ways.
1.
2.
3.
4.
By oral consumption
By injection
By inhalation
By application onto the skin
How do drugs act on the body?
Drug act in various ways. Some drugs (such as nicotine and heroin) interfere with the way that
the nervous system works and this is often abused by people.
Many mood-enhancing drugs (such as heroin and nicotine act as synapses in the nervous
system and change the way in which neurons send impulses. They do this by combining with
protein molecules on the cell membrane of the neurons.
How can drugs be detected?
Drugs are broken down in the body by enzymes and the products are excreted. This breakdown
can be detected in the urine which is why urine tests are used.
How does a drug become addictive?
If the body comes to rely on the drug, a person can become addicted and feel the need to take
it regularly.
How does drug tolerance develop?
The body’s metabolism may become used to a drug and the liver may produce more enzymes
to break it down, so that the dose of the drug has to increase in order for the same effect to be
achieved.
In the case of heroin, as it is a pain –killer, synapses may produce more target molecules, and if
these do not combine with heroin, an increased feeling of pain is felt.
What does drug tolerance lead to?
People become dependent on the drug – cannot survive without it withdrawal symptoms
ensue- varying from nausea to severe cramp.
Name of the use of drugs to treat diseases?
Chemotherapy
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]
What are antibiotics?
A group of chemicals made my microorganism (fungi and bacteria) that are used in
chemotherapy, as they kill pathogens or stop their growth.
What do antibiotics do?
Destroy pathogens by disrupting cell wall formation. Inhibiting protein synthesis and
metabolism in the pathogen cell.
Drugs can be grouped as follows
1. Analgesics: Drugs that relieve the pain without causing numbness or affecting
consciousness. Example: Aspirin, paracetamol which relieves minor pain and reduces
fever if taken in larger doses may produce some side effects.
2. Sedatives (depressants): slow down the brain and make you feel sleepy. Including
sleeping pills.
Example: Barbiturates, alcohol
3. Stimulus: speed up the action of the brain (nervous system and make the drug user to
feed confidence and alert. Sometimes given to people who are suffering from severe
depression.
Example: coffee, tea, nicotine, amphetamines.
4. Hallucinogens: cause a person to experience illusion, hallucination and distort images.
Example: cannabis.
5. Opiates: Relieve pain and induce sleep. Example. Opium, morphine and heroine etc.,
likely to bring about drug dependence in user.
6. ANTIBIOTICS: Antibiotics are wildly used to treat many infectious diseases caused by
bacteria. Antibiotics are produced by fungi, bacteria and some are manmade.
The antibiotics are used to treat diseases like pnumonia, syphilis, gonorrhoea whichare
caused by baceria. Bacteria kills the diseases causing bacteria but do not affect eha normal
body cells at all. The mechanism of antibiotics to kill the baceria by preventing protein
syntheis. Bacterial cell wall and bacetrial cel membrane.
Heroin: Highly addictive depressant. The user experiences a feeling of euphoria, tolerance
and dependance develop, reslulting in addiction.
Heroin addicts may turn to cirme to obtain money for their next dose. Shared needles
have resulted in the spread of hepatitis and HIV amongst addicts who inject heroin.
Alcohol: Is a deressant and if taken in excess lengthens reaction times and bring about a
lack of self-control in a person. Long term effects of alcohol abuse include cirrhosis of the
liver and brain damage.
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]
Smoking and health: Tobacco smoke consists of nicotine, tar, carnon monoxide and
smoke particles. Smoking is associated with diseases such as bronchitis emphysema,
heart disease and lung cancer.
Nicotine: Nicotine is absorbed very quickly through the alveoli, entering the blood stream.
Like heroin it interacts with the nerve cells at synapses. Makes the heart beat faster and
narrows the arterioles which increases blood pressure.
Tar: Black sticky material that collects in the lungs as smoke cools. Does not pass into the
blood stream. It irritates the linning of the airways and stimulates then to produce more
mucus.
HEROIN
Heroin: it is a powerful depressant. Exmaples; Morphine, cocaine are narcotics drug made
from opium.
It results in a sedative effect i.e it dulls the senses (numbness) removes feelings of anxiety
and creates a sense of extreme well being. It is used for the relief of severe pain. The body
can become tolerant to heroin i.e. progressively increased dosages of the drug is required
to maintain the same feeling of well being. The over dosage leads to death. The abuser
may depend on the heroin, and cannot live without it.
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]
Effects of heroin:
Heroin are blood poisoning, hepatitis and AIDS may result from the use of unsterilized
needles when injecting the drug. Brain damage, lung damage, loss of weight, costipation,
loss of appetite, gastric ulcer.
Withdrawal sysmptoms.
Diarrhea, vomiting, muscular pain, shaking and hallucination. Mentally disturbed(
experince acute anxiety, depression).
Social problems
Obsession on obtaining the drug means that they are unable to concentrate on their job,
inevitably leading to unemployment.
As a consequence, there is no money for them to support their expensive habit as well as
to support their family. They then tend to resort to a life of crime to obtain money for
regular access to the drug as wella s having dysfunctional families (divorce).
(Heroin: Highly addictive depressant. The user experiences a feeling of euphoria,
tolerance and dependance develop, reslulting in addiction.
Heroin addicts may turn to cirme to obtain money for their next dose. Shared needles
have resulted in the spread of hepatitis and HIV amongst addicts who inject heroin.)
ALCOHOL
Alcohol is a depressant, affects the nervous system. Affecting the cerebrum and
cerebellum resulting in the folowing.
Result of effect on cerebrum:
 Creates a feeling of well being.
 Slows down the brain fucntion.
 Self controlled is reduced.
 Blurred vision.
When consumed in increasing quantities, it leads to reduced and eventually loss of self
control (loss of inhibtion causing the perosn to behave in a way they would be ashamed
of when sober.
Result of effect on cerebellum:
 Slows down the reaction time and poor muscular coordination. Increases the risk of
accident when a drunk person drives.
 Anesthetize the brain and cause unconciousness.
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]
Other effects of alcohol
 Alcohol damage the heart (increased fats in cornary arteries).
 Sex organs are stimulated but do not work well sperm count may reduce.
 Liver cells work harder to detoxify the alcohol, cell linning blood vessels are damaged
causing liver cirrohosis 90% of alcohol is detoxified in the liver (oxidized to carbon dioxide
and water). Remaining 10% is excreated by the kidney.
 Intestines are irritated causing and indigestion, nausea and ulcers.
 In pregnant woman alcohol may cross the placenta to the unborn child nervous syustem
of child may be affected.
 Cancer of tongue and oesophagus.
 It also reslults in malnutrition since alcoholics tend to only consume the non-nutrtional
alcoholic drinks in excess ( no balanced diet), often leading to obesity ( beer belly) as the
excess alcohol molecules ( high calorie value) are converted into fast and stored in the
adipose tissues in the body.
 Withdrawl symptoms are less severe than of heroin.
 Often familes suffer as a consequence (family breakdown) not only from financial
hardship, but also from physical violence or sexual abuse, which often accompanies
alcoholism.
 Drunk drivers are the cause of many accidents.
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]
EFFECTS OF TOBACCO SMOKING
There are 3 major compounds of tabacco smoke.
 Nicotine- addictive drug
 Tar – brown stick substances that accumulates in the lung during smoking.
 Carbon monoxide.
Effects of nicotine:
Nicotine is the chemical that cause addtiction, it is also stimulant which makes the heart beat
faster and at the same time blood vessels narrow. Together these 2 effects rise blood pressure,
so heart muscle likely to be damage. Cloting of the cornary arteries cause heart attack. Clotting
of the cappillaries of brain cause stoke.
Tar: contains cancer causing (carcinogen) chemicals uncontrolled multiplication of cells results in
out growth of lungs tissue (cancer).
 Blocking of the air sacs, reducing the efficiancy for gaseous exchange.
 Paralysis of cilia: Dust and microbes trapped in mucus, slide down towards the lungs
results in respiratory tract infection (coughing, difficult in breath).
 Cancer in the mouth larynx, laryngitis causes husky voice.
Carbonmonoxide: combine with heamoglobin to form carboxy heamoglobin instead of
oxyheamoglobin. This reduces aerobic respiration. Reduces oxygen transport acrossl the
placenta. (babies born to smokers have low birth weight). Increase the rate of the depostion of
fatty substances in the inner walls of arteries causing lumen to become narrower. Damage the
linning of the blood vessels increase the tendency of the blood to clot on the blood vessels.
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]
Irritants: cause cells lining the bronchi and bronchioles to increase the production of mucus,
narrowing the air passages. Results in smokers cough, with thick mucus. Prolonge coughing may
damage the walls of the alveoli and may lead to emphysema. Destroy the cillia lining the trachea
increasing the chances of inflammation of the bronchial walls and may lead to bronchitis.
SMOKING RELATED DISEASES
 Emphysemia
 Bronchitis
 Cancer in lung, stomach, pancrease, bladder
 Chronic bronchitis
 Cornary heart diseases
 Lower sperm counts in men.
Emphysemia: Results when the walls of the air sacs are destroyed, relsuts in shortness of
breathing. (breathing becomes difficult)
Lungs structure changes, person suffer from severe cough, and wheezing. They cannot walk
2-3 metres.
Bronchitis: Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes, particularly the bronchioles.
This results in the production of large quantities of thick mucus, it leads to cough frequently.
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Effects of smoking during pregnancy:
Brain development of the fetus is effected.
The child may have elarning difficulties in later life.
The fetus grow more slowly and may born less the the normal weight ( some times fetus
may die with in few days).
Higher risk of the baby being born prematured.
The baby has greater riks of being born dead.
Carbon monoxide causes less oxygen to reach the fetus a s the carbon monoxide combine
with the haemglobin in the mother’s blood. Carboxy haemoglobin that cannot transport
oxygen.
Definition of drug abuse
when a drug is taken simply for enjoyment/recreational purpose, often in large amounts and
often leads to addiction.
Drugs may cause


Tolerance
Dependence
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]
Tolerance
If drugs taken for long period of time the dosage have to keep increasing in order to have the
same effect. In the dosage continues to increase, sometimes it may cause death.
Example: people who drink alcohol in order to relieve anxiety may have to keep drinking more
and more before they feel relaxed.
Dependence:
It is the condition in which the user cannot be without the substance. Example: cigarette smoking
can cause emotional dependence if the person cannot get the drug then he will get withdrawal
symptoms like vomit, sweat profusely, abdominal pain.
ANTIBIOTICS: Antibiotics are wildly used to treat many infectious diseases caused by bacteria.
Antibiotics are produced by fungi, bacteria and some are manmade.
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[M.BALAKRISHNAN. M.SC., M.PHIL., P.G.D.C.C.]