Story
There are five things we are going to look at:
- Drug Addiction
- Drug Administration
- Stimulants
- Depressants
- Hallucinogenics
NOTES
- I. Stimulants
- Mostly psychological dependence
- No physiological addiction
- Also called analeptics
- Invigorating or restorative
- Effects
- Temporary improvement in:
- alertness, wakefulness, endurance, productivity & motion
- Referred to “uppers”
- Increased arousal, heart rate & blood pressure
- Perceive less need of food-sleep
- Improved mood, less anxiety
- Euphoria
- Heart failure
- Anxiety
- Most facilitate norepinephrine
- Increase dopamine
- Inhibit transporter (less reuptake)
- Why Taken
- Counteract fatigue
- Make it through work
- Reduce sleepiness
- Treat narcolepsy
- Decrease appetite
- Weight loss
- Treat obesity
- Improve concentration
- work or school; treat ADHD
- Decrease depression
- Treatment-resistant
- Non-typical
- Counteract fatigue
- 10 Common Stimulants
- 1. Xanthine
- Mild stimulants
- Make less sleepy
- Bronchodilators (was used to treat asthma)
- Caffeine Coffee & tea
- Theobromine Chocolate
- Theophylline Tea & chocolate
- Caffeine
- World’s most widely used drug
- Used by 85% of US daily
- Coffee, tea, soda & tablets
- In some medications
- Enhance drug
- Reduce drowsiness
- 2. Nicotine
- Active chemical in tobacco
- Available in:
- cigarettes, cigars
- chewing tobacco
- nicotine patches
- nicotine gum
- electric cigarettes
- Distribution
- Inhaled
- Distributed quickly thru blood
- Crosses blood-brain barrier
- Reaches brain 10-20 secs
- Half-life is 2 hours
- Effects
- Most is burned when smoked
- Enough inhaled to cause pharmacological effects
- Amount absorbed depends on
- Rate of inhalation: none, fast, slow
- Type of tobacco
- Filter
- Nicotonic Ach receptors
- Ganglion nicotinic receptors
- Adrenal medulla
- Brain
- Nicotinic receptor
- In small concentrations
- Increases activity of receptors
- Impacts other neurotransmitters thru in-direct mechanisms
- Volume control
- At toxic levels
- Muscle contractions & respiratory paralysis
- Impacts dopamine
- Dopamine connection is addictive
- Relaxation
- Euphoria
- Nicotine activates SNS (sympathetic nervous system)
- Adrenal medulla
- Stimulates release of epinephrine
- Affinity for melanin
- More dependence
- Harder to stop smoking in darker-pigmented individuals
- Like cocaine
- Repeated use reduces dopamine response to reinforcement
- Some find it helpful to take antidepressants when quitting
- 3. Amphetamines
- Schedule II drug
- High likelihood for dependence
- Used under severe restrictions
- Some accepted medical use
- High potential for abuse
- Increase NE & dopamine
- Inhibits reuptake
- Direct release of nonepinephrine and dopamine from vesicles
- Pushes dopamine into synapse
- Uses dopamine transporter
- Goes thru cell membrane
- Experience
- Elevated mood & euphoria
- Alertness & concentration
- Increased libido
- Higher self-esteem & confidence
- More social interaction
- More energy
- More awake & focused
- Increased weight loss
- Decreased appetite
- Also
- Rebound depression-anxiety
- Dilated pupils & blood shot eyes
- Hyperactive & restless
- Flushing & headaches (vasoconstriction)
- Tachycardia & tremors
- Dry mouth & itchy skin
- Blurred vision, dizziness
- Insomnia
- Fever
- Symptoms
- Talking fast & nervousness
- Rapid eye movements
- “the jitters,” & shifting
- “Munchies”
- Obsessive behaviors
- Grandiose ideas
- Paranoia
- Psychosis
- Might not sleep for several days
- “Crash“
- lying down on floor, go to sleep
- in middle of activity around them
- in middle of a sentence
- Eventually look thin & gaunt; starved
- Cardiac arrest and death
- Often Abused
- Availability
- Fast-acting effects
- Amphetamines kill better than cocaine
- Speed is cheaper & longer lasting
- Cocaine is an “in” drug
- like champagne; snob appeal
- Extremely dangerous when combined with alcohol
- Withdrawal symptoms
- Depression
- Appetite
- Fatigue
- Deep REM sleep
- Suicidal thoughts
- Vivid dreams
- Agitation
- Can last for day or months
- Used in WWII
- Pilots got “go pills“
- II. Depressants
- Depress function or activity in the brain
- Downer
- Pain relief
- Sedatives
- Muscle relaxation
- Use different pharmacological mechanism
- Most facilitate GABA or opioid receptors
- Inhibit glutamate
- Common depressants
- Alcohol
- Opioids
- Barbituates
- Benzodiazepines
- Depress function or activity in the brain
- 1. Alcohol
- Effects
- Inhibits sodium flow across cell membrane
- More sodium in the cells expands membrane
- Decreases serotonin activity
- Increases dopamine activity
- Blocks glutamate receptors
- Facilitates GABA
- Effects
- Alcoholism
- Type A (Type I)
- Fewer genetic relatives with alcoholism
- Men and women about equally
- Later onset (usually after 25)
- Generally less severe
- Gradual onset
- Type B (Type II)
- Earlier onset (before 25)
- More rapid onset, more severe
- More genetic relatives with alcoholism
- Far more men than women
- Genetic predisposition
- 9% of population
- Unpredictable variables
- Quantity, frequency & regularity
- Risk factors
- Social environment
- Emotional health
- Sensation seeking
- Genetics
- Sons of alcoholic mothers
- After moderate drinking
- Feel less drunk, have less body sway
- Show less change in EEG
- Feel less tense
- Smaller than normal amygdala
- Connects emotions to senses
- Get brain chemistry back to “normal”
- Sons of alcoholic mothers
- Stress
- Gender
- Men 2-3 times more likely
- Women more impacted by long-term use
- Age = Under 16
- Hangovers
- 50% of Chinese-Japanese have gene that slows metabolism of acetaldehyde
- Increases effects of hangover
- Makes hangover immediate
- Less alcoholics
- High rate of suicide in alcoholics & drug abusers
- Distortion of brain chemistry
- Social isolation
- Intoxicated (not thinking clearly)
- 1 in 4 teen suicides is alcohol abuse related
- More crimes
- Abuse, rape, burglaries, assaults
- Chronic use
- Symptoms similar to mental illness when drunk
- When not
- Severe anxiety
- Depression
- Type A (Type I)
- 2. Opioids
- Types
- Natural
- Morphine
- Codeine
- Semi-synthetic opiates
- Heroin
- Synthetic opiates
- Methadone
- Natural
- Highly additive
- Increases release of endorphins
- Decreases pain
- Inhibits GABA
- Causes increase in dopamine
- Blocks release of norepinephrine
- Psychological dependence
- Physical addiction
- Withdrawal not usually fatal
- Tolerance
- Used To Treat
- Post-operative pain
- Cancer pain
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Morphine
- Treats acute and chronic pain
- Heart pain
- Labor pain
- Lasts 3-4 hrs
- Abusers don’t have a preference for morphine or heroin
- Codeine
- Most widely used opiate
- 3-methylmorphine
- natural isomer of methylated morphine
- Used To Treat
- Mild-moderate pain
- Relieve cough
- Diarrhea & irritable bowel syndrome
- Abused
- Phenergam with codeine
- Anti-nausea medication
- Semi-synthetic opiates
- Oxycodone
- Buprenorphine
- Hydromorphone
- Heroin
- Diacetylmorphine or morphine diacetate
- Synthesized from morphine
- Schedule I drug
- Effects
- “transcendent relaxation”
- Euphoria
- Tolerance quickly develops
- Users perceive it has different effects from morphine
- Intense rush
- Probably not physical; social
- Synthetic opiates
- Meperidine/pethidine
- Fentanyl
- Methadone
- Compared to morphine or heroin
- Chemically different
- Acts on same receptors
- Use To Treat
- Chronic pain
- Maintenance drug for heroin reduction
- Types
- III. Hallucinogenics
- Subjective perceptual changes
- Disrupt
- Thinking, emotion, consciousness
- Induce experiences
- Not just enhance
- 1. Psychedelics
- LSD
- Stimulates serotonin receptors
- at inappropriate times
- for longer than normal duration
- Marijuana
- Leaves contain THC
- intensify sensory experience
- Impacts release of dopamine
- Impairs ability to form new memories
- Impairs ability to shift focus
- Disrupts coordination and balance
- Binds to receptors in cerebellum and basal ganglia
- Impairs ability to learn new skills
- Dance, sports or driving
- Alters how info processed in hippocampus
- Doesn’t affect breathing and heart rate as many substances
- Only few receptors in medulla & brain stem
- Limits firing of all neurons
- Both excitatory and inhibitory
- Hypothalamus doesn’t increase appetite when starving
- Disrupts sense of time
- Stays in system for 4 weeks
- Leaves contain THC
- LSD
- 2. Dissociatives
- Feel detached from the environment
- Feel dream-like or unreal
- “out of body”
- Don’t recognize self in mirror
- Ketamine
- DXM
- PCP
- angel dust
- Schedule II drug
- Impacts ionotropic glutamate receptors
- NMDA receptors
- also inhibits nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
- NMDA receptors
- Brain damage
- Schizophrenia-like symptoms
- “embalming fluid” = cigarette dipped in PCP
- Effects
- Varies by dose
- Loss of ego boundaries
- Paranoia
- Hallucinations
- Suicidal impulses
- Nitrous Oxide
- Colorless, sweet, non-flammable gas
- Laughing gas or sweet air
- Oxide of nitrogen
- Oxidizer in rocketry
- Aerosol spray propellant
- Street names: whip-its, poppers or snappers
- Vapor is “huffed“
- Deprives body of oxygen
- Euphoric effect
- Seizures
- 3. Deliriants
- Examples
- Deadly nightshade
- Jimson weed
- Mandrake
- Nutmeg
- Effects
- Stupor, confusion, confabulation
- Disrobing and plucking
- Conversation with imagined people
- Don’t recognize self in mirror
- Examples
Get Prepared
To do well in this class it is important that you come to class prepared. Class is to help clarify the material. It is not the primary delivery system.
Before coming to class, here is what you need to do. Read the assigned posts, articles and book chapters. Watch the videos. And get an overview of the material with a mind map. It will help you understand how the components relate to each other.
Take notes on all of this material. Come up with three questions you want to ask. Submit your two questions on Canvas and get two points. Ask one in class, if I don’t cover it.
Mind Map
A mind is a diagram of information. It helps you see hierarchies, paths and interrelationships. Mind maps have a circle in the middle and spokes that radiate out. All of the arms relate back to the central point but can intersect with each other. They can be simple or quite complex.
Here is the TOPIC mind map.
Videos
Some things are better presented in video. Films can cover the same material as a book but produce vastly different experiences. I’m disable with poor vision, so TV, films and videos work much better for me. My doctoral program would have been much easier if journal articles had been made into movies.
Here are the LINK TO videos.
Readings
Some things are better presented in words. I’m sorry I don’t have audio recordings of all the material you need to cover. But I’ve had pretty good luck getting my computer to read to me.
If you happened to be one of those sighted folk, you’ll find these sources even easier to access.
In general, read these quickly, like a novel. I’ll tell you what you need to know. These readings are to give you another voice, the same material but presented in different way.
Here they are the assigned readings in order of importance:
- A
- B
- 3
- And
Class
Go to class.
Five Things To Know
Here are 5 things you need remember from this class session. Each class covers a lot of material but I want you to focus on only a few items. Everything is valuable but some things are more important
Read all of the supplemental material you want. Explore everything that catches your fancy but here are five things you need to know:
- Drug Addiction
- Drug Administration
- Stimulants
- Depressants
- Hallucinogenics
Notes
Here are the class notes for TOPIC.
Key Terms
Here are the terms you need to know about TOPIC.
Quiz
It is important to check your progress. Here’s a short quiz for you: TOPIC Quiz
Discussion
Check on Canvas to see if there is a discussion due.
Progress Check
Check on Canvas to see if there is a progress check due this week.
Links to Explore
If you want more information on this topic, here are some links to sites you that might interest you.
These are starting places for you, not destinations. Read the posts, look at the resources listed in them and then read those articles. Enjoy!
- Wikipedia:
- And
Summary
Infographic goes here
Credit: Photo by Tanner Ross on Unsplash
