Drug Abuse Addiction n What is a drug

Drug Abuse & Addiction

n What is a drug? – Drug: chemical compound or substance that can alter the structure & function of the body. – Medication: drug that is used to treat an illness or disease according to guidelines

Drug abuse n Illicit drugs or inappropriate use of a legal drug. n Why do people start abusing drugs?

Drug abuse is voluntary; Addiction is compulsive n Analyze data from a rat experiment – Rats were placed in cages with 2 levers • Food lever- pellet of food came out • Stimulus lever- received an injection or electrical stimulus n Graph the data for one rat n Evaluate the experiment – Compare with other members

n Why do humans continue to abuse drugs? n Addiction – Continued compulsive use of drugs despite adverse health or social consequences n What is the difference between abuse & addiction?

When does abuse become addiction? n Divide deck of cards – Face cards – Aces & number cards n Playing the Game – Each student in the group plays individually, but the members share the deck.

n How does this relate to drug abuse & addiction? – Continue to abuse drugs at some point that will change the brain from abuser to addict n What does the switch card mean in regard to drug addiction? – Point to which the person’s brain changes & becomes dependent n Is everyone’s switch level the same?

n What does the risk card mean? – Factors that influence the outcome n Is everyone's risk card the same? n Why is the risk card face down? – Do not know the risk factors of becoming addicted n What do the choice cards represent? – Episode of drug use n If a total score that equals or goes over the switch value indicates addiction, did anyone become addicted to drugs with the first drug use? – Cannot become addicted but can die from 1 episode

Play Again & Relate it to drug addiction n Did you play differently this time? n Does anyone really know the point the brain changes from abuser to addict?

Who Is Addicted?

Who Is Addicted?

Who is Addicted?

Evaluating Case Studies n Answer 1 -6 about your case study n 7 -11 as a group

Assignment n Topic: Addiction is a Brain Disease – Robert has been arrested several times for drug possession. After the 1 st arrest, he was given probation. After the 2 nd & 3 rd arrests, he was sentenced to jail for 1 year each time. The police arrested him a 4 th time, but instead of having Robert serve more time in jail, the judge ordered him to enter a drug treatment program.