LEGAL AND ILLEGAL DRUGS MEDICINES Legal drugs that

LEGAL AND ILLEGAL DRUGS

MEDICINES Legal drugs that help the body fight injury, illness, or disease. Over-the-counter Drugs Aspirin, cold and cough remedies Prescription Drugs Purchased only at a pharmacy Written order from doctor Pg.

THE REWARD PATHWAY A mood altering drug that affects brain activity is called a psychoactive drug. Many psychoactive drugs trigger activity along a pathway of cells in the brain called the reward pathway. Pg. 428

WITHDRAWAL Nausea or vomiting Headaches or dizziness Fever Digestion Problems Paranoia or panic Tremors and seizures Death Pg. 429

Withdrawal from Heroin: You'll notice EVERYTHING aches. Every bone in your body feels like someone's hands are around them and they're using all their strength to try and break them in half. Your muscles are starting to twitch involuntarily. You're sitting still or lying down but it's like you are using your muscles to do basic functions like get up out of a chair or take a step. These contractions continue, contracting and twitching. Not only that, your muscles in your body feel bruised like you've been kicked over and over again. So when they contract, the pain is intensified because they feel bruised. Everywhere. Then you will start sweating. You will get so hot like you can't breathe. Minutes later, you will break out in a cold sweat and be freezing cold, only to experience a rush of heat again. Over and over for hours. Opiates make it so your temperature is on the high side all the time. When taking them out of the equation, your body has to take back over to regulate your temperature. This process is your body's way of getting your body back to the temperature it should be.

But, then you'll start to feel nauseous. Yes. You need to throw up. You're really sick. It feels like the flu, right? Think of the flu but multiply that by 100. Throwing up until there's nothing left to throw up. Dry heaving. Does it stop? Eventually. But you'll endure that until your eyes are watering and your throat is sore and if you could feel your stomach muscles amidst the pain of the withdrawal, they'd hurt so badly because of the contractions it takes to throw up everything in your stomach. Speaking of eyes watering, that'll happen, too. It'll look like your crying all the time. You probably are by now, but even if you weren't, it'd be non-stop tears. Your nose is running too. Like you have a bitch of a cold. Running, running, non- stop. You have to keep tissue handy because it goes on, what seems like, forever. You have no appetite at all. Looking at food will literally make you sick to your stomach, although your withdrawal has already made that your reality. You won't be hungry for days.

By now you are the most tired you've ever been from all of this. Exhausted is being nice. You're beyond that. But sleep will elude you. You can try your damnedest to sleep through this horrible existence. Ha, I don't think so. Sleep will be a distant wonderful memory to you. The more you try, the further away it gets. It's torture. You can barely stay awake…. or it seems that way. It's like being awake and asleep at the same time. On a thin line between the two and you want sleep so badly…. and it won't ease your terribly uncomfortable existence. Like a zombie. Half dead, half alive. You're alive but honestly you think about death. It would be a relief from something like this. Back and forth, over and over. If there's a clock nearby, you'd swear it hasn't moved a single bit. It's only been 24 hours? ? Oh my God, this will continue for days. Time isn't moving. To you, it's stopped. You feel like you're trapped here while the clock barely ticks on. Torture. You're pale, this is the worst you've ever looked, your heart is racing, you feel heat, then cold like ice. Your nervous system, your heart…. You are slowly coming back from a constant “depressed” state. Depressed because that is heroin’s function…. to numb the pain, slow things down to work at that more efficiently. As a heroin addict you don't really live anymore, you barely make it. Heroin addicts are constantly on the edge of life and death. Teetering on that thin line between the two. It's crazy for them to just not stop! Oh, but tell that to a the addict. It would be crazy for them TO stop for all the reasons I've listed. . . help doing so makes the difference with an overwhelming need to live without the heroin, despite the obsessive need to get high in the first place. It makes no sense. And yet, if you are the addict, it makes total sense.

And slowly, those symptoms all eventually subside (in no particular order). What seems like forever, turns out to be a few days…. and you return to a semi-normal state where your thought process is still very cloudy and muddled but the obsessive thoughts of getting high and the physical, unbearable torture has subsided. Yes, there's still some very mild symptoms that continue because your body is finally realizing that it is without that drug and it has to start functioning the way it did before you introduced it to heroin. One thing it will take longer to do on its own is providing you with that “natural” high you get from everyday life. This is why, normally you will see A LOT of recovering addicts on anti-depressants if they enter and participate in a rehab. They help your brain/body create its own dopamine and serotonin, unlike heroin which flooded your brain to the point where your body just stopped making it altogether.

Withdrawal is an experience you will recall with detail for the rest of your life. And so is addiction. Once addicted physically to a drug, withdrawal becomes a real life fear you must experience. That goes with any drug, really. You will experience withdrawal in some form. Whether it's with help, medically or cold turkey it's an experience you can't escape. If we could all experience withdrawal first, I'm sure many wouldn't even try the drug in the first place. But withdrawal is only the immediate consequence of addiction. Once through that, the real journey and hard work begins. That's only the very beginning of recovery.

IMPURITIES The manufacture of illegal drugs is not regulated by law, which means there is no guarantee the drug is pure. Drug dealers can “cut” or dilute heroin by adding cleansing powers or rat poison. Thus, the user can’t easily predict what effect the drug will have each time they use.

What are the most commonly used opioids? Opiates are man made Opioids are naturally derived Substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia Heroin, Morphine, Fentanyl The most commonly used prescription opioids are oxycodone (Oxy. Contin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, and morphine. Heroin is an opioid, but it is not a medication. Fentanyl is a powerful prescription pain reliever, but it is sometimes added to heroin by drug dealers, causing doses so strong that people are dying from overdoses. Narcotics The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with sleep-inducing properties Very similar, most people use these terms interchangeably.

COMMONLY ABUSED DRUGS Heroin Inhalants Molly Steroids Cocaine GATEWAY DRUG ? ? Hallucinogens Methamphetamine LSD Marijuana --------- Pg. 440447

Time Magazine Opioid Diaries: Ryan’s Story : https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 PUrvl. TT 3 P U http: //time. com/james-nachtwey-opioid-addiction -america/ Sherriff Sing Along: Listen at 10: 40 for phone call https: //www. facebook. com/macombcountysheriff soffice/videos/1708355579270155/

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FAMILIES AGAINST NARCOTICS: “FAN” Ryan’s Story: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 PUr vl. TT 3 PU

CHAPTER 17 REVIEWING KEY IDEAS Please answer the following questions on page 454 -455. You do NOT have to rewrite the questions. Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,