Lets Fight Against Addiction

Pinki Purkayastha Silchar, Assam , India pinkilovesnature@yahoo.in

What is a drug?
A drug is any substance, solid, liquid or gas, that brings about physical and/or psychological changes. The drugs of most concern in the community are those that affect the central nervous system. They act on the brain and can change the way a person thinks, feels or behaves. These drugs are known as "psychoactive drugs". Drugs are commonly classified according to their legal status or their effects on the central nervous system. On the basis of availability in market, Drugs are classified into: a)Legal and illegal drugs Laws and regulations control the availability, quality and price of the "legal" drugs. For example, tobacco may not be sold to persons under the age of 18.

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b)Illegal drugs Because they are illegal, there are no price or quality controls on the illicit drugs such as heroin and ecstasy. This means that a user can never be sure that the drug they are taking is in fact what they think it is; for example, PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine), a toxic form of amphetamine, has been sold as ecstasy. The user also cannot be sure of a drug's strength or purity. Various batches of an illegally manufactured drug may have different mixtures of the drug and additives such as poisons, caffeine or even talcum powder. There are three main types of drug affecting the central nervous system. The types are as follows:
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1)Depressants Depressants are drugs that slow down the functions of the central nervous system. Depressant drugs do not necessarily make a person feel depressed. They include: Alcohol ("booze", "grog") Cannabis ("pot", "dope", "mull") Barbiturates, including Seconal, Tuinal and Amytal Benzodiazepines (tranquilisers), "benzos", "tranx" such as Rohypnol, Valium, Serepax, Mogadon, Normison and Eupynos
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GHB (Gamma-hydroxybutrate), or "fantasy" Opiates and opioids, including heroin ("H", "smack"), morphine, codeine, methadone and pethidine Some solvents and inhalants 2)Stimulants : Stimulants act on the central nervous system to speed up the messages to and from the brain. They can make the user feel more awake, alert or confident. Stimulants increase heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure. Other effects include reduced appetite, dilated pupils, talkativeness, agitation and sleep disturbance. Mild stimulants include:
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Ephedrine used in medicines for bronchitis, hay fever and asthma Caffeine in coffee, tea and cola drinks Nicotine in tobacco. Stronger stimulants include: Amphetamines, including illegal amphetamines ("speed", "crystal meth", "ice", "shabu") Cocaine ("coke", "crack") Ecstasy ("E", "XTC", "eccy") Slimming tablets such as Duromine, Tenuate Dospan and Ponderax.

3)Hallucinogens Hallucinogens affect perception. People who have taken them may believe they see or hear things that aren't really there, or what they see may be distorted in some way. The effects of hallucinogens vary a great deal, so it is impossible to predict how they will affect a particular person at a particular time. Hallucinogens include: Datura Ketamine ("K", "Special K") LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide; "trips", "acid", "microdots") Magic mushrooms (psilocybin; "gold tops", "mushies") Mescaline (peyote cactus) PCP ('angel dust') Cannabis is an hallucinogen as well as a depressant. Ecstasy can also have hallucinogenic qualities.

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What is addiction:
Addiction is a developmental disease that usually begins in adolescence. Addiction is the continued use of a mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse consequences or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors. People with an addiction do not have control over what they are doing, taking or using. Their addiction may reach a point at which it is harmful. addiction may refer to a substance dependence (e.g. drug addiction) or behavioral addiction (e.g. gambling addiction).
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Substance dependence can be diagnosed with physiological dependence, evidence of tolerance or withdrawal, or without physiological dependence. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. The DSM is used in the United States and to various degrees around the world. It is used or relied upon by clinicians, researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies , health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and policy makers. The current version is the DSM-IV-TR (fourth edition, text revision).
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The current DSM is organized into a five-part axial system. The first axis incorporates clinical disorders. The second axis covers personality disorders and intellectual disabilities. The remaining axes cover medical, psychosocial, environmental, and childhood factors functionally necessary to provide diagnostic criteria for health care assessments.

The DSM-IV is a categorical classification system. The categories are prototypes, and a patient with a close approximation to the prototype is said to have that disorder. DSM-IV states, "there is no assumption each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries" but isolated, low-grade and noncriterion (unlisted for a given disorder) symptoms are not given importance. Qualifiers are sometimes used, for example mild, moderate or severe forms of a disorder. The DSM-IV organizes each psychiatric diagnosis into five dimensions (axes) relating to different aspects of disorder or disability:
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Axis I: All diagnostic categories except mental retardation and personality disorder Axis II: Personality disorders and mental retardation (although developmental disorders, such as Autism, were coded on Axis II in the previous edition, these disorders are now included on Axis I)

Axis III: General medical condition; acute medical conditions and physical disorders Axis IV: Psychosocial and environmental factors contributing to the disorder Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning or Children's Global Assessment Scale for children and teens under the age of 18 Common Axis I disorders include depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and schizophrenia. Common Axis II disorders include personality disorders: paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, antisocial
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personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder; and intellectual disabilities. Common Axis III disorders include brain injuries and other medical/physical disorders which may aggravate existing diseases or present symptoms similar to other disorders.

The list of DSM-IV(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV) substance dependencies include: 303.90 Alcohol dependence 304.00 Opioid dependence 304.10 Sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic dependence (including benzodiazepine dependence and barbiturate dependence) 304.20 Cocaine dependence 304.30 Cannabis dependence 304.40 Amphetamine dependence (or amphetamine-like) 304.50 Hallucinogen dependence 304.60 Inhalant dependence 304.80 Polysubstance dependence 304.90 Phencyclidine (or phencyclidine-like) dependence 304.90 Other (or unknown) substance dependence 305.10 Nicotine dependence
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But Why?????
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scans allow us to map the maturation of the brain:
The prefrontal cortex (white circles), which governs judgment and decision-making functions, is the last part of the brain to develop. This may help explain why teens are prone to risk-taking, are particularly vulnerable to drug abuse, and why exposure to drugs at this critical time may affect propensity for future addiction. Because the prefrontal cortex is one of the last areas of the brain to mature during development, adolescents tend to use other areas in this case emotional areas of the brain in making decisions. For example, brain activity, seen with functional MRI, shows that when judging emotion represented on a face, a teenagers amygdala (right) is activated, reflecting more of a gut reaction than a reasoned one, while the adults (left) brain is activated in an area of the prefrontal cortex involved more in reasoning and reflection.
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To suggest that all parents who suffer from problem drug use present a danger to their children is misleading. Studies have shown that 40-60 percent of the predisposition to addiction can be attributed to genetics. This is not just the risk conveyed by genes themselves, but also the added impact of the environment on how those genes function or are expressed. Using drugs is the most influential environmental factor in altering a persons vulnerability to addiction. Growing knowledge about the dynamic interactions of genes with the environment and developmental stage confirms addiction as a complex and chronic disease of the brain with many contributors to its expression in individuals.
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Family alcohol problems, Violence at home, Marital/relationship conflict, Separation, divorce, loss of parent, Inconsistency and ambivalent parenting, Unpredictability etc. are the main factors.

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Effects
Social life:

Drug Users have a Higher Risk of Developing Mental Disorders Psychosis Depression Anxiety Panic attacks

Inconsistency, changing moods Role reversal Communication Routines and rituals Social life Finances Family conflict and disharmony Cruel, passive or neglectful attitude Emotionally unavailable and distracted Anti-social behaviour aggressive, delinquency, conduct disorders, hyperactivity
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On Health
Stimulants or Amphetamines (Dexedrine, Methamphetamine or "Crystal", "Crank", and "Speed") increase alertness and physical activity. Amphetamines increase heart and breathing rates and blood pressure, dialate pupils and decrease appetite. Side-effects can include sweating, dry mouth, blurred vision, insomnia, loss of appetite, and dizziness. In addition users can feel restless, anxious and moody, become excitable and have a false sense of power and security. Using large amounts of these drugs can result in a condition known as amphetamine psychosis -- which can result in auditory, visual and tactile hallucinations, intense paranoia, irrational thoughts and beliefs, delusions, and mental confusion.
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Amphetamine overdose can also cause cardiac arrhythmias, headaches, convulsions, hypertension, rapid heart rate, coma and death. Amphetamines are psychologically and physically addictive.

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Marijuana Pot has more than 400 different chemical compounds and contains even more cancer-causing agents than are found in tobacco, according to some studies. Even low doses or pot can interfere with coordination, perception of time, reasoning and judgment, -- making driving under its influence extremely dangerous. Marijuana use causes short-term memory loss, decreases sperm and testosterone production in men, and may disrupt the menstrual cycle and cause miscarriage and still birth in women. Cocaine/Crack These are all extremely addictive stimulants. Because the intense euphoria these drugs produce is very short-lived, users typically use again and again trying to recapture that initial "high."
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Physical effects of cocaine include increases in blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and body temperature. Snorting cocaine can severely damage nasal membranes over time. Continued use produces insomnia, hyperactivity, anxiousness, agitation and malnutrition. Overdoses can be lethal.

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Narcotics Heroin, Opium, Morphine, and Codeine are used legally by the medical profession to relieve pain. But they are abused due to their mood-altering effects. All narcotics are extremely physically and psychologically addictive. Medical problems can include congested lungs, liver disease, tetanus, infection of the heart valves, skin abscesses, anemia and pneumonia. Death can occur from overdose. Tobacco / Nicotin Nicotine is a drug that is found naturally in tobacco and it makes cigarettes and other tobacco products addictive. When nicotine is absorbed in the body it can cause a number of effects, including stimulating the nervous system, increasing heart rate, raising blood pressure and constricting small blood vessels. It is also highly toxic and was once used in pesticides.
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Tobacco smoking is the largest cause of preventable death .

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Some of the consequences of Chewing/ smoking tobacco are:

Blindness Infertility and impotence Stroke Cardiovascular disease and other diseases of the arteries Gangrene, often resulting in the loss of limbs Various cancers, especially lung and oral cancer Less oxygen to the brain and heart Shortness of breath Increased blood pressure Gum disease Smelly breath and stained teeth
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Smokers are more likely to die from heart attack or stroke Women who take birth control pills and smoke increase their risk of heart attack several times Light cigarettes do not lower the risk of heart disease After quitting, recovery time for heart attack risk to reach that of a nonsmoker is 3-9 years

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Signs of drug abuse

1) Physical warning signs of drug abuse Bloodshot eyes, pupils larger or smaller than usual Changes in appetite or sleep patterns. Sudden weight loss or weight gain Deterioration of physical appearance, personal grooming habits Unusual smells on breath, body, or clothing Tremors, slurred speech, or impaired coordination 2) Behavioral signs of drug abuse Drop in attendance and performance at work or school Unexplained need for money or financial problems.
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May borrow or steal to get it. Engaging in secretive or suspicious behaviors Sudden change in friends, favorite hangouts, and hobbies Frequently getting into trouble (fights, accidents, illegal activities)

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3) Psychological warning signs of drug abuse Unexplained change in personality or attitude Sudden mood swings, irritability, or angry outbursts Periods of unusual hyperactivity, agitation, or giddiness Lack of motivation; appears lethargic or spaced out Appears fearful, anxious, or paranoid, with no reason

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Duties of Parents:
Establish and maintain good communication with children. Get involved in childrens lives. Spend time doing something children want to do every day. Support childrens activities by attending special events, like recitals and games, and praising them for their efforts. Make clear rules and enforce them consistently. Discuss rules, expectations, and consequences in advance. If a rule is broken, be sure to enforce the consequences. This teaches children to take responsibility for their actions.
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Praise children when they follow rules and meet expectations. Be a positive role model. Help children choose friends wisely. Get to know childrens friends and their families. Talk to children about drugs and their ill effect .
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Parents need to talk to children about their drug use Children who start using drugs at an early age are more likely to continue using, use more potent drugs, and to develop problems with their drug use Recognizing uncomfortable feelings about child may actually help to understand some of what the child may be thinking while having this conversation Remember that youth rely on parents or caregivers to keep them safe, even when their behavior suggests they dont need for that anymore

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Myth 1: Overcoming addiction is a simply a matter of willpower. Any one can stop using drugs if he/she really want to. Myth 2: Addiction is a disease; theres nothing can be done. Myth 3: Addicts have to hit rock bottom before they can get better. Myth 4: You cant force someone into treatment; they have to want help. Myth 5: Treatment didnt work before, so theres no point trying again.

5 Myths about Drug Abuse and Addiction

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Cure
Non-Addicted Brain Addicted Brain
Control

Control

Saliency

Drive

NO GO

Saliency

Drive GO

Memory

Memory

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We Need to Treat the Whole Person!

Pharmacological (medications) Behavioral Therapies

Medical and Social Services

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