Download Ch. 5 S. 4 Drugs and Consciousness

Ch. 5 S. 4 Drugs and
Consciousness
Obj: Describe the ways various
kinds of drugs affect
consciousness.
Many drugs are addictive. Addiction to a
drug means that after a person takes that
drug for a while, his or her body craves it
just to feel normal. Alcohol, nicotine, and
many other drugs are considered
addictive. Drugs also have a number of
effects on consciousness. They distort
people’s perceptions, change their moods,
or cause them to see or hear things that
are not real.
Depressants
• Depressants - Slow
the activity of the
nervous system and
give people a sense
of relaxation but can
have negative effects.
These include alcohol
and narcotics.
• Alcohol – most widely
used legal drug in US.
High doses of alcohol
can put a person to
sleep. Too much can
be lethal. It also
intoxicates, state of
drunkenness, which
slurs speech, blurs
vision, makes one
clumsy and difficult to
concentrate. Also
affects judgment; drunk
driving, and reckless
behavior.
• Narcotics – addictive
depressants that have been
used to relieve pain and
induce sleep and can give
the user a feeling of
pleasure.
• Examples morphine, heroin
and codeine all derive from
the opium poppy plant.
Morphine was introduced
during the Civil War for pain.
Heroin, from the West in
the 1800s, was meant to
cure addictions to morphine.
High doses can lead to coma
or death.
Stimulants
• Stimulants – increase
the activity of the
nervous system and
speed up the heart
and breathing rate.
Stimulants include
nicotine,
amphetamines, and
cocaine.
• Nicotine – a drug
found in tobacco
leaves that spurs the
release of the
hormone adrenaline
which causes the
heart rate to increase.
Research shows it is
as addictive as
heroin.
• Can cause lung cancer, heart disease, etc. More
people die every year of nicotine related deaths
than car accidents. Smokers are 12 to 20 times
as likely as nonsmokers to die of lung cancer.
Moreover, the substances in smoke have been
shown to cause several other kinds of cancer in
lab animals.
Research indicates that secondhand smoke
can even increase the health risk of nonsmokers
who inhale it. It accounts for thousands of
deaths per year.
• Amphetamines –
(increase dopamine)
help people stay awake
and reduce appetite.
Used by soldiers in
WWII. Also called speed
or uppers.
• Can be taken as pills or
injected as liquid “meth”
or methamphetamines.
• Can experience
hallucinations
(perception that seems
real) and delusions
(false idea that seems
• Cocaine – a stimulant
derived from the leaves
of the coca plant
produces feelings of
pleasure, reduces
hunger, deadens pain,
and boosts selfconfidence.
• It also raises blood
pressure and decreases
the supply of oxygen to
the heart while speeding
up the heart rate, it can
sometimes lead to
death.
It has been used as a painkiller since the
early 1800s. It came to the attention of
Sigmund Freud in 1884. Freud, then a
young neurologist, first used the drug to
overcome depression. But Freud’s
excitement about cocaine’s healing powers
was soon cooled by his awareness that the
drug was dangerous and addictive.
Crack is a very powerful form of cocaine.
It is impure and strains the heart, overdoses
of these drugs are sometimes fatal.
Hallucinogens
• Hallucinogen – drug
that produces
hallucinations.
• Marijuana –
hallucinogenic drug
produced from the
leaves of the cannabis
plant. Hashish, or
“hash”, comes from the
sticky part of plant.
Hash has stronger
effects than marijuana.
Marijuana impairs perception and
coordination, making it difficult to operate
machines. It impairs memory and learning,
can cause anxiety and confusion, and
increases the heart rate up to 140 to 150
beats per minute and may raise blood
pressure.
100 years ago, it was used by some
people almost the way aspirin is used
today-headaches, and minor pains. It could
be bought in any drugstore without a
prescription.
• LSD – Lysergic acid
diethylamide is
manmade in a lab and
is sometimes called
acid. Unpredictable,
and sometimes
frightening, people
may injure someone,
themselves, or commit
suicide. Possibility of
flashbacks.
Treatments for Drug Abuse
• Detoxification – the
removal of the harmful
substance from the
body. Used with
alcohol and narcotics.
• Maintenance Programs
– Used for people
addicted to narcotics.
They are given
controlled and less
dangerous amounts of
the drug or some less
addictive substitute. Ex
- Methodone.
• Counseling – Both
individual and group
are used for treating
stimulant and
depressant abuse.
• Support groups – AA
or NA…they share
common experiences,
concerns, or
problems.