Download Gateway Drugs

Ch. 26
ILLEGAL DRUGS
Drug Use
A High Risk Behavior!
Substance abuse
• Any unnecessary or improper
use of a chemical substances
for nonmedical purposes.
Illegal drugs/Street drugs
• Chemical substances that serve no
medical purpose and are simply used
for recreational or other unhealthful
purposes.
• These substances are against the law
for people of any age to manufacture,
possess, buy or sell.
• Their potential for harm is great.
• Some occur naturally.
• Some are synthetic drugs.
– Chemical substances produced
artificially in a laboratory.
Gateway Drugs
• Alcohol and
nicotine.
• Drugs that
often lead to
other serious
and
dangerous
drug use.
Trends in Teen Drug Use
• U.S. teens use drugs
at an earlier age.
• More teens are trying
heroin than ever
before.
• Many teens think that
some illegal drugs are
safe.
Why People begin Using
Drugs.
• See friends, parents, or older siblings
using them.
• They feel pressure to use and don’t
know how to say no.
• They want to fit in, relax, or seem
mature.
• See drugs glamorized on TV, videos,
song lyrics, etc.
• Trying to escape from their problems.
Dangers of Substance
Abuse
Side Effects
• Reactions
other than the
one intended.
Synergistic Effect
• A multiplying
effect when
two or more
drugs are
taken at the
same time.
Overdose
• A strong or even fatal reaction
to taking a large amount of a
drug.
Tolerance
• Needing more and more of a drug
to get the same effect that a
smaller dose used to produce.
• Eventually needing the drug just
to function.
Physiological Dependence
• The body
develops a
chemical
need for a
drug.
Withdrawal
• Occurs when a person stops using a
drug o which he or she is
physiologically dependent.
• Symptoms of this process can include
nervousness, insomnia, severe
nausea, headaches, vomiting, chills,
cramps, and, in some instances, even
death.
Psychological Dependence
A person
believes a
drug is
needed in
order to feel
good or to
function
normally.
Addiction
• Addiction
involves
physiological
and
psychological
dependence on
a drug.
Costs of Substance Abuse
• Negatively affect performance in
school, sports, relationships with peers
and in family life.
• Trouble with the law.
• Ruin ones life.
• Educational goals interrupted
• Can slow the progress toward
becoming a mature adult.
Costs to others
•
•
•
•
Effects the people in the drug abusers life.
Drug related crimes.
Effect on law enforcement.
Drug lords and drug smugglers kill and
enslave people to handle their drugs.
Drugs and Pregnancy
• Substance abuse
can do serious
harm to developing
fetuses and to
babies who ingest
the substance
through breast milk.
• 5% of women
who give birth
every year
used an illicit
drug at
sometime
during their
pregnancy.
• Babies born to drug using mothers
may be addicted themselves.
• Increased chance of birth defects,
problems both physically and
emotionally for the rest of their lives.
• Increased miscarriages and infant
deaths.
End Lesson 1 notes