Substance Abuse Overview

Substance Abuse

• Stimulants: Speed up the nervous system, increasing alertness, energy, and confidence, and decreasing appetite. Side effects include higher blood pressure and dizziness. Examples: cocaine, amphetamines, tobacco, caffeine, nicotine.

• Depressants: Slow down nervous system functions, causing tiredness, reduced awareness, and decreased sensitivity to pain. Side effects include slow breathing/heart rate, impaired coordination, dilated pupils, and sedation. Examples: alcohol, opioids (morphine, heroin, codeine), rohypnol.

• Hallucinogens: Distort senses and perception, causing visual or auditory hallucinations. Side effects include increased heart/breathing rate, altered sense of time, speech problems, memory loss, depression, and flashbacks. Examples: LSD, PCP, magic mushrooms, ketamine.

Drug Abuse Motivations

• Individuals may abuse drugs due to factors like cultural influences, media portrayals, peer pressure, curiosity, social acceptance, lack of awareness about risks, celebrations, and performance enhancement (e.g., steroids).

Cannabis

• Derived from plants containing THC and CBD.
• Negatively impacts brain development.
• Minimum age for use, purchase, and cultivation is 19.
• Side effects include decreased coordination, risk of psychosis, impaired problem-solving, judgment, and decision-making.
• Driving under the influence of cannabis or alcohol is illegal and increases accident risk.

Smoking vs. Vaping

• Smoking risks include heart disease, stroke, and lung diseases.
• Vaping risks include coughing, wheezing, and asthma-like symptoms. Long-term effects are still under investigation.
• Both are harmful to lung health and cardiovascular health, containing numerous harmful chemicals and nicotine.
• Vaping contains a smaller amount of harmful chemicals compared to tobacco smoke.

CPR, Concussions, Overdose

• CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation): Combines rescue breathing and chest compression to temporarily maintain blood flow to the brain until professional help arrives (2 breaths for every 30 compressions).
• Heart Attack: Sudden blockage of blood flow to the heart. Risk factors: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes, poor diet, and lack of exercise.
• Stroke: Sudden interruption of blood flow to the brain. Risk factors: high blood pressure, heart disease, smoking, and high cholesterol.
• Choking Signs: Clutching throat, panic, inability to speak or breathe, squeaky sounds, and loss of consciousness.
• AED (Automated External Defibrillator): Analyzes heart rhythm and provides electrical shock to restore heart rhythm in cases of sudden cardiac arrest.
• Rowan's Law: Requires annual review of concussion protocols for coaches/trainers to prevent further incidents of second impact syndrome (e.g., Rowan's case).
• Concussion Recovery: Rest (2+ days), gradual return to activities, and medical advice followed. Avoid excessive activity, screen time, driving, cycling, or exercising too early while recovering from a concussion.

Drug Overdose

• Symptoms: Difficulty walking, bluish or grayish lips, very small pupils, dizziness, confusion, weakness, and slow breathing.
• Narcan (Naloxone): Nasal spray that temporarily reverses overdose effects until medical help arrives (only one dose per bottle).

Nutrition

• Fats:
  • Unsaturated (good): Vegetable oils, nuts, seeds.
  • Saturated (bad): Animal products, fatty meats, high-fat dairy.
  • Trans (ugly): Industrially produced, increases bad cholesterol, decreases good cholesterol, and risks heart health.
• Health Concerns: Sodium, sugars, and saturated fats contribute to various health issues, including heart disease and high cholesterol.

Active Living

• Benefits: Improves mental health, mood, stress/anxiety reduction. Boosts physical health through heart disease/stroke prevention, stronger bones/muscles, weight control, and better sleep.
• Healthy Active Living: Includes emotional, physical, and social well-being.
• Warm-ups: Essential for injury prevention, preparation, and increased blood flow.
• Cool-downs: Crucial for gradual recovery of blood pressure/heart rate and controlled blood flow following exercise.
• Reps & Sets: Individual exercise execution (rep); group of executions (set).

Puberty Changes

• Males: Testosterone increase results in hair growth, deeper voice, penis enlargement, sperm production, potential mood swings, increased height, weight gain, oily skin, and increased sweating.
• Females: Estrogen and progesterone increase results in increased height, wider hips, deeper voice, oily skin/hair, hair growth, breast development, menstruation, and potential mood swings.

Consent

• Agreement for sexual activity. Age of consent is 16 years old, with exceptions. 14-15-year-olds can consent if the partner is less than 5 years older; 12-13-year-olds can consent if the partner is less than 2 years older.
• STI Prevention: Getting tested after interactions, correct condom use, and vaccination.

Ketamine

• Primarily used as a medical anesthetic.
• Causes a detachment from the body and memory loss during use.
• Street names include "cat tranquilizers," "kitkat," "Vitamine k," and "Special k."

Nicotine

• Naturally occurring drug in tobacco.
• Highly addictive and difficult to quit.
• Reaches the brain in 8 seconds.
• Increases blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate.