Drugs And Society Exam 2 Review PDF

DRUGS AND SOCIETY EXAM #2 REVIEW  A branch of philosophy called “phenomenology,” argues that the study of the nature of being (its essential or objective reality) can be distinguished from an investigation of consciousness, apperception, or construction of...

DRUGS AND SOCIETY EXAM #2 REVIEW  A branch of philosophy called “phenomenology,” argues that the study of the nature of being (its essential or objective reality) can be distinguished from an investigation of consciousness, apperception, or construction of the reality of the world.  We can approach everything and anything in the material or ideational world, indeed, any reality, concept, or phenomenon we can imagine— and that includes drugs—from the same two perspectives.  Understood essentialistically, drugs are substances that the observer attributes with material or physical properties and/or effects. The distinction is not that essentialism is what’s true, while constructionism is what is falsely thought to be true.  The essentialist definition of drugs points to a real-world quality that (presumably) resides within or is intrinsic to substances that are referred to by the term drugs. T H E E SS E N T I A L I S T W O U L D S AY T H AT T H E Q U A L I T Y O F “D R U G N E S S ” I S D E F I N E D BY C O F F E E ’ S R E A L -W O R L D , M AT E R I A L , O R P H Y S I C A L C H A RA C T E R I S T I C S , S U C H A S I T S C H E M I C A L S T R U C T U R E O R I T S E F F E C T S — W H AT I T D O E S T O LIVING ORGANISMS. UNDERSTOOD FROM A CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE, DRUGS ARE D E F I N E D S U B J E C T I V E LY — W H AT THEY ARE THOUGHT TO BE, H O W T H E P U B L I C , T H E L AW , L AW E N F O RC E M E N T , T H E MEDIA, AND POLITICIANS REGARD THEM. FROM A CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE, THE DEFINING QUALITY OF DRUGS STEMS NOT F R O M W H AT ’ S I N S I D E O R I N T R I N S I C T O S U B S TA N C E S , B U T B Y W H AT ’ S E X T E R N A L T O T H E M , W H AT ’ S I M P O S E D O N T H E M B Y T H E S O C I E T Y. Pleasure/pain balance Damaging side effects of psychoactive substances are important and interesting to the researcher because they suggest one reason (among others) why societies attempt to control access to and the use of drugs. Drug Action Versus Drug Effect A drug action is specific and takes place at the molecular level. Drug effects Drug effects are nonspecific and more highly variable, and result from more than a given dose of a particular drug. Alcohol always binds to a receptor site, located in the cerebellum, that controls coordination (a drug action), and as a result, the consumption of a stipulated quantity of alcohol usually produces ataxia or discoordination in users (a drug effect). A drug action is a molecular product of chemistry, while a drug effect is a nonspecific product of chemistry interacting with the organism, plus personal characteristics and social environment.  “Chronic” effects “Chronic” effects are long-term A Few Basic effects, those that occur after the continued use of one or Pharmacologi more drugs. cal Concepts Cirrhosis of the liver after 30 years of compulsive drinking Lung cancer after decades of two-pack-a-day cigarette smoking Brain damage after a period of methamphetamine These are direct effects of the chronic use dependence of certain drugs.  “Acute” effects “Acute” effects are the short-term effects of a drug, those that take place within the A Few Basic period of its administration and during the immediate aftermath of a single episode Pharmacologi of use. Motor discoordination is an acute effect of drinking cal Concepts alcohol Getting high after smoking crack would be an acute effect Dying of an overdose after an intravenous injection of a massive dose of heroin. These are effects that occur during or immediately after taking one or more drugs; they are “acute” effects. A Few Basic Pharmacological Concepts Then there are the indirect effects of taking the drug. These effects are caused not by the action of the drug itself but by the circumstances of use—for instance, using contaminated needles or leading an unhealthful lifestyle. By itself, heroin does not cause AIDS, but using shared needles that are contaminated by HIV, a common practice among addicts, does cause AIDS.  A Few Basic Pharmacological Concepts The ED/LD Ratio ED stands for “effective dose.” Also known as “active dose,” this refers to the dose of a given drug that is required to produce a given effect. More specifically, since all organisms vary in their receptivity to the effects of drugs, ED is represented with respect to the percentage of a given population (including humans, as well as animals such as mice, rats, and beagles) among which the dose in question produces the specific effect.  A Few Basic Pharmacological Concepts The ED/LD Ratio LD refers to the lethal dose, the quantity of a given drug that is required to kill a stipulated population. LD refers to a drug’s toxicity. More specifically, the ED/LD ratio measures its toxicity—how much of a danger to life and limb its use represents to organisms that ingest it. The ED/LD ratio—the size of the difference or the gap between ED and LD—is its safety margin or therapeutic margin. The bottom line: The larger the ratio between a dose that has a given effect and a dose that is lethal, the safer the drug; the smaller the ratio, the more dangerous it is.  A Few Basic Pharmacological Concepts Marijuana has a remarkably high safety margin. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to die of an overdose of marijuana because its ED/LD ratio is so enormous. As Arthur McBay, a research toxicologist, professor of pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and former Chief Medical Examiner of the state of North Carolina, testified in a court case before the Supreme Court of Nevada, “a person would have to consume 1,500 pounds [of marijuana] in 15 minutes to get a lethal dose” Drug Tolerance repeated administration of a drug produces diminishing effects Pharmacological tolerance refers to the fact that the neurons become increasingly insensitive to a given drug, and so that drug becomes decreasingly effective. Drug Fate Drugs are excreted or eliminated from the body in specific ways: through the breath, through the pores, in urine, or in feces. Different drugs are excreted from the body at different rates. Pharmacologists refer to the half-life of drugs, which is the length of time it takes to eliminate half of a given dose of a given drug from the body. Some drugs are eliminated very quickly, whereas others require a much longer period of time to be eliminated. Factors that Influence Drug Action In order to exert a mind- altering or psychoactive effect, drugs must enter and act on the central nervous system (CNS)—the brain and the spinal column. In order to exert an action on the brain, a drug must enter the bloodstream and cross the blood-brain barrier. route of administration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP0NDTSVmYI potency and purity Potency is defined as the quantity of a drug it takes to produce a given action or effect; the lower the quantity that produces a given effect, the greater the potency of the drug. Purity refers to the fact that batches containing the same drug will vary as to the percentage of the drug they contain.  Drug Dependence The Classic Addiction Model In this model, an “addicting” drug is defined by the appearance of specific withdrawal symptoms. These effects are pharmacological, not psychological; they can be reproduced in laboratory animals and in patients who do not even know they have been administered an addicting drug. When the animals were given the choice between cocaine and food, they self- administered cocaine in preference to food— even to the point of death by starvation The Classic Addiction model does not show the full picture of addiction…. The Dependence/Reinforcement Model Most contemporary researchers believe that positive reinforcement, or the pleasure that organisms derive from taking a drug, is the driving force in generating continued, compulsive, abusive drug use. Using a highly reinforcing drug alters the chemistry of the brain such that the neurons “remember” having been reinforced, having once been administered a jolt or rush of an intensely pleasurable stimulus. Events in the current milieu of former users may remind them of the sensations they experienced at one time, and such stimuli will produce actual physical sensations in their bodies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiFwitCPSs8 King of the Hill smoking luckily Not all or even most human users of even the most pleasurable or reinforcing of drugs will become dependent on them. Most users of cocaine do not become cocaine “addicts.” Compulsive drug taking is caused as much by the characteristics of the user as by the characteristics of the drug being used. What drugs are the most addictive? Cocaine ranks at the top, methamphetamine and amphetamines next, heroin in a slightly lower category, and the other drugs trailing substantially behind these three. Why do some people get addicted while most do not? Says physician David Smith “Some people will take the drug—any drug—and not get addicted [or dependent]. Others will take it once and be inexorably drawn to it. The drug is the same; the people are different.... Interestingly, the person who is addicted to cocaine responds very differently the very first time he [or she] uses it [from the person who uses it but does not become dependent]. Later, he’ll [or she’ll] use terms that are qualitatively different from those that others use to describe the experience of taking cocaine the first time: “This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me,” or words to that effect.” A Classification of Drugs and Their Effects Stimulants Sedative-Hypnotics Narcotics Hallucinogens/Psychedelics Marijuana/Cannabis Ecstasy Disassociative Anesthetics: PCP and Ketamine A Classification of Drugs and Their Effects Stimulants Sedative-Hypnotics Narcotics Hallucinogens/Psychedelics Marijuana/Cannabis Ecstasy Disassociative Anesthetics: PCP and Ketamine Stimulants The drugs that excite or stimulate the central nervous system (CNS) are called stimulants. Stimulants produce arousal, alertness, an elevation in mood, even excitation. They inhibit fatigue and lethargy, and stimulate physical activity. For our purposes, cocaine and amphetamine (along with methamphetamine) are the most important stimulants. In addition, since both drugs activate bodily processes, we are led to ask what their role is in influencing or causing violent, problematic, “deviant,” and criminal behavior. Cocaine and amphetamines interpenetrate with crime in important ways. Sedative-Hypnotics General depressants or sedative-hypnotics have effects that are more or less the opposite of those of the stimulants. They inhibit and slow down signals passing through the CNS, affecting a wide range of bodily functions. At low to moderate doses, they induce relaxation and an inhibition of anxiety. At higher doses, they induce relaxation and reduce anxiety. At even higher doses, they produce (or potentiate) drowsiness and eventually sleep. Narcotics Narcotics have a specific action in which psychopharmacologists are very interested: They act to depress or inhibit a particular function—the perception of pain. Referred to as painkillers or analgesics, the major representative of this category is the narcotics. Narcotics are the most efficient and effective of all painkillers and are essential in the practice of medicine. However, at a sufficiently high dosage, narcotics also produce mental clouding, a euphoric high, or intoxication. In addition, narcotics have, as we have Hallucinogens/Psychedelics Hallucinogens have effects on the CNS that are not easily classified in terms of stimulation or depression; they occupy their own territory. The hallucinogens include LSD, mescaline (a naturally occurring chemical found in the peyote cactus), psilocybin (the naturally occurring chemical found in the mushroom of the same name), and the extremely short-acting DMT (dimethyltriptamine). Hallucinogens stimulate a range of psychic effects: eidetic imagery (vivid closed-eye visual imagery), synesthesia (the mixing or translation of one sense into another—for instance, “seeing” sound), subjective exaggeration, the “eureka” experience (the ordinary becoming the extraordinary), emotional liability (extreme mood shifts, from ecstatic to depressive), a sense of timelessness, sensory overload (a bombardment of the senses), and striking alterations of visual stimuli. On the other hand, LSD’s impact on human emotion, cognition, and behavior is spectacular, so profound and disruptive to everyday life that it is rarely used on a compulsive basis. This is your brain on LSD, literally Marijuana/Cannabis What is referred to as “marijuana” is the dried buds and flowers (now, increasingly less commonly, the leaves) of the cannabis plant; its Latin name is Cannabis sativa. Hashish is the dried resin of the cannabis plant and is usually more potent than marijuana. The main psychoactive ingredient of marijuana is THC (trans-delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol). Ecstasy MDMA—“XTC,” “E,” or Ecstasy— is often classified as a hallucinogen. It possesses none of the major properties of LSD and the other psychedelics, such as spectacular alterations of visual stimuli, synesthesia, or eidetic imagery. As with marijuana, it seems reasonable to classify Ecstasy as belonging to its own category. Disassociative Anesthetics: PCP and Ketamine Many pharmacologists classify PCP (and, by implication, its milder but related cousin, ketamine) as a hallucinogen because of its capacity to induce hallucinations. I believe this to be a mistake because these drugs are vastly more different than they are similar. The florid bursts of vivid color and the synesthesia that people who ingest LSD and the other psychedelics and hallucinogens see and experience are completely absent with PCP and ketamine. Moreover, PCP and ketamine principally cause a physical disassociation from one’s surroundings and anesthesia, which are utterly foreign to the psychedelics. Virtually no one who has taken both drugs would make this mistake. More properly, we should regard both PCP and ketamine as disassociative anesthetics because their principal and most important effects on Sociologists who study medicine have theorized the concept of medicalization.  Medicalization Sociologists have argued that in contemporary Western societies, conditions that were previously viewed as having their roots in social, cultural, or religious causes are now “medicalized,” or viewed as biomedical in their roots. Whereas these conditions may have been constructed differently in the past they are currently medicalized. Examples ADD/ADHD Death Short stature Social Anxiety Hair thinning Sleep Medicalization Sociologist Peter Conrad describes medicalization as the process by which conditions and problems of social life become defined and treated as medical conditions, and thus become the subject of medical study, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment. Does not mean that these medical problems are not “real” or “true” but pays attention to how we, as a culture come to “see” certain problems as medical in nature and treat them using medicine. Psychoactivity Pharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on biological organisms; the scientists who study the effects of drugs are called pharmacologists; and psychopharmacology is the study of the effect of drugs specifically on the brain, that is, on the mind. One way of defining a drug is any substance that is psychoactive, that has a significant effect on the mind.  The problem is that abuse is a very inexact and loaded term. It Drug Use and cannot be pinned down with scientific exactitude—yet it suggests scientific exactitude; it is a matter of degree. Here, I’ll use the word “abuse” as a purposely inexact term to refer to the Drug Abuse level of use of a given drug at which harm is at least moderately likely. Here, we’ll regard “abuse” as drug use that carries a higher rather than a lower likelihood of harm. In the PBS Frontline film Chasing Heroin, the complex interplay between addiction, societal response, and public policy is vividly illustrated through various case studies and expert interviews. Analyze how the film portrays the impact of the opioid crisis on individuals, families, and communities. Discuss the effectiveness of the strategies employed by public health officials and law enforcement as depicted in the film. Support your arguments with specific examples from the film in a short essay of 5 sentences or more.