Street Drugs Flashcards
people will do anything to get high:
breathe in the gas from cow poop
drugs are illegal because:
they are dangerous: health, personal life, society
drugs are dangerous because
they are illegal: fines, jail time, criminal record, secondary crime (75% is drug related)
what is buyer beware for drugs?
street drugs are not pure, they can contain anything, and don’t know what’s actually in them
Cocaine
stimulant - used in a culture as a pick me up
what are some interesting ways to get high?
solvents in elementary schools
nitrous oxide in whipped cream - propellant is the same as laughing gas
Fake pot:
chemicals similar to cannabis, soaked into leaves
- could cell on the internet
spiked with synthetic analgesics
dealers substituted Pfizer molecule with another
OR
spiked with synthetic cannabinoids - JWH-018 was more potent than THC
cocaine link to Coca Cola?
Coke is a nonalcoholic version of an old patent medicine wich contained cocaine
Coca-cola is the same as the medicine but without the alcohol
Cocaine’s uses:
doesn’t cure illness but might reduce symptoms
it is a topical anesthetic that would remove the itch for dandruff
it’s illegal but it does have medical uses so they wanted to make sure doctors could use it,
taxation: in order to purchase cocaine you need to prove you paid tax on it - only doctors could have it
Stepan Chemical company
cocaine used as flavoring
- removed from the cocaine from the leaves and the leaves could then be used for flavouring
some cocaine is kept to be used as a pharmaceutical - topical anesthetic
- doctors use
ex: benzocaine in auralgan (ear pain gel)
ex: novocaine - dental anesthetic
Snorting cocaine hydrochloride
once sniffed it goes into the bloodstream but it was very expensive in the past so only rockstars used it
what do rats prefer? cocaine or food?
cocaine - would starve themselves to death
Freebased cocaine:
crack cocaine
hydrochloride is a stabilizer that when you mix with baking soda you’re left with just cocaine
when it dries out cracks form, more dangerous than normal cocaine - requires a much lower dose (cheaper)
how is crack normally taken?
smoking from a crack pipe which passes quickly into your bloodstream
what does cocaine do to dopamine
prevents reuptake so it stays released and continues the feeling of “feeling good”
Amphetamine
WW2 soldier to increase aggression + make u feel good
abused in military prison
low dose: colds, fight to flight (adrenaline increases aggression)
medium: stay awake+aggressive
high dose: recreation
- euphoria -> dopamine release, psychosis
Benzedrine inhaler
contained 250mg amphetamine
- decongested nose with a blob of amphetamine and channels creates with a cross-section for measured doses
amphetamine extraction with Coca-Cola
If you cracked open the tube and put it into coke, the amphetamines would dissolve and if you drink the coke, you get a very high dose which would create a euphoria
amphetamines and depression
medium dose - sold as a pill to treat depression - make you feel good
JFK- Dr. Feelgood
methamphetamines - 1990’s
pseudoephedrine was used to make meth
- cold medication converted into meth easily
vasoconstrictor:
- dries secretions in your nose
- shuts off blood supply to teeth and mouth - teeth die
meth face: no blood supply and skin dies (soars + scars
Opioids
poppy plant latex
injections: hypodermic seringe
examples: morphine
- painkiller
- addiction became popular after giving patients higher doses than needed
non addictive version of morphine:
Heroin - non-addictive caugh suppressant
BUT actually much more addictive then morphine
- usually injected, you can damage a blood vessel, if it gets damaged it collapses so that you don’t bleed out but the blood supply is then cut off
Codeine
common medicinal opiate
oxycodone- thebaine chemically converted from opium
Oxycotin
hillbilly heroin
- artificial drug - opium -> thebaine -> oxy
main source today is stolen from pharmacies
Why is it not good that opiates are stolen from pharmacies?
they are important painkillers!! patients need them, but doctors are reluctant to use it for terminal patients and those with chronic pain
hallucinogens
always been popular
- serotonin agonists - important for the central part of our brain
examples of drugs with serotonin-like effects
psilocybin - magic mushrooms
bufotenine- Cane toads -> gland that secretes liquid to keep off predators
ergotamine- ergot: found on rye
- can be converted into lysergic acid
LSD
discovered by Albert Hoffman
- hallucinations - religious significance
- used by the CIA at McGill
- Flying
timothy leary Harvard
- made a little cult
- gave drugs to his students
Atropine
flower that was used as a cosmetic
dilates pupils - attractive, women used it to dilate pupils
used in surgery - paralyzes you and restarts the digestive system
Scopolomine
truth serum
- Reduces a person’s inhibitions so you tell a person something you wouldn’t normally tell them but not necessarily the truth
Fentanyl
industrial strength painkiller
- safe if ou use it the right way
methylphentanyl and carfentanyl
- initially legal - designer drugs
- users died from overdose - small measurement - a mistake can create a VERY bad problem
- lethal doses are small
counterfeit opioids
- cheaper to make
- make oxycontin or heroin that contains fentanyl instead
how does the use of a filler work?
you can measure a larger quantity to accurately and consistently measure the dose of the drug
ex: chocolate chip cookie - chocolate chips (active ingredient)
batter= fuller
chocolate chips (drug)
if you mix long enough there will be an equal distribution of chips in each cookie (good!), but if you’re in a hurry, each cookie will now have the same amount of chocolate chips
the pharmaceutical industry is very careful and monitor to make sire it all mixes in an equal distribution
- sloppy drug dealer = very dangerous risk of overdose
ecstasy (MDMA)
wanted to find something that it could be a treatment for, like mental illnesses
- it failed and couldn’t be a product
then was tested in the military - reduces a person’s inhibitions
80’s = party drug
- auditory hallucinations -> used at raves
1988= illegal
- interferes with body temperature
- reduces lack of judgment = sexual assaults
where is ecstasy made today?
in illegal labs
- the tabs are not pure and have contaminants like mercury and other drugs with adverse effects
today tabs don’t actually contain ecstasy
Are test kits reliable?
in order for them to work the right way, you need the right drug + you need to mix the chemicals properly
- more than one test is required
Cathinone
stimulant - leaves chewed
- aggression, dangerous ways
- tested as a weight loss drug - failed
Synthetic cathinone
crystals large and salt-like “bath salts”
- high dose: psychosis + aggressive
blamed for very violent killings
toxicology couldn’t identify the drug, only cannabis, so fingerprints are needed, but if the drug was never in the system and there is no fingerprint to match… you cant find it
Demerol
painkiller - Michael Jackson’s favorite
a group was flipped to make MPPP which was very toxic
- caused paralysis
MPTP
vert toxic, and destroys brain tissue
L-DOPA: could restore some movement but its not permanent it wears off overtime
why were amphetamines useful for people working in factories
it was used for repetitive tasks to help focus more
what is the issue with “smart drugs”
they may make you FEEL better but they won’t make you PERFORM better
and there are side effects, they may:
1. help
2. impair
