Street Drugs Flashcards
Why are street drugs ilegal?
They are bad for health, they affect your personal life - employability and relationships,- and they affect society (health care costs, costs for family and society).
What are the legal consequences for street drugs?
FInes - $200+
Jail - up to life
Criminal record - travel and employment
Secondary crime - 75% of property crime is drug related.
Cocaine (history, properties, addiction)
In coke, in patented medicines, used as a stimulant, used for hair.
Stepan Company produced cocaine to test it.
Topical and dental anesthics were designed from cocaine.
Causes very strong addiction. It is very unsatisfying, it has a very strong psychological effect, there is no tolerance, and there is no physical withdrawal.
It prevents dopamine reuptake, increasing dopamine.
What is the Harrison tax act 1914 (first one)? What is the Harrison Narcotic Act 1914?
The beginning of regulating products. Before the FDA existed. Heavily taxed products that had illicit drugs.
The Narcotic act heavily taxed products containing narcotics.
Crack cocaine. (make some comparasions between crack and regular cocaine)
Free-based cocaine forms cracks. It requires a lower dosage than cocaine. It is usually smoked.
Amphetamines (History, effects, who was taking them, psychosis, meth)
First abused in military prisons. Low doses stimulate fight or flight. High doses induce euphoria (dopamine release, hyper-stimulate the body’s reward system, produce psychosis, hyper-stimulate fight or flight which can cause aggression)
Benzedrine inhaler contained 250 mg of amphetamine (blob). It was then extracted used coke.
They used to treat depression.
They were prescribed to rich and famous. A doctor who was known to prescribe them was Dr. Feelgood.
Amphetamine psychosis (extreme aggression, hallucinations, and paranoid psychosis) led to a decline in use in the 60s. Came back in the 90s.
Pseudophedrine can be isolated into meth easily. Meth is a potent vasoconstrictor.
Opiates and Opioids (origins, heroin, codeine, oxycodone, reluctance to precribe)
Derived from poppy latex.
Morphine (a component of opiates) was common in the Civil war.
Heroin was sold as a cough-suppressant. It is typically injected.
Codeine is the most common medicinal opiate.
Oxycodone/Oxycontin is an oxidized version of codeine. Opium contains Thebaine which can be converted to Oxycodone. This is hill billy heroin. It is usually stolen from pharmacies.
They are important pain killers.
Doctors don’t want to prescribe to terminal patients or chronic patients.
Hallucinogens (naturally occuring, LSD, Atropine,
Many are serotonin agonists.
Magice myshrooms contain psilocybin. Cane toads have bufotenine.
Ergotamine comes from ergot. It can be converted to lysegic acid. LSD is made from lysergic acid. It was accidentally discovered by Hoffman. Leary was a big proponent of it. These hallucinations often involved flying.
Atropine is from deadly nightshade. It was used to enlarge pupils (which was attractive). It was used in surgery (anesthetic properties).
Hyoscine/Scopolamine is a truth serum. They can suppress anxiety.
How did drugs get discovered? How did these drugs move around the law?
Original practitioners were chemists. Existing drugs were the starting point. Specialized knowledge was required.
Narcotic were very specific and designer drugs got around them. So slightly modifying heroin made it legal.
Fentanyl (properties, different types, what makes it dnagerous, designer versions, how to treat it, how is the danger risks managed?)
Is a pain killer.
Methylfentanyl and carfentanil were originally legal and even stronger than regular fentanyl.
Many addicts died of overdose since the potency is too high.
Designer versions exist are even stronger. An example is W-18. It was developed in Edmonton. It became illegal becasue of its use as a street drug.
The only way to help someone overdosing on fentanyl is Naloxone, which is a fentanyl antagonist.
Drug dealers sell counterfeit “prescription” oxycontin or heroin with fentanyl because it’s cheaper.
The overdose risk is managed by adding filler to the fentanyl. But the filler needs to be mixed thoroughly and equally distributed. Sloppy mixing from drug dealers makes the street drugs very dangerous.
Ecstasy (origins, benefits and side effects, legality, what does it contain?)
Similar to methamphetamine.
Developed originall (SKF-5) to test for psychotic depression. It was also (MDMA) tested in the military for truth serum.
It became a party drug in the 80s.
It causes euphoria, empathy, reduced inhibitions, auditory hallucinations, and sexuality.
It can also cause hyperthermia, loss of appetite, dehydration, deppression, and a lack of judgement.
It became illegal in 1988.
When made in street drug labs, they use mercury to make it. Mercury is toxic. So some ecstasy tabs can contain mercury and arsenic.
Ecstasy contains MDMA (neurotoxic), ketamine (anesthetic), GHB (date-rape drug), and meth. It is a predatory drug.
Many of these tabs may not even contain MDMA.
Bathsalts as a street drug.
They come from a plant called Khat (it contains cathinone). The leaves are stimulants and cause dopamine release.
High doses cause aggression.
Synthetic versions of cathinone were tested for appetite suppressants. But the side effects were too dangerous. It caused extreme dehydration, massive weight loss, is highly addictive, hallucinations, psychosis (paranoia and violence).
The synthetic versions (methcantinone and mephedrone) were illegal until recently.
It is large and crystal-like.
What is Demerol?
A synthetic pain reliever. Associated with Michael Jackson. It can cause brain damage and can give you parkinson’s disease. These people were called frozen addicts. This was caused by sloppy chemistry (contaminating it into MPPP). These effects can be slightly reversed by adding L-DOPA.
Piracetam can increase cognitive function for people with specific diseases (4). Which are they?
Altzeimers, dementia, aphasia, schizophrenia.
Amphetamines can help with repetitive tasks. Which specific types of amphetamines are they? (3)
Dexedrine and Adderall and Ephedra
What does Ritalin help improve? What type of drug is Ritalin?
It helps with ADHD. It is an amphetamine derivative.
