Ch. 26

ILLEGAL DRUGS

Drug UseA 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