Legalize All Drugs...

I posted this and yet everyone seems to be running away from it.

USFREEDOM911 said:
So, lets' play the game.

Mj has been legalized; but regulated.
What price is it selling at, after taxes and all, and what is the amount bought, at that price?
Click to expand...

Why does this seem so hard to respond to?
 
Zombie Jesus said:
- There isn't a kid selling them out of his or her jacket because all they'd have to do is hit up the booze at home, just right there - laying in the wait...

- Growing up there were a lot of dry spells, we got into the habit of obtaining booze as it was far more easier to get a hold of some most of the time...unless someone was willing to make that trip to Oregon, which wasn't all too often.
Click to expand...
This is inane. I lived it, and so did everybody here. Waaaaaaaay easier to get MJ than booze on an average 12 year old. Waaaaaaaaaay easier. Shoot, I could get cocaine easier. I could get anything I wanted that was illegal easier than it was to get booze.

Take them the fuck out of circulation, yes - absolutely. Then help 'em if they want it after they're tucked away, not able to harm others or themselves. Legalizing meth ain't gonna make it harder to obtain.
Click to expand...
Nor is making it illegal to possess.. However, meth is extremely rare. Shoot less than 3% of the population, according to studies, have even tried heavier drugs, let alone meth. Making it more expensive makes it more likely that people will commit crimes to obtain it, rather than destroy their own life they are more likely to affect yours.

Yep, that's why I concurred with you.
Click to expand...
Tell me when such a small amount of people doing something means it is "epidemic". It's simply nonsense.

All up until that scumbag dealer needs to make a few ends to pay for more meth or make the rent, whatever - if there's a market, he's already fucked up enough that he'd sell to eight year old kids to begin with.
Click to expand...
Again, it simply will not be cost effective for the scumbag, just like happened with other regulated items that were previously illegal. What was once available from the alcoholic down the street making it in a tub was now much harder to obtain for kids.

No, it's pretty straight forward - YOUR reasoning (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reasoning?s=t) did not make sense. By all means if wanna turn this into a debate about grammar I'm sure that'll make it all better.
Click to expand...
No, it wasn't. The sentence made no sense grammatically, I had to guess at your meaning through context. Get better at it.

Not nearly as significant as ten percent of the population addicted to bad ass opiates.
Click to expand...
Link up to your statistic.

What's so hard to understand, this has already happened in the past prior to alcohol prohibition in the U.S.? Ten percent of a population of just under four hundred million is on a different level (ungodly proportions).
Click to expand...
When less than 3% of the population have even tried the heavier drugs, it makes it clear you are just making up what you want. It simply isn't "ungodly proportions"... And you said that Meth, not opiates, Meth was the one with the "ungodly proportions"... That is just utter nonsense, but even with your attempt to move the goal posts and now include almost every drug imaginable you still have to exaggerate immensely to make up this nonsense.

There were more deaths attributed to alcoholism prior to Prohibition and right after Prohibition percentage rate wise than during Prohibition - the rates did climb during Prohibition but only because access to alcohol became easier due to their being more and more speakeasys. I suppose that would be a relevant Prohibition point to the discussion.
Click to expand...
Stupid. This ignores the incredible amount of deaths attributed to "alcohol poisoning" during the prohibition rather than "alcoholism". It pretends that the death attributed to slow acting poisons added to "medicinal" alcohol would be attributed to "alcoholism" rather than simple "poisoning" they weren't. Far more deaths attributed to alcohol during the prohibition were due to "poisoning" basically because the equipment used in moonshining and other means to make illegal alcohol (often the alcohol was actually run through a radiator to "filter" it back then) caused people to drink poison added into their alcohol. As well as the fact that in "medicinal" alcohol (yeah you could get a prescription) actually had poisons added purposefully.

You posted 3%, out of a population of three hundred plus million that's "hardly" nobody, addiction rate wise it's probably closer to 1%, which is still pretty significant considering the demographics.
http://rehab-international.org/crystal-meth-rehab-guide/crystal-meth-rehab-statistics/
Click to expand...
You mistake the number that merely tried with the number of "addicted". That is not "ungodly proportions", nor would it change with regulation.

I disagree, it's not the same because the product isn't the same...booze doesn't compare to hardcore methamphetamines, crack, or heroin.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter if the product is the same, black markets create the same reaction and cause the violent crime you pretend you want to avoid. Prohibition, regardless of the substance, creates the same type of market and actions by those who work within that black market. It is why you can take news articles from Prohibition, read them to an audience today, and you cannot even tell which is which... Drive by shootings, gang shootings, et al.

What's next? Lift all the bans on the Ivory trade?
Click to expand...
Badly disguised strawman.

Lessons learned from large swaths of populations being addicted to opiates because they were either legal or unchecked vs a decade plus of alcohol Prohibition...my point is that one is more relevant to the other.
Click to expand...
Again, you mistake heavy regulation for "unchecked". And where is your evidence of large populations with "unchecked" opiates?

Are you comparing the mafia to the street gangs of today in the middle of a discussion of "legalizing ALL drugs?" Whatever...I just went with the Ivory Trade so I suppose it's alright, I'm not gonna judge.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am comparing the gangs and the mafia in a conversation about drug prohibition. Mostly because alcohol is a drug, so are drugs... And because their actions are the same, and for the same reason.

The end results of the Opium Wars (war then shoddy one sided treatises which subsequently led to the decline of the Qing Empire as well as millions of dead Chinese) contrasted with the end of Prohibition (the mob didn't skip a beat, they moved on to the next racket and deaths attributed to alcoholism bounced back near their former glory day rates) aren't the same, which is different from your little scenario here.
Click to expand...
Once again, the "next racket" involved drug prohibition. That you want to pretend that prohibition isn't prohibition and that the action of those who work in the black market are predictable doesn't change that reality.

We need to regulate it, get it behind a counter, make it safer and less available to the next generation. One thing's for sure, with the "ungodly" levels of addiction, what we are doing now isn't working, the drugs, including the "gateway" drugs are available to kids of all ages and nobody is checking IDs.
 
Damocles said:
This is inane. I lived it, and so did everybody here. Waaaaaaaay easier to get MJ than booze on an average 12 year old. Waaaaaaaaaay easier. Shoot, I could get cocaine easier. I could get anything I wanted that was illegal easier than it was to get booze.


Nor is making it illegal to possess.. However, meth is extremely rare. Shoot less than 3% of the population, according to studies, have even tried heavier drugs, let alone meth. Making it more expensive makes it more likely that people will commit crimes to obtain it, rather than destroy their own life they are more likely to affect yours.


Tell me when such a small amount of people doing something means it is "epidemic". It's simply nonsense.


Again, it simply will not be cost effective for the scumbag, just like happened with other regulated items that were previously illegal. What was once available from the alcoholic down the street making it in a tub was now much harder to obtain for kids.


No, it wasn't. The sentence made no sense grammatically, I had to guess at your meaning through context. Get better at it.


Link up to your statistic.


When less than 3% of the population have even tried the heavier drugs, it makes it clear you are just making up what you want. It simply isn't "ungodly proportions"... And you said that Meth, not opiates, Meth was the one with the "ungodly proportions"... That is just utter nonsense, but even with your attempt to move the goal posts and now include almost every drug imaginable you still have to exaggerate immensely to make up this nonsense.


Stupid. This ignores the incredible amount of deaths attributed to "alcohol poisoning" during the prohibition rather than "alcoholism". It pretends that the death attributed to slow acting poisons added to "medicinal" alcohol would be attributed to "alcoholism" rather than simple "poisoning" they weren't. Far more deaths attributed to alcohol during the prohibition were due to "poisoning" basically because the equipment used in moonshining and other means to make illegal alcohol (often the alcohol was actually run through a radiator to "filter" it back then) caused people to drink poison added into their alcohol. As well as the fact that in "medicinal" alcohol (yeah you could get a prescription) actually had poisons added purposefully.


You mistake the number that merely tried with the number of "addicted". That is not "ungodly proportions", nor would it change with regulation.


It doesn't matter if the product is the same, black markets create the same reaction and cause the violent crime you pretend you want to avoid. Prohibition, regardless of the substance, creates the same type of market and actions by those who work within that black market. It is why you can take news articles from Prohibition, read them to an audience today, and you cannot even tell which is which... Drive by shootings, gang shootings, et al.

Badly disguised strawman.


Again, you mistake heavy regulation for "unchecked". And where is your evidence of large populations with "unchecked" opiates?


Yes, I am comparing the gangs and the mafia in a conversation about drug prohibition. Mostly because alcohol is a drug, so are drugs... And because their actions are the same, and for the same reason.


Once again, the "next racket" involved drug prohibition. That you want to pretend that prohibition isn't prohibition and that the action of those who work in the black market are predictable doesn't change that reality.

We need to regulate it, get it behind a counter, make it safer and less available to the next generation. One thing's for sure, with the "ungodly" levels of addiction, what we are doing now isn't working, the drugs, including the "gateway" drugs are available to kids of all ages and nobody is checking IDs.
Click to expand...
\

Links, sure there's some links that'll corroborate addiction rates of opium in China that I've posted.

Impact of opium on China
http://isedphistory.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/impact-of-opium-on-china-felix/

Opium - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium

Opium Abuse and Its Management: Global Scenario
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/opium_abuse_management.pdf

The rest of your post here is still naive in my opinion, more so those Prohibition "death" rates included alcohol poisoning so that reasoning still stands and no, it's not a strawman if you're posting "the creation of an unregulated black market and the driving force behind violent crime," I haven't misrepresented an unregulated black market or the violent crime associated with it by suggesting lifting the bans on the ivory trade as an example to counter the asininity of what you'd posted.

Get better? Try harder...if I'm posting your reasoning didn't make sense, it's not rocket science - that's basic simple shit.
 
Zombie Jesus said:
\

Links, sure there's some links that'll corroborate addiction rates of opium in China that I've posted.

Impact of opium on China
http://isedphistory.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/impact-of-opium-on-china-felix/

Opium - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium

Opium Abuse and Its Management: Global Scenario
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/opium_abuse_management.pdf

The rest of your post here is still naive in my opinion, more so those Prohibition "death" rates included alcohol poisoning so that reasoning still stands and no, it's not a strawman if you're posting "the creation of an unregulated black market and the driving force behind violent crime," I haven't misrepresented an unregulated black market or the violent crime associated with it by suggesting lifting the bans on the ivory trade as an example to counter the asininity of what you'd posted.

Get better? Try harder...if I'm posting your reasoning didn't make sense, it's not rocket science - that's basic simple shit.
Click to expand...

Let's make it clear. Free use with no restriction is not the same thing I've proposed. An 8% tariff is not a regulation it is simply a tax. You are attempting to compare airplanes to roses and tell me that airplanes don't grown in gardens. I know that already.

The main thing you ignore is the regulation, the fact that putting it behind a counter and making it more difficult for the next generation to get the drugs you will, like cigarettes currently, cut down on new users by a large margin. Instead we make sure they can get it when they are young and stupid by putting it in the hands of immoral black market dealers.

Did you read the articles? Giving Opium to infants was a regular practice? You are just appealing to emotion if you believe that today people would act the same as they did when there was less understanding of the dangers. Especially when they were addicting their infants.

We need a better comparison, something that people knew was dangerous, was made illegal, then made legal with regulation.... To do that we can look at how Americans will react by comparing it to that substance. Do you know what substance that might be?

We can look in places where they've begun to regulate rather than incarcerate for at least some of the drugs and see whether it does what you say...

I don't see people in the Netherlands running around more addicted, even though their government allows people to use. Now they have a difference between "soft" and "hard" drugs and are more likely to prosecute the "hard" stuff. But you can buy MJ in coffee shops there. How about Spain? Belgium? Are they all addicted in those places now that they let some people toke?

So far, no nation that has begun the path towards regulation over incarceration have a massive increase in addiction. Can you provide one more modern nation that actually is working to regulate it to compare and contrast?
 
Zombie Jesus said:
You can be an alcoholic and recover and live a whole lot more than if you were a heroin addict trying to recover, same goes for meth and crack cocaine...it's not the same thing, that'd be like trying to compare methadone to Chantix at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

What?
What the fuck are you talking about? Any proof of your theory?
Addiction is addiction, heroin and alcohol are both drugs. One is simply more socially acceptable than the other, and that is the only difference.
 
Zombie Jesus said:
I don't think it'll ever happen (hardcore drugs like meth, heroin, or crack) so it won't matter none anyways but for argument's sake...grabbing a bottle of booze is not the same as grabbing a couple of cooked meth syringes.

That's everywhere you go (kid that every kid knows that could get 'em some coke), imagine the horror if that kid were a hundred or two hundred kids...



It was easier to score booze than weed and almost near impossible to score smack or meth growing up.



Naive is assuming that because meth were legalized less kids will use it.



I would think percentage wise it was even less than three percent right now, nonetheless - if it is three percent that's quite extraordinary in and of itself.



That and a friend of mine who works for the state of NY prison system had told me a few years ago that on average they'll spend about fifty thousand dollars for each meth addicted teen (he runs a prison that's similar to basic training for the military but for wayward teens) before he even gets them, they have to get cleaned up...and most of them revert right back to it like a horse to water within a few weeks of their return home.

I'm pretty sure we've got a totaly different idea of what "out of control" means as well...



That guy on the corner is small time, what's changed if he (scumbag dealer) was willing to sell to an eight year old kid in the first place? The only thing I could tell is that it's gonna be easier for the scumbag dealer to get his hands on some product at the end of the day...not for nothing but your reasoning with this makes absolutely no sense...



Alcohol Prohibition and billy badass ruin your life after a few hits types of drugs are two separate things, it's silly comparing the two because the consequences for using each are starkly different.



Not controlling or attempting to control what could otherwise be an epidemic of ungodly proportions would be far more detrimental to our society as a whole, in no way should meth or crack or those drugs that're on that level be legalized...we can change how we deal with those who're caught using (not so much dealing) them...something similar to a minimum or low security gig with all the treatment levels one could shake a stick at if they're ready to quit...but not legalizing them...

You fellas keep bringing up Prohibition as if it's relevant but have discarded the Opium War's stats that I've posted - which I would think are more relevant than alcohol prohibition because that's what a society would turn into left unchecked, by that standard we'd end up with thirty million plus addicts...nay, thirty million plus brain damaged addicts would be more like it, toss in the costs for cleaning up each addict (if push came to shove) and we'd be in a constant influx recession wise.
Click to expand...


You don't know shit about alcoholism. You do a great disservice by spouting your opinion at all.
 
Damocles said:
Let's make it clear. Free use with no restriction is not the same thing I've proposed. An 8% tariff is not a regulation it is simply a tax. You are attempting to compare airplanes to roses and tell me that airplanes don't grown in gardens. I know that already.

The main thing you ignore is the regulation, the fact that putting it behind a counter and making it more difficult for the next generation to get the drugs you will, like cigarettes currently, cut down on new users by a large margin. Instead we make sure they can get it when they are young and stupid by putting it in the hands of immoral black market dealers.

Did you read the articles? Giving Opium to infants was a regular practice? You are just appealing to emotion if you believe that today people would act the same as they did when there was less understanding of the dangers. Especially when they were addicting their infants.

We need a better comparison, something that people knew was dangerous, was made illegal, then made legal with regulation.... To do that we can look at how Americans will react by comparing it to that substance. Do you know what substance that might be?

We can look in places where they've begun to regulate rather than incarcerate for at least some of the drugs and see whether it does what you say...

I don't see people in the Netherlands running around more addicted, even though their government allows people to use. Now they have a difference between "soft" and "hard" drugs and are more likely to prosecute the "hard" stuff. But you can buy MJ in coffee shops there. How about Spain? Belgium? Are they all addicted in those places now that they let some people toke?

So far, no nation that has begun the path towards regulation over incarceration have a massive increase in addiction. Can you provide one more modern nation that actually is working to regulate it to compare and contrast?
Click to expand...

I posted a reply to this post then submitted it and it just up and disappeared.

Anyways, Spain has one of the highest addiction rates in all of Europe.

I've spent a lot of time in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, you use smack and get caught you're gonna spend some time in the slammer.

You wanna country that tried to decriminalize hardcore drug use - I'll give you three that I can think off the top of my head 1. Switzerland, 2. the United Kingdom, 3. Netherlands all saw an increase with hardcore drug use and addiction rates.

One could make the argument for Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and even Iran back in the day as well.
 
Rune said:
Really junior? A link about meth and a link to a library search page? What is your proof?
Click to expand...

Yeah, a link with stats on meth and a scholarly article with more stats on substance abuse and withdrawal...see, what you do is read what's linked then reply - not tell me what I've posted, I know what I posted, I'm the one that posted those links...

Try again.
 
Zombie Jesus said:
Yeah, a link with stats on meth and a scholarly article with more stats on substance abuse and withdrawal...see, what you do is read what's linked then reply - not tell me what I've posted, I know what I posted, I'm the one that posted those links...

Try again.
Click to expand...

Try your links again. The second one went nowhere. Aside from that, for the second time, what is your proof? Try again.
 
Rune said:
Try your links again. The second one went nowhere. Aside from that, for the second time, what is your proof? Try again.
Click to expand...

I tried them again and low and behold they worked just fine...you didn't try hard enough.

Substance Abuse: An Overview
Introduction
Substance abuse and other addictive behavior disorders are among the most prevalent mental health disorders in our society. Significant health and societal costs are attributed to excessive involvement with alcohol, nicotine, illicit drugs, prescription drugs, industrial solvents, and impulse control problems (e.g., gambling, binge eating, risky sexual behaviors). This chapter will discuss conceptual models, assessment, and treatment of substance abuse, covering alcohol, illicit drugs, misused prescription drugs, and nicotine problems. Gambling disorders will be briefly reviewed. Although eating disorders and compulsive sexual disorders share features of addictive behaviors, these issues will be addressed in other chapters of this volume.

Prevalence
Current substance abuse or dependence is present in 11% of the U.S. population, and nearly 27% percent have met criteria during their lifetime, based on the results of a national survey (Kessler et al., 1994). Alcohol is the most widely used intoxicating substance. National household surveys report that 82% of Americans ages 12 and above have used alcohol and half drank alcohol in the past month (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 1998), as shown in Table 1. Binge drinking, consuming five or more drinks on a single occasion, is most common among young adults ages 18 to 25, although evident among adolescents (Johnston, O’Malley, & Bachman, 1999). Frequent bingeing (5 times in the past month) indicates unhealthy drinking and was reported by 11% of young adults. Over 13% of the population has met diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lifetimes, and more than 4% currently meet criteria (Grant, 1997). Alcohol-related economic losses due to decreased productivity, health care costs, and motor vehicle crashes are estimated at $148 billion annually (Harwood, Fountain, Livermore, & The Lewin Group, 1998). Alcohol is the third most prominent contributor to mortality in the United States (McGinnis & Foege, 1993).

Illicit drug use has increased in recent decades, and prevalence rates of individual substances fluctuate over time. Nearly 36% of the population over age 12, it is estimated, has used an illicit drug in their lifetimes (see Table 1). Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, used by an estimated 9% of the population during 1997. Almost 12% of males aged 18 to 25 years have used marijuana more than fifty times in the past year. In 1997, 1.9% of the U.S. adult population used cocaine, 1.9% used hallucinogens, 1.1% used inhalants (the rate is 4.4% for 12–17-year-olds), 0.3% used heroin, and 2.8% reported nonmedical use of prescription medications (SAMHSA, 1998). Nearly 8% of the national population, it is estimated, met criteria for drug dependence at some point in their lifetimes, and almost 3% met criteria in the past year (Kessler et al., 1994). Illicit drugs present particular medical risks because the content of any drug obtained on the street is difficult to specify. Drug injectors are at risk for HIV, hepatitis, infections, vein deterioration, and endocarditis (Peterson, Dimeff, Tapert, & Stern, 1998). Drug use alone costs the United States an estimated $89 billion annually due to loss in productivity, crime, medical consequences, and treatment services (Harwood et al., 1998).

Alcohol.
Properties specific to alcohol are discussed in detail by Nathan and colleagues (this volume). Briefly, intoxication generally involves subjective sensations of relaxation, tension reduction, sociability, disinhibition, and euphoria. Toxic reactions occur at higher doses or with potentiation from other CNS depressants and involve confusion, irritability, slowed pulse, reduced body temperature, low blood pressure, and possible respiratory failure. Some degree of alcohol withdrawal is generally observed in daily drinkers who quit drinking and involves sweating, increased heart rate and respiratory rate, increased body temperature, tremor, nausea, vomiting, depressed mood, and muscle aches. More severe symptoms of seizure and delirium tremens, a condition marked by increased tremor, profound confusion, and hallucinations, appear in 5% of those who experience alcohol withdrawal (for a review, see Schuckit, 1995).

Approximately half of adults with alcohol dependence evidence cognitive impairments in visuospatial functioning, verbal learning and memory, visual memory, psychomotor functioning, or non-verbal abstract reasoning (Beatty, Hames, Blanco, Nixon, & Tivis, 1996; Brandt, Butters, Ryan, & Bayog, 1983) and tend to be more pronounced in older drinkers (Adams et al., 1993). The majority of these cognitive deficits improve with extended abstinence (Reed, Grant, & Rourke, 1992). Neuroimaging studies also demonstrate adverse brain changes associated with alcohol dependence (Jernigan, Pfefferbaum, & Zatz, 1986) that tend to resolve with abstinence (Carlen et al., 1986) and worsen following alcohol relapse (Pfefferbaum et al., 1995).

Depressant drugs.
This class of drugs includes hypnotics (e.g., barbiturates, methaqualone, chloral hydrate), anxiolytics, and benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax®, Valium®, Librium®, Ativan®). These drugs are prescribed at high rates (approximately 15% of the U.S. population), and although used effectively for most, misuse is observed in 5–10% of patients for whom these medications are prescribed. Effects experienced after ingestion include euphoria, disinhibition, cognitive impairment, loss of motor coordination, and slurred speech. High doses can produce hallucinations or paranoia, ataxia, sedation, and increased risk of accidents (e.g., vehicular). Very high doses can produce depressed heart rate, respiratory failure, coma, or death. These substances show cross-tolerance and present a high risk of lethal overdose if used simultaneously with alcohol or other CNS depressants. Abrupt cessation can be fatal and is especially dangerous from agents with short half-lives (e.g., Xanax®—10 hours). The typical withdrawal syndrome is characterized by anxiety, insomnia, headaches, tremors, muscle aches, increased heart and respiratory rates, fatigue, and, sometimes, disorientation, hallucinations, depression, and convulsions. This withdrawal syndrome can persist for days to weeks. Individuals who withdraw from depressant drugs should receive medical monitoring (Schuckit, 1995). The chronic use of barbiturates is associated with persisting deficits in abstraction, psychomotor processing, and nonverbal learning (Bergman, Borg, Engelbrektson, & Vikander, 1989).

Stimulants
CNS stimulants include caffeine and nicotine, but the major intoxicating stimulants of abuse are cocaine and amphetamines. Drugs of this class typically produce physiological arousal, euphoria, insomnia, and diminished appetite.

Cocaine.
Users can insufflate (snort) or smoke cocaine powder, sprinkle the powder in rolled cigarettes, smoke it in cooked form (“crack” or “rock”), or inject it in a dissolved form. Crack is more potent than powdered cocaine and causes intense effects that diminish rapidly. Cocaine use produces euphoria, expansive mood, loquaciousness, restlessness, mood swings, irritability, aggression, and insomnia. In higher doses, loss of control, paranoia, panic attacks, and hallucinations may occur. Common physical effects include elevated heart rate, dry mouth, sweating, numbness of the mucous membranes, and hand tremors. Tolerance develops rapidly, usually within days of continued use. Withdrawal symptoms include fatigue, depressed mood, craving, agitation, and, in some cases, physical aggression. The half-life of cocaine is 1 hour, and withdrawal lasts for days to months (Kuhn, Swartzwelder, & Wilson, 1998). Chronic cocaine use adversely influences short-term memory (Ardila, Rosselli, & Strumwasser, 1991; Manschreck et al., 1990), verbal recall (Mittenberg & Motta, 1993), speed of information processing, attention (Ardila, 1991; O’Malley & Gawin, 1990), and abstraction (O’Malley, Adamse, Heaton, & Gawin, 1992).

Amphetamines.
Amphetamines include pharmaceutically prepared substances (e.g., Benzedrine®, Dexedrine®, Ritalin®, and other drugs prescribed for obesity, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and narcolepsy) as well as substances produced illegally, such as methamphetamine (“crystal meth,” “speed,” or “ice”). Users can snort powder forms of these drugs, dissolve and inject the substances, smoke them, or ingest the drugs orally. Amphetamines produce subjective experiences of euphoria, sociability, hypervigilance, anxiety, stereotyped behaviors, and impaired judgment. As with cocaine, smoked and injected forms are more concentrated, and behaviors are more dramatically altered than with use of other forms. The primary difference between cocaine and amphetamines is the longer half-life of the latter (6 to 12 hours). Physical effects include increased heart rate, pupil dilation, and psychomotor agitation. Withdrawal symptoms involve 1 week to 6 months of depression, irritability, fatigue, and hypersomnia and can involve aggression and hallucinations (Maxmen & Ward, 1995).

Opiates
This drug class includes derivatives of the opium poppy (e.g., opium, morphine), semi-synthetics (heroin), medication preparations synthesized to have morphine-like properties (e.g., codeine, hydromorphone, methadone, oxycodone, meperidine, and fentanyl), and medications with both opiate agonist and antagonist properties (buprenorphine, pentazocine). Opiates are prescribed for pain relief, cough suppression, or to alleviate opiate withdrawal symptoms. Opiate users inject, snort, smoke, and swallow the drug.

Opiate users report the intoxicating effects of euphoria, especially during the “rush” immediately following administration, as well as apathy, dysphoria, impaired judgment, and relaxation. Physical effects of intoxication include suppressed respiratory functioning, slurred speech, psychomotor retardation, reduced pain sensations, impairment of attention and memory, constricted pupils, and constipation. Tolerance develops rapidly. Due to the comparatively short half-life of heroin (30 minutes versus 2 to 3.5 hours for morphine), administration four times per day is common in addicts. Thus, daily activities revolve around obtaining and administering opiates. Withdrawal is generally very unpleasant and involves nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, tremor, fatigue, insomnia, fever, dysphoric mood, and cravings and can last up to 8 days (Tapert et al., 1998). Administration of street opiates poses a particular risk for overdose because purity levels remain unknown to the user. Because many opiate users inject, additional risks of HIV infection, hepatitis, cellulitis, endocarditis, and tuberculosis are imminent. Death from opiate overdose most commonly results from respiratory depression. No consistent neuropsychological deficits have been identified among tolerant users or detoxified former users (Zacny, 1995).

Cannabinols
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. Users ingest THC by smoking marijuana leaves (“pot,” “weed”), smoking resin (“hashish”), or eating cannabinoids mixed with food. Intoxicating effects include relaxation, euphoria, altered perception, impaired motor coordination, the sensation of slowed time, impaired judgment, and social withdrawal (APA, 1994). THC has a relatively long half-life of 2 to 7 days. Anxiety, paranoia, attention and memory impairment, panic, and hallucinations may occur acutely. Physical symptoms include increased appetite, dry mouth, bloodshot eyes, and tachycardia (Tapert et al., 1999). Although its use involves fewer physiological changes than most other drugs of abuse, the consequences of chronic use may include amotivational syndrome as well as lung diseases similar to those experienced by tobacco smokers. Males may suffer impaired sperm production, decreased testosterone secretion, and decreased size of prostate and testes. Females can experience blocked ovulation (Cohen, 1981; McGlothlin & West, 1968, Tapert et al., 1998).

Studies of marijuana’s influence on cognition have yielded mixed results (Culver & King, 1974; Wert & Raulin, 1986). Recent studies have demonstrated some mild impairments in attention, problem solving, and verbal learning following at least 1 day of abstinence among chronic, heavy users (Pope & Yurgelun-Todd, 1996), visuospatial memory problems in chronic female users (Pope, Jacobs, Mialet, Yurgelun-Todd, & Gruber, 1997), and complex problem solving (Block, Farinpour, & Braverman, 1992).

Hallucinogens
These drugs produce dramatic alterations in sensation and perception and include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin (from certain mushrooms), dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline (from the peyote cactus), 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine (DOM or STP), methylene dioxyamphetamine (MDA), methylene dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy,” “E,” or “X”), 2C-B (“Nexus”), ibotenic acid, and muscimol.

Hallucinogens are usually taken orally. Users experience intensification of perceptions, visual hallucinations, derealization, euphoria, alertness, and emotional lability. Confusion, paranoia, panic, loss of control, and depression may result. The most imminent risk during intoxication is acting on delusional beliefs (e.g., ability to fly). Physical effects include pupillary dilation, tachycardia, tremors, nausea, and sweating (Tapert et al., 1998). Heavy, long-term LSD use has been inconsistently associated with mild deficits in speeded visuomotor scanning abilities (Culver & King, 1974), and MDMA (“ecstasy”) may produce verbal learning and memory impairments (Krystal & Price, 1992). Incorrect chemical synthesis of MDMA and MDA can produce substances that cause severe Parkinsonian symptoms (e.g., MTPT). Hallucinogenic effects tend to be more intense for younger users than for older users. Tolerance can develop with frequent use (Tapert et al., 1999).

Dissociatives
Phencyclidine (PCP, Sernylan®, “Angel Dust”) and related compounds (Ketamine®, Ketaject®) were developed as anesthetics and became street drugs in the 1960s. Users can smoke, snort, orally ingest, or inject them. Because PCP is relatively inexpensive, drug dealers often mix it with other drugs (particularly marijuana) to intensify effects. Intoxicating effects include marked behavioral change, assaultiveness, belligerence, unpredictability, impaired judgment, euphoria, hallucinations, intensified perceptions, and heightened emotions. Some users experience hyperactivity, panic, paranoia, and confusion. Physical effects include numbness and diminished response to pain, psychomotor agitation and discoordination, tachycardia, slurred speech, and sometimes, catatonia, convulsions, respiratory depression, coma, and death (see review by Tapert et al., 1999). PCP has a half-life of approximately 18 hours, and, due to profoundly impaired judgment and reduced fear of pain, users may engage in very violent or destructive behaviors while high. PCP use is associated with long-term impairments in abstraction and motor skills (Carlin, Grant, Adams, & Reed, 1979).

Inhalants
Inhalants of abuse include industrial and household compounds, such as glues, aerosol sprays, gasoline, paints, paint thinners, nail polish remover, correction fluid, certain cleaning solvents, and nitrous oxide (“poppers,” “rush”). Due to availability and low cost, children, adolescents, and youth from economically disadvantaged regions comprise the majority of inhalant users. Euphoria, floating sensations, temporal distortion, and visual hallucinations occur acutely, followed by apathy, confusion, irritability, assaultiveness, and panic. Physical effects include loss of coordination, dizziness, headache, slurred speech, lethargy, psychomotor retardation, tremor, and blurred vision. Inhalant abuse can lead to serious physiological problems, including respiratory damage, eye, nose, and throat damage, as well as kidney, liver, heart, gastrointestinal, and nervous system damage (Morton, 1990). Death can occur from heart arrhythmias or suffocation from breathing out of plastic bags containing the solvent. Inhalant abuse is robustly associated with impaired attention, memory, fine motor, and visuospatial functioning (Allison & Jerrom, 1984).
Click to expand...

Substance Abuse: An Overview. (2004). In Comprehensive Handbook of Psychopathology. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sprhp/substance_abuse_an_overview
 
Zombie Jesus said:
Are you retarded?
Click to expand...

No.
Here is your statement which I question;
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by Zombie Jesus
You can be an alcoholic and recover and live a whole lot more than if you were a heroin addict trying to recover, same goes for meth and crack cocaine...it's not the same thing, that'd be like trying to compare methadone to Chantix at the end of the day.

Do you have anything to back this up?
 
Rune said:
No.
Click to expand...

I disagree.

Rune said:
Here is your statement which I question;
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by Zombie Jesus
You can be an alcoholic and recover and live a whole lot more than if you were a heroin addict trying to recover, same goes for meth and crack cocaine...it's not the same thing, that'd be like trying to compare methadone to Chantix at the end of the day.

Do you have anything to back this up?
Click to expand...

Like what, mortality rates for those who're in treatment taking methadone? Mortality rates for those recovering from withdrawal who's other organs start failing? Did you even read the link posted? Have you ever seen or used methadone? Or Chantix for that matter you silly cunt?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top