© Copyright 2011, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 5 Narcotics: Opium, Heroin,...

© Copyright 2011, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5

Narcotics:Opium, Heroin, and Synthetic Opiates


Opiates

• Opiates are a form of narcotic drug that include opium and three natural components that can be extracted from it: morphine, codeine, and thebaine.


Figure 5.1


Opium in History

• A drug with a very long history, opium has been used for medicinal and recreational purposes for approximately 5,000 years.

• During the nineteenth century, opium even figured in global politics as the instigating factor for the Opium War fought between China and Britain.


Opium in History

• At the time, opium use was widespread in Britain and the United States at all levels of society.


Morphine and theAdvent of Heroin

• The discovery of morphine in 1803 as the principal active ingredient in opium revolutionized medical treatment of pain and chronic diseases.

• At the end of the nineteenth century, heroin was introduced by the Bayer Company in Germany.

• Initially, it was believed that heroin lacked the dependence-producing properties of morphine.


Opiates and Heroinin American Society

• The abuse potential of morphine and especially of heroin was not fully realized until the beginning of the twentieth century.

• Social and political developments in the United States after the passage of the Harrison Act in 1914 drove heroin underground, where it acquired a growing association with criminal life.


Opiates and Heroinin American Society

• Heroin abuse became associated with African American and other minority communities in urban ghettos after World War II; later, the drug revolution and the military involvement in Vietnam during the 1960s and 1970s brought the issue of heroin abuse to a wider population.


Effects on the Mindand the Body

• The effects of narcotic drugs such as heroin include euphoria, analgesia, gastrointestinal slowing, and respiratory depression.

• Respiratory depression is the major risk factor for heroin intake.


How Opiates Workin the Brain

• Since the 1970s, we have known that the effects of morphine and similar drugs are the result of the activation of morphine-sensitive receptors in the brain.


Figure 5.2


How Opiates Workin the Brain

• Three families of chemical substances produced by the brain bind to these receptors.

• These chemicals are collectively known as endorphins.


Patterns of Heroin Abuse

• Chronic heroin abuse is subject to tolerance effects over time.


Table 5.1


Patterns of Heroin Abuse

• Withdrawal effects include intense craving for heroin and physical symptoms such as diarrhea and dehydration.

• One of the major problems surrounding heroin abuse is the unpredictability in the content of a heroin dose.


Table 5.2


Treatment for Heroin Abuse

• Treatment for heroin abuse includes short-term detoxification and long-term interventions that address the continuing craving for the drug and physical dependence factors in the body.


Treatment for Heroin Abuse

• Methadone-maintenance programs focus primarily on the physiological needs of the heroin abuser, whereas therapeutic communities and support groups focus on his or her long-term reintegration into society.


Opiate Use, Misuse,and Abuse

• In medical settings, narcotic drugs have been extremely helpful in the treatment of pain, in the treatment of dysentery, and in the suppression of coughing.


Table 5.3



• Side effects of opiate-based medications include respiratory depression, intestinal spasms, and sedation.

• There has been great concern since the late 1990s that prescription pain relievers have been diverted to nonmedical purposes and are subject to abuse.



• Three medications of this type are OxyContin, Vicodin, and Percocet.

• More than half of young adults who have used a prescription pain reliever for nonmedical reasons report that the drug was obtained free from a friend or relative.

© Copyright 2011, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 5 Narcotics: Opium, Heroin,...

Documents

Transcript of © Copyright 2011, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 5 Narcotics: Opium, Heroin,...