Drugs and Alcohol

1
Drugs and Alcohol

• Module 17

2
Facts About Alcohol Consumption

• The nations 12 million undergraduates drink 4
  billion cans of beer annually, averaging 55
  six-packs each. At 446 per student, the average
  student spends more on alcoholic drinks than on
  soft drinks and textbooks combined.
• There is a negative correlation between college
  grades and the amount of alcohol consumed. One
  study found that A students have, on average, 3
  drinks a week, whereas those making Ds and
  Fs average 11 drinks a week. Students with
  high academic standing drink less in virtually
  all contexts than students with low academic
  standing.

3
Facts About Alcohol Consumption

• 95 of violent crime on college campuses is
  alcohol or drug-related. 73 of the assailants
  and 55 of the victims of rape had used alcohol
  or other drugs. Two-thirds of student suicides
  were legally drunk at the time, and 90 of fatal
  fraternity hazing accidents involve drinking.
• Students in the Northeast drink more than those
  in the South or the West.
• Alcohol and drug using rates decline overall
  during the mid-20s, when serious responsibilities
  often kick in. Being engaged, married, or even
  remarried quickly brings down alcohol use.

4
Student Project

• Go to the Web site http//www.alcoholandotherdr
  ugs.com
• Read three chapters
• Prepare a written and oral report for the class

5
Dependence and Addiction

• Handout 17-1
• Comes from National Institute on Drug Abuse
• No norms are provided, but if respondents are
  answering yes to three or more questions on the
  Drug Use survey or obtain a total score of 8 or
  more on the AUDIT, they may be abusing drugs or
  alcohol.
• High scores on AUDITs first three questions
  suggest hazardous alcohol use, elevated scores on
  items 4 through 6 imply the presence or emergence
  of alcohol dependence, and high scores on the
  remaining items suggest harmful alcohol use.

6
Handout 17-2, The Internet Addiction Test

• What is addiction?
• How do you know you are addicted?
• Scoring
• Add the numbers you have placed before the 20
  questions.
• Total scores can range from 20 to 100
• 20-49 points indicates that you are an average
  online user
• You may surf a bit too long, but you have
  control over your usage
• 50-79 points indicates that you are experiencing
  occasional or frequent problems because of the
  Internet and should consider its full impact on
  your life.
• 80-100 indicates that Internet usage is causing
  significant problems in your life that need to be
  addressed.

7
Internet Addiction

• Young suggests that Internet addiction can injure
  childrens lives, destroy friendships and
  marriages, and cost jobs. The heavy users Young
  interviewed often indicated that Internet usage
  was part of an addictive pattern. In fact, 52
  were in recovery programs for other addictions
  and 54 had a history of depression. For help
  contact http//www.netaddiction.com

8
What is Addiction

• This is all controversial.
• Critics have raised questions about the validity
  and reliability of the test as well as the way
  the term, addiction, is used.
• Addiction has traditionally meant a craving for a
  substance with physical symptoms such as aches,
  nausea, and distress following sudden withdrawal.
  Certain behaviors gambling, the internet can
  become compulsive and dysfunctional. Should we
  extend the addiction concept to cover such
  behaviors?

9
What Might the Real Problem Be?

• depression
• a deficit in a persons life
• loneliness
• There are many people who acknowledge that their
  Internet time is out of control. There are
  support groups such as Jean Baker Wunder,
  director for Family Support Groups Inc. who get
  calls all the time for help.
• What is the problem with calling this a disease?
  The person may expect sympathy for the problem
  rather than seeking help for him/herself.
• There is a less than serious group on the
  Internet called the Webaholics that offers web
  sites where webaholics can make their
  confessions.

10
The top 10 reasons college students give for
consuming alcohol

• It increases my feelings of social ability
• It relieves anxiety or tension
• It makes me feel elated or euphoric.
• It makes me less inhibited in thinking, saying,
  or doing certain things.
• It enables me to go along with my friends.
• It enables me t experience a different state of
  consciousness.
• It makes me less inhibited sexually.
• It enables me to stop worrying.
• It alleviates depression.
• It makes me less self-conscious

11
Rohypnol A Date Rape Drug

• Street names roofies, rooches
• Estimated to be 7 10 times more potent than
  valium.
• Produces profound, prolonged sedation, a feeling
  of well-being, and short-term memory loss.
• Legally prescribed in 64 countries for insomnia
  and as a preoperative anesthetic, it has never
  been approved for use in the United States.

12
Rohypnol A Date Rape Drug

• In the mid-1990s it became a tool of predators
  who would spike the drinks of unsuspecting young
  women and then rape them.
• It causes sedation within 15 minutes
• The effects are boosted by alcohol or marijuana
• Women often cant remember what happened to them

13
What can women do?

• Dont drink a beverage you didnt open yourself
• Dont exchange or share drinks with anyone
• Dont accept a drink from a punch bowl.
• Dont drink from a container thats being passed
  around
• Dont leave your drink unattended.
• Dont drink anything that has an unusual taste or
  appearance.
• When you get a drink from the bar, watch it being
  poured and carry it to your table by yourself.

14
Three types of Drinkers

• Heavy drinkers frequently drink to the point of
  physical distress.
• Problem drinkers not only drink heavily but also
  experience trouble with authorities as a result
  for example, disorderly conduct, driving while
  under the influence, warnings from school
  authorities. Frequently, problem drinkers do NOT
  label their own drinking pattern as problematic.
• Context-dependent drinkers typically drink in
  social settings such as bars or lounges with
• new acquaintances or strangers, rather
• than at home by themselves or with family.

15
Exercise Alcohol ExpectanciesHandout 17-3

• Items 1-5 the belief that alcohol is a global,
  positive transforming agent
• 6-10 the expectancy that alcohol enhances both
  social and physical pleasure
• 11-15 alcohol enhances sexual experience and
  performance
• 16-20 alcohol enhances power and aggression
• 21-25 alcohol increases social assertiveness
• 26-30 alcohol reduces tension
• Score from 0 to 5 on each factor with higher
  scores reflecting a great expectancy that alcohol
  has the stated (above) effect.

16
AEQ Results

• Research has shown that scores on the AEQ are
  highly correlated with adult and adolescent
  drinking practices, included problem drinking and
  alcoholism. These expectancies are better
  predictors of drinking behavior than demographic
  or background variables. Expectancies measured
  in seventh and eighth grades predict actual
  alcohol consumption a full year later.

17
Why Smoke?Handout 17-4 11 or above is
significant

• Stimulation (A,G,M scores), a lift, awaken
• Handling (B,H,N scores) the touch and feel
• Pleasure, relaxation (C,I,O scores)
• Reduce negative feelings (D,J,P scores), relieve
  stress
• Craving psychological and physical addiction
  (E,K, Q scores)
• Habit (F,L,R scores) no
  longer receive gratification

18
Caffeine

• Most popular and ancient drug
• Occurs naturally in more than 60 plants and trees
• Stimulate certain neurotransmitters in the CNS
• Can temporarily increase heart rate, metabolism,
  and stomach acid secretion
• Dilates some blood vessels, constricts others
• Can produce trembling, chronic muscle tension,
  throbbing headaches, depression, insomnia
• May adversely affect those with hypertension.
• May cause bone loss in postmenopausal women who
  have a low intake of calcium

19
Caffeine

• Caffeine poses health risks only for certain
  susceptible people
• People who experience palpitations
• Women who regularly consume more than 300 mg of
  caffeine daily may reduce their chances of
  becoming pregnant and increase their chances of
  having a miscarriage or delivering an underweight
  baby.
• Can trigger heartburn in some people and
  aggravate an existing ulcer.
• Some research suggests that people who suffer
  from anxiety problems tend to feel better when
  off caffeine.

20
Marijuana Is it good medicine?

• Arizona and California first to allow marijuana
  for medical purposes
• Several people have won the right to take it for
  their symptoms
• More research is being done
• The 1999 National Academy of Sciences report did
  not support claims that marijuana is helpful in
  combating glaucoma, migraine headaches, and
  movement disorders such as Parkinsons disease.

21
Marijuana as Medicine?

• One problem is that patients must inhale harmful
  smoke.
• marijuana is used illicitly by many AIDS
  sufferers who rely on it to control their
  symptoms.
• What are the arguments against its legalization,
  at least for medical purposes?
• Federal government officials fear that any
  sanctioned use would lead to liberalization of
  drug laws, which could lead to increased drug
  use. Others argue that newer drugs and therapies
  do what marijuana once did particularly for
  nausea from chemotherapy

22
The First Acid Trip,1943Chemist Albert Hofmann,
Creator of LSD

• Last Friday, April 16, 1943, I was forced to
  stop my work in the laboratory in the middle of
  the afternoon and to go home, as I was seized by
  a particular restlessness associated with a
  sensation of mild dizziness. On arriving home, I
  lay down and sank into a kind of drunkenness
  which was not unpleasant and which was
  characterized by extreme activity of imagination.
  As I lay in a dazed condition with my eyes closed
  (I experienced daylight as disagreeably bright)
  there surged upon me an uninterrupted stream of
  fantastic images of extraordinary plasticity and
  vividness and accompanied by an intense
  kaleidoscope-like play of colors. The condition
  gradually passed off after two hours.

23
LSD Basic Information

• Variously called acid, sugar, big D, trips, or
  micro-dots, LSD is an extremely potent
  hallucinogen.
• The average dosage that will produce changes in
  consciousness, or what are called psychomimetic
  effects, is approximately 0.51.0 micrograms of
  LSD per kilogram of body weight. So if you weigh
  150 pounds, 1/20,000 of a gram will have an
  effect. Even more remarkable is that if such a
  dosage is taken orally, only about 1 percent of
  it will ever reach the brain.
• Although the use of LSD probably does not produce
  either physical or psychological dependency, the
  user does develop a tolerance for the drug very
  quickly.

24
LSD - Problems

• disrupts the balance between intuition and
  analytic reasoning that is required for genuine
  creation.
• affects motor abilities, preventing the user from
  communicating new insights.
• produces elevated heart rate, body temperature,
  and blood pressure, and faster, more erratic
  breathing.
• bad trips, can be harrowing and traumatic.
  Hallucinations, even of ones own body image, can
  be grotesque and threatening.
• People may feel completely out of control or
  believe they can fly, walk on water, or perform
  some other amazing feat. There may be a feeling
  of paranoia and fear not only of strangers but
  also of friends and relatives. Depression and
  acute anxiety may lead to dangerous acts, the
  most extreme being suicide.

25
LSD - Problems

• A small minority continue to experience mental
  confusion, perceptual distortions, and poor
  concentration for days after the experience.
• In very rare cases, individuals have complained
  of disturbances years after being exposed to LSD.
  
• Some experience flashbacksspontaneous,
  involuntary recurrences of perceptual
  distortionsmonths later. These are reportedly
  every bit as vivid as those experienced during
  the original trip. Unprepared for this
  recurrence, people may react with fear, anxiety,
  and, in some cases, psychotic behavior.