DRUGS

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DRUGS

• By Tanya Ricketts

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• A drug can be defined as a natural or synthetic
  substance that is used to produce physiological
  or psychological effects in humans or other
  higher order animals

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• Why are drugs used?
• To sustain / prolong life
• Some misuse to escape from the pressures of life
• Others may use drugs to end life

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• How many Americans drink alcohol regularly?
• 90 million
• 10 million are hopelessly addicted
• DOES IT CROSS SOCIAL/ETHNIC CLASSES OF SOCIETY?
• Yes

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• TODAY 23 million people in the US are users of
  illicit drugs.
• Half million heroin addicts and nearly 6
  million users of cocaine
• FORENSICS LABS
• More than 75 of evidence being evaluated in labs
  are drug related

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• Whats the difference between
• PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPENDENCE
  and
• PHYSICAL DEPENDENCE

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• Does drug use affect peoples needs
• Example
• HOW
• Social responsibilities
• Personal health
• Economic relationships
• Family obligations

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NARCOTIC DRUGS

• Narcotic from Greek work narkotikos
• Which implies lethargy or sluggishness
• Are analgesics
• They relieve pain by exerting a depressing action
  on the CNS
• What is the source of most analgesic narcotics?
• OPIUM

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• Although Morphine is extracted from opium - most
  addicts prefer to use one of its derivatives
  HEROIN
• Highly soluble in water
• What doest his matter?
• Its easier to use by IV
• Provides high that lasts 3 4 hours deep sense
  of well being, drowsiness

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• Codeine is also present in opium
• Present in cough suppressants
• 1/6 as strong as morphine
• Not attractive street drug for addicts

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• OxyContin an analgesic narcotic that has
  effects similar to those of heroin prescribed
  to a million patients for tx of chronic pain

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HALLUCINOGENS

• Are drugs that can cause marked alterations in
  normal thought processes, perceptions, and moods
• WHAT IS THE FIRST ONE THAT COMES TO MIND?
• Marijuana
• Most widely used illicit drug in the US
• More than 43 million Americans have tried

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• First introduce into the US around 1920
• Causes increased desire for sweets
• Long term use amotivational syndrome
  characterized by apathy, impairment of judgment,
  memory, and concentration
• Loss of interest in personal appearance
• And the pursuit of conventional goals

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• WHAT TWO AREAS OF RESEARCH
• Involving marijuana
• Reduction of excessive eye pressure in glaucoma
• And lessening of nausea caused by powerful
  anticancer drugs

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OTHER HALLUCINOGENS

• LSD lysergic acid diethylamide
• Vivid hallucinations up to 12 hours
• Changes in mood laughing or crying
• Feeling of anxiety and tension
• Flashbacks and psychotic reactions even after DC
  use

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PCP

• Phencyclidine
• Cookbook methods
• May be mixed with other drugs
• Feelings of strength and invulnerability
• Dreamy sense of detachment
• Unresponsive, confused, and agitated
• Depression, irritability , feelings of isolation

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• Audio/visual hallucinations
• Tendencies toward violence
• Suicide accompany long term daily use of the drug
• LSD lysergic acid dethylamide
• Visual hallucinations up to 12 hours
• Laughing to crying, mood changes

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DEPRESSANTS

• First one that comes to mind?
• ALCOHOL ETHYL ALCOHOL
• Depressant action on the CNS
• Alcohol to bloodstream to brain suppresses
  brains control of thought processes and muscle
  coordination
• WHAT DOES A DRUNK SOUND AND ACT LIKE?

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• EXTREMELY HIGH DOSES may cause and individual
  to lapse into unconsciousness or even into a
  comatose state that may be a prelude to a fatal
  depression of circulatory and respiratory
  functions

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BARBITURATES

• Downers
• They relax
• Feeling of well being, and produce sleep
• Slang terms barbs, yellow jackets, blue
  devils, reds
• Taken orally

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TRANQUILIZERS

• Relaxing tranquility without impairment of high
  thinking faculties or the inducement of sleep
• Major reserpine and chlorpromazine mental
  patients
• Mild miltown, librium, valium, produce
  psychological and physical dependency

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GLUE SNIFFING

• Volatile solvents
• CNS depressants
• Toluene, naphtha, methyl ethyl ketone, gasoline,
  and trichloroethylene
• Feeling of exhilaration and euphoria combined
  with slurred speech, impaired judgment, and
  double vision, drowsiness, stupor

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• May cause liver, heart, and brain damage
• High risk of death

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STIMULANTS

• Amphetamines
• Stimulate the CNS
• Uppers or speed
• Feeling of well being
• Increased alertness
• Followed by a decrease in fatigue and loss of
  appetite
• depression

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• IV injection of amphetamine - methamphetamine
• Flash or rush - followed by an intense feeling
  of pleasure constitutes the principal appeal of
  the in route speed freak
• Speed binge may inject 500 - 1000 milligrams
  of amphetamines every 2 3 hours

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• Users have euphoria that produces hyperactivity
  with a feeling of clarity of vision as well as
  hallucinations
• Then as it wears of - period of exhaustion and
  may sleep continuously for 1 2 days
• Then depression from days to weeks

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• New smokable of meth ice
• Effects for longer period of time
• Chronic users exhibit violent destructive
  behavior and acute psychoses similar to paranoid
  schizophrenia

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COCAINE

• Powerful stimulant to the CNS
• Increased alertness and vigor
• Accompanied by the suppression of hunger,
  fatigue, and boredom
• Sniffed or snorted absorbed through the mucous
  membranes of the nose

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• Crack snorted stimulates a pleasure center in
  the base of the brain, in an area connected to
  nerves that are responsible for emotions
• Cocaine related deaths are a result of cardiac
  arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest

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• Peruvian farmers may be paid 200 for enough coca
  leaves to make one pound of cocaine. The refined
  cocaine will be worth 1,000 when it leaves
  Colombia and will sell at retail in the US for up
  to 20,000

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CLUB DRUGS

• Synthetic drugs that are used at night clubs,
  bars, and raves ( all night dance parties)
• MDMA Ecstasy
• GHB
• Rohypnol Roofies
• Ketamine,
• methamphetamine

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• CNS depressants
• Acts that are Associated with drug sexual
  assault, rape, and robbery
• Effects accompanying the use of GHB include
  dizziness, sedation, HA, nausea
• Rohypnol cant remember what happened during the
  hours after ingesting the drug

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• Colorless, and tasteless
• Ecstasy most popular drug at rave club scenes
• Mind altering
• Hallucinogenic and amphetamine has effects
  like an appetite suppressant
• was later discovered to bring about feelings of
  happiness and relaxation

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• Seizures, muscle breakdown, stroke, kidney
  failure, CV system failure often accompany
  chronic abuse of ecstasy

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ANABOLIC STEROIDS

• Synthetic compounds that are chemically related
  to the male sex hormone testosterone
• Promotes the dev. Of secondary male
  characteristics and accelerates muscle growth
• Male athletes given anabolic steroids has
  generally found little/marginal
  strength/performance

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• Liver ca and other liver malfunctions have been
  linked to steroid use
• Masulinizing effects on females, infertility, and
  diminished sex drive in males
• Premature halting of bone growth
• Anger and destructive behavior
• depression

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DRUG CONTROL LAWS

• Legal community requires a thorough knowledge of
  drug classification and definitions as they are
  delineated by drug laws
• Chemists report must contain all info that is
  needed to properly charge a suspect under the
  provisions of the existing law

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CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT

• 5 schedules of classification
• Most severe penalties are associated with drugs
  that are listed in schedules I and II
• Example I and II an first offense - up to 20
  years in prison and fine of up to 1 million for
  individual or up to 5 million for other than
  individuals
• LOOK AT DIFFERENCE BT 252 - 253

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• READ 252 -254
• The act reflects an effort to decrease the
  prevalence of clandestine drug laboratories
  designed to manufacture controlled substances
• Regulates the manufacture and distribution of
  precursors, the chemical compounds used by
  clandestine drug labs to synthesize drugs or abuse

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DRUG ID

• No room for error b/c its results will have a
  direct bearing on the process of determining the
  guilt or innocence of a defendant

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• First screening tests to reduce these
  possibilities to a small and manageable number -
  may by color tests will produce ch. Colors for
  the more commonly encountered illicit drugs
• Second phase the analysis must be devoted to
  pinpointing and confirming the drugs identity

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COLOR TESTS

• Colors produced when brought into contact with
  specific chemical reagents
• Screening test only

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Microcystalline Tests

• More specific test
• Chemical reagent is added to a small quantity of
  the drug on a slide

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Chromatography

• Thin-layer and gas chromatography
• They separate drugs from their diluents while
  providing for their tentative id

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SPECTROPHOTOMETRY

• Selective absorption of light by drugs in the UV
  and IR regions of the electromagnetic spectrum
  provides a valuable technique
• UV spectrum not conclusive for the positive ID of
  a drug/ b/c other materials may very well produce
  an indistinguishable spectrum

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• Establishes the probable identity of a drug
• Infrared spectrophotometry specifically
  identify a substance
• Fingerprint of a compound

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MASS SPECTROMETRY

• Chromatography separates a drug from other
  substances - but not a specific id of material
  under investigation
• GC/MS gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
• READ PAGE 259

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ID OF MARIJUANA

• Botanical features observed under the microscope
  by a trained expert
• Chemical test
• Short hairs having the shape of bear claws of the
  upper side of the leaf

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PACKGING FOR EIVDENCE

• Glue sniffing air tight
• Depends on the state the drug found as to how
  packaged

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• Criminalistics chapter 9
• Do forensics CD Activity 8 drug bust