Vice and Drugs

• Definition of Drugs:

  • Pharmacologically, a drug is a chemical substance used as a medicine or in making medicines which affects the body and mind and have a potential for abuse
  • Criminologically, drugs refer to substances, other than food and water that is intended to be taken or administered for the purpose of altering, sustaining or controlling recipient’s physical, mental and emotional
  • Drug is a chemical substance that brings about physical, physiological, behavioral and/or psychological change in a person taking it
• Categories of Drugs:

  • Herbal Drugs: plant substances with drug effects not generally regulated by law
  • Over-the-Counter Drugs (OTC): commercially produced drugs that may be purchased legally without prescription
  • Prescription Drugs: commercially produced drugs that can be legally sold or dispensed only with a physician's order
  • Unrecognized Drugs: commercial products with psychoactive effects but not usually considered drugs
  • Illicit Drugs: drugs whose sale, purchase or use is generally prohibited by law
• Classification of Drugs According to Origin:

  • Natural Drugs: active ingredients come from plants and other living systems
  • Semi-Synthetic Drugs: derived from naturally occurring substances extracted from sources such as plants, bacteria or animal cells
  • Synthetic Drugs: artificial drugs prepared using certain chemicals instead of natural species synthesized in the laboratory for the illicit market
• Classification of Drugs According to Legal Classification:

  • Legal/Regulated Drugs: not prohibited by law and can be bought over-the-counter or with a prescription from medical doctors
  • Illegal/Prohibited Drugs: forbidden by law, not prescribed by a licensed medical professional for commercial, recreational or medicinal use
  • Volatile Substances: group of substances releasing toxic vapors or fumes which induce intoxication, excitement or dulling of the brain system
• The Stimulants:

  • Also known as “uppers”
  • Immediate effects include excitation, alertness, wakefulness, intense feeling of “highness”, reduced hunger, dilated pupils, talkativeness, sleep disturbance, increased heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure
  • Chronic abuse can lead to psychosis resembling schizophrenia, paranoia, hallucinations, violent and erratic behavior
  • Medical use includes treatment of Narcolepsy
• Kinds of Stimulants:

  1. Cocaine:

  • Intense, euphoria-producing stimulant drug with strong addictive potential
  • Originally used as a local anesthesia
  • Extracted from the leaves of the coca bush native to South America
  • Forms include Cocaine hydrochloride, Free-base cocaine, Crack cocaine
• Kinds of Stimulants:

  2. Amphetamines:

  • Stimulants that speed up the body’s system
  • Used medically for weight reduction, relief of mild depression, treatment of narcolepsy and ADHD
  • Common preparations include methamphetamine, amphetamine sulfate, dextroamphetamine
• Kinds of Stimulants:

  3. Shabu:

  • Type of amphetamine; Chemical name: Methamphetamine hydrochloride (HCL)
  • Most abused stimulant and drug in the Philippines
  • Commonly known as “poor man’s cocaine”
  • Slang names: upper, ha, speed, ice, meth, shabs, S
• Kinds of Stimulants:

  4. Caffeine:

  • Present in coffee, tea, chocolates, cola drinks, energy drinks and some wake-up pills
• Kinds of Stimulants:

  5. Nicotine:

  • Active component in tobacco acting as a powerful stimulant
• Caffeine:

  • Found in coffee, tea, chocolates, cola drinks, energy drinks, and some wake-up pills
• Nicotine:

  • Active component in tobacco
  • Acts as a powerful stimulant of the central nervous system
  • A drop of pure nicotine can easily kill a person
• Depressant drugs:

  • Also known as downers
  • Act on and depress the central nervous system
  • Cause initial relaxation leading to drowsiness and sleep
  • Results in impairment of judgment, hearing, speech, and muscle coordination
  • Dull the mind and slow down body reactions, leading to accidental deaths and suicides
• Kinds of depressants:

  • Narcotics:
  • Means sleep-inducing or numbness-inducing
  • Opioids is the proper term in medical and legal context
  • Opioids versus Opiates distinction
  • Originally applied to all compounds that produce insensibility through depression of the central nervous system
  • Relieves pain
  • Administration by injecting, ingestion, or inhalation
  • Opium:
  • Narcotic drug produced from the drying resin of unripe capsules of the opium poppy plant
  • Opium alkaloids first isolated in 1803
  • Slang names: gum, gamot, kalamay, panocha
• Opium signs and symptoms:

  • Stage of excitement
  • State of stupor
  • State of narcosis
  • Withdrawal syndrome
  • Stages of opium withdrawal
• Morphine:

  • First derivative of opium
  • Constitutes about 10% of raw opium
  • Discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Serturner in 1817
  • Known as the Soldier’s disease
  • Symptoms of abuse and withdrawal
• Heroin:

  • Derived from morphine
  • Most commonly abused narcotic drug
  • Symptoms of abuse and withdrawal
  • Discovered by Alder Wright in 1896
  • Slang names: Snow, stuff, junk tooth, H, White Horse, Horse, Dope
• Codeine:

  • Component of opium and a derivative of morphine
  • Also known as methylmorphine
  • Symptoms of abuse and withdrawal
  • Slang names: School boy, Captain Cody, Cody, Sizzurp, Pancake, Little C, Purple Drank
• Methadone:

  • Synthesized in Germany in 1943
  • Brand named Dolophine
  • Used in withdrawal treatment of heroin dependents
  • Common synthetic drug with morphine-like effects
• Demerol:

  • Widely used as a painkiller in childbirth
• Paregoric:

  • Tincture of opium in combination with camphor
  • Used as a household remedy for diarrhea and abdominal pain
• China White (Methyl Fentanyl):

  • Drug synthesized from the basic morphine molecule
  • More than 1,000 times more potent than heroin
• Barbiturates:

  • Used for inducing sleep and treating anxiety, mental stress, insomnia, epilepsy, and hypertension
  • Classified as ultrashort-acting, intermediate-acting, short-acting, and long-acting
  • Slang names: goofballs, footballs, barbs, blockbusters
• Methaqualone:

  • Synthetic sedative widely abused
  • Similar effect to barbiturates
• Tranquilizers:

  • Used in treating nervous disorders or calming psychotic patients
  • Kinds of tranquilizers: Meprobate, Diazepam
• Seconal:

  • Commonly used by hospitality girls
• Tranquilizers:

  • Seconal is commonly used by hospitality girls
  • Sudden withdrawal from Seconal is more dangerous than opiate withdrawal
  • Effects of Tranquilizers:
  • Causes physical weakness and sleepiness
  • Induces mental and psychological dullness
  • Calms the nervous system and relieves tension and anxiety
  • Overdose can lead to coma, respiratory failure, and death
• Hallucinogens:

  • Capable of provoking changes in sensation, thinking, self-awareness, and emotion
  • Can cause alterations in time and space perception, illusions, hallucinations, and delusions
  • Can be dissociatives, deliriants, or psychedelics
  • Types of hallucinations:
  • Illusion: wrongly perceived or interpreted by the senses
  • Delusion: false belief about external reality
  • Hallucination: false perception of objects or events involving senses
• Effects of Hallucinogens:

  • Strong emotional feelings
  • Recalling previously suppressed ideas and thoughts
  • Feeling of great creativity and imagination
  • Very lucid and clear thoughts
  • Changes in sensation, involving sounds that are "seen" and colors that seem to be heard
  • Feeling of oneness and beautiful perception of simple things
• Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa L):

  • Most commonly abused hallucinogen in the Philippines
  • Effects include feelings of grandeur and time distortion
  • Known as the world's oldest cultivated plant for drug use
  • Contains Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as the most active ingredient
• Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD):

  • Most powerful psychedelic drug, 1,000 times more potent than marijuana
  • Causes perceptual changes, intense hallucinations, and physical effects like dilated pupils and increased blood pressure
  • Can induce a "good trip" or a "bad trip" with terrifying perceptions
• Peyote:

  • Derived from a small gray-brown cactus
  • Causes no physical dependence or withdrawal symptoms
  • Side effects may include feelings of terror, anxiety, impaired perception, and psychotic reactions
• Phencyclidine (PCP):

  • Known as "angel dust"
  • Used as an anesthetic and analgesic, also for mental disorders
  • Can create violent and unpredictable hallucinations among users
  • Known for prompting feelings of strength and power
• Psilocybin:

  • Hallucinogenic alkaloid from small Mexican mushrooms
  • Effects include nausea, mood changes, and bright visions
  • Physiological effects similar to LSD
• Morning Glory Seeds:

  • Known as Lysergic Acid Amide
  • Used to produce hallucinations
  • Reactions similar to LSD but less potent
• Ecstasy (MDMA):

  • Associated with rave parties
  • Sensory-altering properties heightened by sensory stimulation
• Rohypnol:

  • Known as the date rape drug
  • Colorless, odorless, and tasteless
  • Causes incapacitating sedative effects lasting 8-12 hours
  • Can induce amnesia and intensify sedative effects when mixed with alcohol