Drugs

Contents

Smoking Alcohol Heroin Antibiotics

WHY DO PEOPLE SMOKE???

Some young people smoke because they believe that smoking is a symbol of adulthood. This is reinforced by advertisement from cigarette companies, these

advertisements give an impression of maturity, social status, and happiness and success are linked with smoking. However, surveys have shown that many young

people smoke n order to cover up for their weaknesses or shortcomings such as

failing in their studies or sports.

There are many young people who start smoking out of curiosity. They want to experience what smoking is all about. Unfortunately, cigarette contains drugs that are addictive and so they find it hard to give up.Young people may like to imitate their parents who smoke. Many others smoke because ether wants to be accepted as members of a group of friends who smoke. Their friends persistent teasing and urging may make them feel that they are not spotting enough if they do not smoke. This is called peer group pressure

Effects of smoking

Smoking is hard on the heart, but the fact is, tobacco use plays a role in a multitude of diseases that ultimately lead to disability and/or death. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds; 200 of which are known to be poisonous, and upwards of 60 have been identified as carcinogens. Viewed in that light, it's no wonder that the effects of smoking are so widespread and destructive. Let's take a look at how cigarette smoke affects our bodies, from head to toe. You may be surprised at some of the ways smoking has a negative impact on our health.

Brain and Mental Effects:

Stroke Addiction/nicotine withdrawal Altered brain chemistry

Anxiety about harm caused by smoking

Respiration and Lungs:

Asthma chronic bronchitis and emphysema) Asthma chronic bronchitis and emphysema)

Heart:

Harms, blocks and weakens arteries of the heart Heart attack

Kidneys and bladder:

Kidney cancer Bladder cancer

Effects of smoking on pregnant women

The effects of smoking hold additional risks for women. Those who smoke throughout their pregnancies increase the risk of:

Spontaneous abortion/miscarriage Ectopic pregnancy Abruptio placenta Placenta previa Premature rupture of the membranes Premature birth

Risks to the fetus include:

Smaller infant(for gestational age) Stillborn infant Birth defects, e.g. congenital limb reduction

What Is Alcohol?

Alcohol is created when grains, fruits, or vegetables are fermented. Fermentation is

a process that uses yeast or bacteria to change the sugars in the food into alcohol.

Fermentation is used to produce many necessary items — everything from cheese

to medications. Alcohol has different forms and can be used as a cleaner, an

antiseptic, or a sedative.

So if alcohol is a natural product, why do teens need to be concerned about drinking it? When people drink alcohol, it's absorbed into their bloodstream. From there, it affects the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), which controls virtually all body functions. Because experts now know that the human brain is still developing during our teens, scientists are researching the effects drinking alcohol can have on the teen brain.

How Does It Affect the Body?

Alcohol is a depressant, which means it slows the function of

the central nervous system. Alcohol actually blocks some of

the messages trying to get to the brain. This alters a person's

perceptions, emotions, movement, vision, and hearing.

In very small amounts, alcohol can help a person feel more

relaxed or less anxious. More alcohol causes greater changes

in the brain, resulting in intoxication. People who have

overused alcohol may stagger, lose their coordination, and

slur their speech. They will probably be confused and

disoriented. Depending on the person, intoxication can make

someone very friendly and talkative or very aggressive and

angry. Reaction times are slowed dramatically — which is

why people are told not to drink and drive. People who are

intoxicated may think they're moving properly when they're not. They may act

totally out of character.

When large amounts of alcohol are consumed in a short period of time, alcohol poisoning can result. Alcohol poisoning is exactly what it sounds like — the body has become poisoned by large amounts of alcohol. Violent vomiting is usually the first symptom of alcohol poisoning. Extreme sleepiness,

Why Do Teens Drink?

Experimentation with alcohol during the teen years is common. Some reasons that

teens use alcohol and other drugs are:

curiosity

to feel good, reduce stress, and relax

to fit in

to feel older

From a very young age, kids see advertising messages showing beautiful people

enjoying life — and alcohol. And because many parents and other adults use alcohol

socially — having beer or wine with dinner, for example — alcohol seems harmless

to many teens.

Why Shouldn't I Drink?

Teens that drink are also more likely to get into fights and commit crimes than

those who dont.You can look really stupid. The impression is that drinking is cool,

but the nervous system changes that come from drinking alcohol can make people

do stupid or embarrassing things, like throwing up or peeing on themselves.

Drinking also gives people bad breath, and no one enjoys a hangover.

Alcohol puts your health at risk The risk of injuring yourself, maybe even fatally, is

higher when you're under the influence, too. One half of all drowning deaths among

teen guys are related to alcohol use. Use of alcohol greatly increases the chance

that a teen will be involved in a car crash, homicide, or suicide. Teen drinkers are

more likely to get fat or have health problems, too. One study by the University of

Washington found that people who regularly had five or more drinks in a row

starting at age 13 were much more likely to be overweight or have high blood

pressure by age 24 than their nondrinking peers. People who continue drinking

heavily well into adulthood risk damaging their organs, such as the liver, heart, and

brain.

Heroin

Heroin comes from the dried milk of the opium poppy, which is also used to create

the class of painkillers called narcotics — medicines like codeine and morphine.

Heroin can range from a white to dark brown powder to a sticky, tar-like substance

.

Effects & Dangers:

Heroin effects the central nervous system by depressing it. Heroin depresses nerve transmission in sensory pathways of the spinal cord and brain that signal pain. This explains why heroin is such an effective pain killer. Heroin also inhibits brain centers controlling coughing, and breathing.

Heroin is exceedingly addictive, quickly producing tolerance and dependence. Although heroin is even more effective as a painkiller than morphine and codeine, it is so highly addictive that its use is illegal. Methadone is a synthetic opiate that is used to break addiction to heroin (and replace it with addiction to methadone).

Short Term Heroin Effects

Soon after injection (or inhalation), heroin crosses the blood-brain barrier. In the brain, heroin is converted to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors. Abusers typically report feeling a surge of pleasurable sensation, a "rush." The intensity of the rush is a function of how much drug is taken and how rapidly the drug enters the brain and binds to the natural opioid receptors. Heroin is particularly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. With heroin, the rush is usually accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the extremities, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and severe itching.

After the initial effects, abusers usually will be drowsy for several hours. Mental function is clouded by heroin's effect on the central nervous system. Cardiac function slows. Breathing is also severely slowed, sometimes to the point of death. Heroin overdose is a particular risk on the street, where the amount and purity of the drug cannot be accurately known.

Analgesia (reduced pain) Brief euphoria (the "rush" or feeling of well-being) Nausea Sedation, drowsiness Reduced anxiety Hypothermia Reduced respiration; breathing difficulties Reduced coughing

Death due to overdose - often the exact purity and content of the drug is not known to the user. An overdose can cause respiration problems and coma

Long Term Heroin Effects

One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is addiction itself. Addiction is a characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, and by neurochemical and molecular change in the brain. Heroin also produces profound degrees of tolerance and physical dependence, which are also powerful motivating factors for compulsive use and abuse. As with abusers of any addictive drug, heroin abusers gradually spend more and more time and energy obtaining and using the drug. Once they are addicted, the heroin abusers' primary purpose in life becomes seeking and using drugs. The drugs literally change their brains.

Tolerance: more and more drug is needed to produce the euphoria and other effects on behavior.

Addiction: psychological and physiological need for heroin. People are driven to get more heroin and feel bad if they do not get it. People begin to crave heroin 4 to 6 hours after their last injection.

Withdrawal: About 8-12 hours after their last heroin dose, addicts' eyes tear, they yawn and feel anxious and irritable. Excessive sweating, fever, stomach and muscle cramps, diarrhea and chills can follow several hours later. These withdrawal symptoms can continue for 1 to 3 days after the last dose and can last 7 to 10 days. In some cases, full recovery can take even longer.

Other Heroin Effects

Medical consequences of chronic heroin abuse include scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses (boils) and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications (including various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis) may result from the poor health condition of the abuser as well as from heroin's depressing effects on respiration. Many of the additives in street heroin may include substances that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. Immune reactions to these or other contaminants can cause arthritis or other rheumatologic problems.

Of course, sharing of injection equipment or fluids can lead to some of the most severe consequences of heroin abuse-infections with hepatitis B and C, HIV, and a host of other blood-borne viruses, which drug abusers can then pass on to their sexual partners and children.

HIV/AIDS - due to sharing of needles Poisoning - from the addition of toxin to the drug Hepatitis - liver damage Skin infections - from repeated intravenous injections Other bacterial and viral infections Increase risk of stroke

Collapsed veins Lung infections

Not all of the mechanisms by which heroin and other opiates affect the brain are known. Likewise, the exact brain mechanisms that cause tolerance and addiction are not completely understood. Opiates stimulate a "pleasure system" in the brain. This system involves neurons in the midbrain that use the neurotransmitter called "dopamine." These midbrain dopamine neurons project to another structure called the nucleus accumbens which then projects to the cerebral cortex. This system is responsible for the pleasurable effects of heroin and for the addictive power of the drug. Other neurotransmitter systems, such as those related to endorphins, are also likely to be involved with withdrawal from and tolerance to heroin.

Addictiveness: Heroin is extremely addictive and easy to overdose on (which can

cause death). Withdrawal is intense and symptoms include insomnia, vomiting, and

muscle pain

Antibiotics

An antibiotic is a drug that kills or slows the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics are one

class of antimicrobials, a larger group which also includes anti-viral, anti-fungal, and

anti-parasitic drugs. Antibiotics are chemicals produced by or derived from

microorganisms (i.e. bugs or germs such as bacteria and fungi). The first antibiotic

was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 in a significant breakthrough for

medical science.

Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Some antibiotics are 'bactericidal', meaning that they work by killing bacteria. Other antibiotics are 'bacteriostatic', meaning that they work by stopping bacteria multiplying.Each different type of antibiotic affects different bacteria in different ways. For example, an antibiotic might inhibit a bacterium's ability to turn glucose into energy, or its ability to construct its cell wall. When this happens, the bacterium dies instead of reproducing.

Some antibiotics can be used to treat a wide range of infections and are known as 'broad-spectrum' antibiotics. Others are only effective against a few types of bacteria and are called 'narrow-spectrum' antibiotics.

Side effects of antibiotics

Antibiotics can literally save lives and are effective in treating illnesses caused by bacterial infections. However, like all drugs, they have the potential to cause unwanted side effects. Many of these side effects are not dangerous, although they can make life miserable while the drug is being taken.

In general, antibiotics rarely cause serious side effects. The most common side effects from antibiotics are diarrhea, nausea, vomiting. Fungal infections of the mouth, digestive tract and vagina can also occur with antibiotics because they destroy the protective 'good' bacteria in the body (which help prevent overgrowth of any one organism), as well as the 'bad' ones, responsible for the infection being treated. Some people are allergic to antibiotics, particularly penicillin’s. Allergic reactions cause swelling of the face, itching and a skin rash and, in severe cases, breathing difficulties. Allergic reactions require prompt treatment.

Types of antibiotics

There are many different kinds of antibiotics. The type of antibiotics you take depends on the type of infection you have and what kind of antibiotics are known to be effective.

The main classes of antibiotics:

Cephalosporin’s Macrolides Penicillins Tetracyclines

Cephalosporins

Cephalosporins are grouped into "generations" by their antimicrobial properties. Cephalosporins are categorized chronically, and are therefore divided into first, second, and third generations. Currently, three generations of cephalosporins are recognized and a fourth has been proposed. Each newer generation of

cephalosporins has greater gram negative antimicrobial properties than the preceding generation. The later-generation cephalosporins have greater effect against resistant bacteria.Cephalosporins are used to treat pneumonia, strep throat, staph infections, tonsillitis, bronchitis, otitis media, various types of skin infections, gonorrhea. Cephalosporin antibiotics are also commonly used for surgical prophylaxis. Cephalosporins are closely related to the penicillins.Cephalosporins have a bacteriocidal effect by inhibiting the synthesis of the bacteria cell wall.

Penicillins

Penicillin was the first antibiotic discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1929. Penicillins are used to treat skin infections, dental infections, ear infections, respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, gonorrhea. Penicillins are sometimes combined with other ingredients called beta-lactamase inhibitors, which protect the penicillin from bacterial enzymes that may destroy it before it can do its work. Penicillins are usually very safe. The greatest risk is an allergic reaction, which can be severe. People who have been allergic to cephalosporins are likely to be allergic to penicillins.Penicillins block the construction of bacteria cell walls, causing the walls to break down, and eventually killing the bacteria.

Tetracyclines

Tetracyclines are a family of antibiotics used to treat a broad spectrum of bacterial infections. Tetracyclines were discovered in the late 1940s and were extremely popular when they were first discovered. The tetracycline antibiotics have a very broad spectrum of action.Tetracyclines are used to treat mild acne, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme Disease, upper respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases, typhus.

Antibiotic resistance

Antibiotics are extremely important in medicine, but unfortunately bacteria are capable of developing resistance to them. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are germs that are not killed by commonly used antibiotics. When bacteria are exposed to the same antibiotics over and over, the bacteria can change and are no longer affected by the drug.

Bacteria have number of ways how they become antibiotic-resistant. For example, they possess an internal mechanism of changing their structure so the antibiotic no longer works, they develop ways to inactivate or neutralize the antibiotic. Also bacteria can transfer the genes coding for antibiotic resistance between them, making it possible for bacteria never exposed to an antibiotic to acquire resistance from those which have. The problem of antibiotic resistance is worsened when antibiotics are used to treat disorders in which they have no efficacy (e.g. antibiotics are not effective against infections caused by viruses), and when they are used widely as prophylaxis rather than treatment.

Resistance to antibiotics poses a serious and growing problem, because some infectious diseases are becoming more difficult to treat. Resistant bacteria do not

respond to the antibiotics and continue to cause infection. Some of these resistant bacteria can be treated with more powerful medicines, but there some infections that are difficult to cure even with new or experimental drugs