Dealing With The Effects Of Some Of The Most Commonly Abused Drugs
The excessive and indiscriminate use of drugs among teenagers and young adults has grown to alarming proportions. The problem has become a real menace to society that it can now hit both poor and rich families.
The easy availability of drugs is one of the factors that contributed to the sudden rapid spread of the problem of experimentation and involvement with such substances as the hallucinogens and opiates. More alarming is the fact that these commonly abused drugs are extremely potent.
The hallucinogens:
The lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the best example of this type of drugs. Its effects can last about ten hours or more. An experience with LSD can clog the brain with sensory information. And long after this unusual experience, the user may suffer from a vivid recurrence in his mind of the things he experienced when under the influence of the drug.
In some cases, use of a hallucinogen can lead to emotional breakdown. Rigidity of muscles, hallucinations and paranoia are some of its other certain effects. Long-term hazards include tolerance and psychological damage. Worse, addiction to the drug may lead to fatal accident or suicide. While there are no physical symptoms associated with its use, a psychotic state may result and persist even after use of the drug is discontinued.
Treatment for addiction to any of the hallucinogens calls for reassuring the user that the symptoms are not signs of a breakdown, but are instead drug-related. The use of phenothiazines (neuroleptic drugs) can check the effects of any of these potent drugs.
The opiates:
Heroin and morphine are the two best examples of this type of drugs. An overdose of these drugs can paralyze the respiratory muscles and lead to death. They can cause mood swings, euphoria, slurred speech, lethargy, shallow breathing, and loss of self-control. Malnutrition, tolerance, dependence, hepatitis and risk of AIDS are some of their long-term hazards.
Withdrawal symptoms associated with addiction to opiates include sweating, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, fever, jerking of muscles, weakness, and joint pains.
One treatment used for opiate addiction is the method known as methadone detoxification. In this method, a synthetic drug (methadone), which is less debilitating than an opiate, is administered to the addict under close medical supervision. The aim is to block the addict's desire for heroin, as how methadone has been discovered to work.
Another way of treatment is by taking up temporary residence in a rehabilitation community, where the opiate user can receive other helpful forms of therapy.