



Facts
Approximately 45,000 women in this country used cocaine during pregnancy in 1992, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Cocaine is a dangerous drug for unborn babies. While earlier predictions that many cocaine-exposed babies would be severely brain damaged have not come true, these babies still face many health problems, ranging from subtle to life-threatening. Long-term use of Ecstasy appears to produce damage to the serotonin systems in the brain. Serotonin plays a part in regulating emotion, memory, sleep, pain, and higher-- order cognitive processes. This damage can cause many different cognitive and behavioral disturbances, including impairment of memory. Despite the danger, or in ignorance of it, many take Ecstasy simply to feel good or to combine stimulation with feelings of affection, warmth, and love. Also, because the drug dramatically increases energy levels, it reduces the perceived need to eat, drink, or sleep. As a result, users can endure all-night, and sometimes two- or three-day dance parties. All of the heroin, morphine, codeine, and THEBAINE used in the world begins as opium. Raw opium, removed from the plant, is first refined by cooking. It is then chemically altered in various ways to produce the other products. In its crudest form, opium is smoked or eaten by people to get high. In fact, farmers who grow it illegally sometimes become high just by collecting the sap. More commonly, though, raw opium is passed through a series of chemical processes that isolate its morphine. The morphine is the plant's most psychoactive, or mind-altering, ingredient. Then the morphine is further refined into heroin. (Entries for codeine, heroin, and morphine are available in this encyclopedia.) Ecstasy overdose is usually characterized by an extremely elevated body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Combining ecstasy with other drugs may or may not be intentional, since the true contents of an ecstasy tablet or capsule are rarely known to the user. For example, PMA, sold with or in place of MDMA as ecstasy, takes nearly four times longer than MDMA to take effect; therefore the user might take extra doses thinking the original was not adequate. Multiple doses, coupled with the toxic effects PMA has on the heart, can have tragic consequences. Ecstasy is toxic to the body, and the extent to which a person is affected depends on many factors, including the body chemistry of the user, the dose consumed, additional drugs also consumed, and the chemical composition and quantity of the drug or drugs taken as ecstasy. |
Intervention
An intervention is when a group of loved ones and/or a trained intervention counselor meets with the person in need of help for the purpose of breaking down their denial and motivating them to immediately seek drug addiction treatment. Often, individuals in the midst of drug addiction engage in a variety of self destructive behaviors. Although baffling to friends and family members such people generally either aren't aware on a conscious level that they have a drug addiction problem, or even when they know they have a problem they may cling to the false belief that the problem will somehow go away without any outside help. When an intervention is held a moment of clarity is created
for the addict. Most people struggling with the problem of drug or alcohol
addiction will accept help the very day of the intervention.
Abstinence
Abstinence is the act or practice of refraining from indulging a desire. The type of abstinence we are referring to here is abstinence from drugs and alcohol. This term has two connotations when it comes to abstaining from drugs. The first refers to drug or alcohol treatment programs that aim to help an individual stop using drugs or alcohol for the rest of their lives. The time abstinence is also used in drug education and prevention. It refers to trying to stop children from ever using drugs.
Drug Rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a place or program that an individual enters to treat a drug or alcohol addiction. Through therapy and education, the individual is restored to their former non-drug using self. They are then able to re-enter society clean and sober. There are many reasons why a person would need to attend a drug rehabilitation program. Some of the many reasons are: the inability to control their drinking or drug use, alienating their friends and family, problems with the law, and problems at work. Also, there are several different types of drug rehabilitation programs available: inpatient, outpatient, residential, short-term, and long-term.
Drug Overdose
A drug overdose occurs when you consume more drugs than your body can tolerate. Drug users are constantly flirting with the risk of a drug overdose. There is a
fine line between the high they're seeking and serious injury or death. While many victims of drug overdose recover without long term effects, there
can be serious consequences. Some drug overdoses cause the failure of major
organs like the kidneys or liver, or failure of whole systems like the
respiratory or circulatory systems. Patients who survive drug overdose may need
kidney dialysis, kidney or liver transplant, or ongoing care as a result of
heart failure, stroke, or coma. Death can occur in almost any drug overdose
situation, particularly if treatment is not started immediately.
Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is a pattern of repeated drug taking that usually results in tolerance (the need for greater amounts of the drug to achieve the same effect), withdrawal (physical and cognitive effects when drug use declines or stops), and compulsive drug taking behavior (drug taking that persists despite efforts to reduce intake and despite problems with family, friends, and work). Drug addiction encompasses a diverse range of drugs (such as alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, and cocaine) and is caused by many different factors.
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