DRUGS

1. DRUGS By Tanya Ricketts

2. 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

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

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

5. 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

6. What’s the difference between PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPENDENCE and PHYSICAL DEPENDENCE

7. Does drug use affect people’s needs : • Example: • HOW • Social responsibilities • Personal health • Economic relationships • Family obligations

8. 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

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

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

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

12. 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

13. 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

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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

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

19. 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

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

21. 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

22. 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

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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

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

32. 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

33. 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

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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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 drug’s identity

42. COLOR TESTS • Colors produced when brought into contact with specific chemical reagents • Screening test only

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

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

45. 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

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

48. 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

49. 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

50. PACKGING FOR EIVDENCE • Glue sniffing – air tight • Depends on the state the drug found as to how packaged