Getaway lecture:

In the context of Sedatives/Hypnotics, redistribution involves two phases which are drug
molecules accumulate in fat stores very quickly and those molecules gets bio-transformed by the
liver and excreted by the kidney slowly.
Monday Lecture:
1. A. The half-lives of sedatives/hypnotics are an important concept.
b. The half-lives of sedative/hypnotics are an important concept to know because it tells one how
long the drugs are going to be in one’s system before all are excreted out by the kidney.
Knowing this concept can save the lives of many. For example, people with insomnia will tend to
dose every night and the drugs with longer half-lives of active metabolites will accumulate. So, night by
night more and more molecules will accumulate and that can interfere with the person's activities
during the day. The use of benzodiazepine in these cases has been found to increase # of daytime falls in
elderly people probably due to accumulation of drug, which are eliciting drug effects and making them
drowsy even in the day light. Therefore, knowing the half-lives of a drug can help people be more
cautious about the drug they are taking.
2. a. The two principal reasons for using drugs that will produce sedation are to control anxiety and
induce sleep.
b. I feel that the two principal reasons for using drugs are important to know because many people
suffer from anxiety and sleeping problems. These drugs can be dangerous and addictive if there is a
chronic use of it but it is important to understand that it will help many people who are suffering from
anxiety and sleeping problems. This is why the two principal reasons for using drugs that will produce
sedation very important.
3. a. The lipid solubility of barbiturates and benzodiazepines are very important to consider. These two
classes of drugs have a high lipid solubility.
b. Knowing the lipid solubility of barbiturates and benzodiazepines are very important to consider
because they can travel to the various body compartments very fast because they have a high lipid
solubility. Their drug molecules will cross the cell membrane easily and thus are able to cross into the
brain compartments. When a numerous number of drugs cross the blood brain barrier, it can be toxic to
the brain. These drugs will be able to dissolve in body fat and will tend to accumulate in fat stores
throughout the body—including the brain. These are some important characteristics of barbiturates and
benzodiazepines.
4. a. In addition to the two principal reasons for using drugs that produce sedation, which are to control
anxiety and induce sleep, there are other legitimate medical reasons for using sedatives and these
reasons are important.
b. I feel that the concept of using sedatives for other medical reasons not only to control anxiety and
induce sleep is very important because sedatives can also be used to control other medical conditions or
aid people in medical procedures. For example, sedatives can help control epilepsy, induce anesthesia,
help stabilize people with more severe psychological vulnerabilities, and to produce a more relaxed
patient In those medical procedures that do not require deep anesthesia. This is why the concept of
sedatives for medical reasons is very important.

Wednesday and Friday Lecture:

1. A. The behavioral outcomes of barbiturates are very important. The behavior outcomes of
barbiturates are decreased anxiety with low dose and with high dose the outcomes are dis-
inhibition, sedation, sleep, anesthesia, come, and death.
b. I feel that knowing these behavioral outcomes of barbiturates with different doses are very
important. If one does not know the doses of barbiturates, and uses a lot of them, then danger can
come to them easily, dangers like coma and death. Knowing that barbiturates have wide range of
behavioral outcomes not only decrease anxiety is very important for people’s health and life.
2. a. The behavioral outcome of Ambien is very important to know. Ambien increases slow wave sleep
(stage 4).
b. I feel that the behavioral outcome of Ambien is very important to know because those outcomes can
become very dangerous, and people should take some sort of caution when taking them. For example,
increasing slow wave sleep increase the period of time where people sleep walk. Meaning that under
the influence of Ambien some people have reported incidences of sleep walking, sleep eating, and sleep
driving. Driving, walking, and eating while asleep is very dangerous for one. Knowing that Ambiens can
increase slow wave sleep and the possibility of leading one to either sleep eating or driving is very
important and can make on more aware of the possible consequences of the drug Ambien.
3. Cross tolerance is the tolerance of a particular drug also extends to other drugs from the same class
even if one has never taken those other drugs.
b. I feel that the cross tolerance of drugs are very important because if one has a tolerance for
phenobarbital, there may be a cross tolerance for benzodiazepine like valium even though one has not
taken that drug before. And if a patient with a tolerance to phenobarbital is prescribed valium, they can
have a cross tolerance to valium and valium will not work, in the dose they are prescribed. So knowing
this concept of cross tolerance because very important for doctors, pharmacists and more.
4. Summation is the ingestion of different drugs from the same class can sometimes produce a greater
drug effect.
b. I feel that the concept of summation effect is very important because this effect can become
dangerous. For example, if a person takes barbiturates that induces dis-inhibition, then takes a dose of
methaqualone, the resulting behavior is more like the behavior following a much larger dose of
barbiturates. And as we know the effects of larger dose of barbiturates can lead to a wide variety of
effects ranging from decreased anxiety to even coma and death. This is why knowing the summation
effect can be very important when taking of a drug of the same class and can save one’s life.
5. a. The long-term outcome of liver concerning biotransformation is very important.
b. I feel that the outcome of liver concerning biotransformation is very important because overtime as
people keep on using drugs in high doses, the liver’s bio-transforming molecules will usually result in the
increased efficiency of the liver enzyme systems-- and in some cases will lead to a physically larger liver.
When the liver gets large it means that the cells are getting inflamed, and some can die leading to
fibrosis in the liver where the liver will have scars of the dead cells and as fibrosis increases, it will
become harder for the liver to bio-transform drug molecules. So when taking high doses drugs, one
should be aware of the consequences of chronic drug use overtime. And this is why I feel that the
information about liver and the mechanics of biotransformation is very important to know.

Weli:
Weli in his book argues that the reason why we take drug has to do with our biology. He says that some
children who choke themselves and others to produce unconsciousness appears spontaneously among
children across all cultures. Like this choking game, we are all born with desires to experience episodes
of altered consciousness. And this drive shows up at an early age in all activities that causes loss or
major disturbance of awareness. And this drive persists. As kids grow, they explore many ways of
inducing similar changes in consciousness and usually discover chemical methods. So which is to say that
for such reasons Weli says that we have a biological basis of this drive for why people do drugs.

Extra Credit:
The likelihood of experiencing “sleep driving,” or “sleep eating” increase when taking a drug like Ambien
and not increase when taking a drug like phenobarbital. This is because when one takes Ambien, their
slow wave sleep (stage 4) increases. This is the stage where people experience sleep walking. When this
stage increases, there is a possibility for some to sleepwalk or sleep eat or even sleep drive as some
have reported. On the other hand, taking phenobarbital does not increase the stage 4 sleep which is
why taking drugs like phenobarbital does not increase the likelihood of experiencing “sleep driving,” or
“sleep eating.”