Drug Use and Abuse

Eighth Edition

Chapter 1
Drug Use and Abuse

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 Influences of Alcohol and Drug Abuse

• Ten systems are affected by alcohol and drug abuse:

– Athletic
– Legal
– Religious
– Biological
– Medical
– Social/cultural
– Economic
– Political
– Educational
– Psychological

© 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

 Pharmacology and Drugs

• Focus of this text is human psychopharmacology.

• Psychopharmacology: the scientific study of the effects
of drugs on behavior
• Drug: broadly defined as any chemical entity or mixture
of entities not required for the maintenance of health
but that alters biological function or structure when
administered

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 Drug Abuse versus Drug Use

• Drug Abuse: any use of drugs that causes physical,

psychological, legal, or social harm to the individual
user or to others affected by the drug user’s behavior
• Drug Use: drug consumption that does not meet the
criteria for drug abuse

© 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

 Understanding Psychopharmacology
• Six major ways pharmacologists classify drugs:
1. Origin
2. Therapeutic use
3. Site of drug action
4. Chemical structure
5. Mechanism of action
6. Street name
• Three sets of factors in the drug experience:
1. Pharmacological
2. Characteristics of the drug user
3. Setting in which the drug is used

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 Alcohol and Drug Use in the United States
(1 of 2)
TABLE 1.1 Percentages of Individuals Aged 12 and Older Who Reported Use
of Drugs for the Past Year and Past Month, 2014 and 2015
Past Year Past Year Past Month Past Month
Drug 2014 2015 2014 2015
Marijuana 13.2 13.5 8.4 8.3
Cocaine 1.7 1.8 0.6 0.7
Inhalants N/A 1.0 N/A 0.2
Hallucinogens N/A 1.8 N/A 0.5
Heroin 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.1
Nonmedical use of any psychotherapeutic N/A 7.1 N/A 2.4
Alcohol 66.6 65.7 52.7 51.7
Cigarettes 24.8 23.1 20.8 19.4

Note: Psychotherapeutic drugs include any prescription-type stimulant, sedative,

tranquilizer, or analgesic. They do not include over-the-counter drugs. “Use” means
used at least one time. N/A = due to change in 2015 survey design, data not available.
Source: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (2016).

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Alcohol and Drug Use in the United States
(2 of 2)
• People in the United States use a variety of drugs.
• Polydrug use (the same person’s regular use of more
than one drug) is common.
• Alcohol, tobacco cigarettes, and marijuana or hashish
consistently have appeared as the most commonly
tried and currently used psychoactive drugs.

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 Negative Consequences of Drug and
Alcohol Abuse
• Economic costs to society:
– Estimated cost of alcohol abuse is about $224 billion.
– Estimated cost of drug abuse is $193 billion.
• Social costs:
– Unnecessary burden on emergency room resources to
treat overdoses
– Drunk driving fatalities
– Drug-related crime

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 Characteristics of Users
• Getting an accurate picture of drug use is possible only
by looking at the characteristics of the users.
• For example, the heaviest and most frequent illicit drug
use is among young adults (ages 18 to 25).
• Men are more likely than women to report alcohol and
drug use in the past month.

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 Defining Harmful Drug Use (1 of 2)
• DSM-5: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, used by
American Psychiatric Association to define illnesses
• DSM-5: Does not distinguish between dependence and
abuse
• DSM-5: Includes 11 criteria for Current Substance
Abuse Disorder. Criteria 1 through 9 focus on drug
addiction. Criteria 10 and 11 focus on tolerance and
withdrawal.

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 Defining Harmful Drug Use (2 of 2)
• Addiction: overwhelming involvement with using a drug
and getting an adequate supply of it, and having a
strong tendency to resume use of it after stopping for a
period of time
• Psychological dependence: the emotional state of
craving a drug either for its positive effect or to avoid
negative effects associated with its abuse
• Craving: typically a strong or intense desire to use a
drug

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 Drug Tolerance, Withdrawal, and Drug-
Taking Behavior
• Tolerance: increased amounts of a drug needed to
achieve intoxication, or a diminished drug effect with
continued use of the same amount of a drug
• Withdrawal: a definable illness that occurs with a
cessation or decrease in use of a drug
• Tolerance and withdrawal powerfully affect drug-use
patterns.

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 Drugs Produce Snowball Effect of
Negative Consequences
• Actress and recording artist Lindsay Lohan’s life
illustrates a main feature of drug addiction: the neglect
of professional responsibilities and personal
relationships for the sake of obtaining and using drugs.

© 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

 Overview of the Textbook
• Chapters 1 through 5: fundamental information on
psychopharmacology and the history of laws and policy
regarding drug use in the United States and other
countries
• Chapters 6 through 14: individual drugs and drug
classes
• Chapter 15: treatment of substance use disorders
• Chapter 16: prevention of substance use disorders
before they occur

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 Evaluating Websites
• Web pages are not monitored for accuracy or currency.
• In seeking nonfictional information, the web user must
determine whether the data under review meet
standards that would stand up in the research
community.

© 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

 Five Criteria for Evaluating a Web Page
• Accuracy: who wrote the page, and is he or she
contactable?
• Authority: does it include author and publisher
qualifications?
• Objectivity: why was it written and for which audience?
• Currency: is it up to date?
• Coverage: are the links evaluated, and is the
information in the document correctly cited?

© 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.