Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse

by Paul Gahlinger

Overview

Does Ecstasy cause brain damage? Why is crack more addictive than cocaine? What questions regarding drugs are legal to ask in a job interview? When does marijuana possession carry a greater prison sentence than murder?

Illegal Drugs is the first comprehensive reference to offer timely, pertinent information on every drug currently prohibited by law in the United States.  It includes their histories, chemical properties and effects, medical uses and recreational abuses, and associated health problems, as well as addiction and treatment information.

Additional survey chapters discuss general and historical information on illegal drug use, the effect of drugs on the brain, the war on drugs, drugs in the workplace, the economy and culture of illegal drugs, and information on thirty-three psychoactive drugs that are legal in the United States, from caffeine, alcohol and tobacco to betel nuts and kava kava.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780452285057
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/30/2003
Edition description:	Updated
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dr. Paul Gahlinger has been involved in drug research since 1984 and is a professor of medicine at the University of Utah.  He is a certified substance abuse medical review officer, an FAA aviation medical examiner, and a consultant for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, and a passionate spokesperson on drug issues.

Table of Contents

Illegal DrugsPreface

Part One: Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 1. Flesh of the Gods—or the Devil's Poison?
The Discovery of Drugs
Substances and spirits
The dose makes the poison
Use and abuse: the four types of drug
Controlled substances
How are drugs named?
Why Are Some Drugs Illegal?
Danger to self
Danger to others
Danger to society
Drug terms
Will the "Drug Problem" Ever Be Solved?

Chapter 2. The Long, Strange History of Psychoactive Drugs
Opium: The Pleasures of Poppy Juice
The first drug problem
American inventions: the pipe and the syringe
Opium Wars
"Soldier's disease": morphine in the American Civil War
A better morphine: codeine and heroin
Addiction alarms
Marijuana: The Ancient Herb
The big numb
A woman's drug
Hashish assassins?
The sacred becomes profane
Rape and dope
Marihuana becomes marijuana
Marijuana as medicine
Modern recreational use
Cocaine: The Sacred Leaf
Gift from the gods
From coca to cocaine
The drink of kings and popes
Freudian slip
Things don't go better with coke

Hallucinogens: Mind, Myth, and Madness
Eleusian mysteries
Fear of witches
Do hallucinogens cause hallucinations?
Set and setting
Military takes notice
Psychedelic therapy
Counterculture crackdown

Chapter 3. The War on Drugs
A Century of Increasing Drug Control
1906: Pure Food and Drug act
1909: Smoking Opium Exclusion Act
1915: Harrison Narcotic Act
1917: The first War on Drugs
1920: Prohibition
1937: Marihuana Tax Act
1965: Drug Abuse Control Amendments
1970: Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention & Control Act
1972: Nixon's War on Drugs
1981: Reagan's War on Drugs
1984: Comprehensive Crime Control Act
1986: Anti-Drug Abuse Act
1986: Controlled Substances Analogue Enforcement Act
1993: Clinton's War on Drugs
2001: Bush's War on Drugs
How Is a Drug Made Illegal?
How does a substance become a "drug of abuse"?
Five Schedules of Controlled Substances
Drugs Illegal in the United States
Schedule I. Controlled Substances
Schedule II. Controlled Substances
Federal and State Drug Laws
Types of drug crime
Federal drug penalties: marijuana
Federal drug penalties: other drugs
"But Officer . . .!"

Chapter 4. Drug Use and Abuse
The Notion of Substance Abuse
Types of illegal drug use
Drug Use Illnesses
Single-dose problems
Intavenous drug use
Overdose
Long-term problems
Withdrawal
Pregnancy
Addiction
Substance dependence
Stages of addiction
Stages of recovery
Twelve-step program
Drug Resistance Educational Programs
Fads and fashions
Top ten reasons why people use illegal drugs
Top ten reasons why people do not use illegal drugs

Chapter 5. Drugs at Work: Employee Drug Testing
Hazards of Drug Use in Industry
Federal regulations: the NIDA 5
Workplace Drug Monitoring
Americans with Disabilities Act
Drug testing programs
How are people tested for drugs?
Chain of custody
Tampered specimens
Laboratory analysis
Can Drug Tests Be Fooled?
Adulteration products
Diluted urine
Legal medications that can cause positive drug tests
What Happens When a Drug Test Is Positive?

Chapter 6. Chemicals and the Brain
The Quickest Way to the Brain
How are drugs taken?
Blood-brain barrier
Mental road map
The Anatomy of a Neuron
Mind and matter
Electrical signals
Sending and Receiving Signals: Neurotransmitters
Locks and keys
Excitement and inhibition
Acetylcholine
Dopamine
Epinephrine
GABA and Glutamate
Norepinephrine
Opioids and endorphins
Serotonin
Drugs and their neurotransmitters
Natural, Synthetic, and Designer Drugs
Natural drugs
Synthetic drugs
Designer drugs
Testing drug purity
A Little Chemistry (Just Enough to Make Sense of It All)
Simple molecules
Breaking down a drug name
Opiates and opioids
The amphetamine family
The indole hallucinogens
Metabolism of Drugs
Types of Tolerance
A Final Word: The Secret of Psychoactive Drugs
Contact high
Non-drug altered states of consciousness

Chapter 7. Just Say Know
Illegal Drug Use Today
By their drugs so shall ye know them
National drug surveys
Street terms and slang words
The Business of Illegal Drugs
Basic economics: supply and demand
Youth employment
Prostitution
Smuggling
World drug trade
Psychoactive Drugs That Are Not Illegal
Alcohol
Amanita muscaria
Amyl nitrate
Ayahuasca
Betel nuts
Broom
Caffeine
Calamus
California Poppy
Catnip
Coleus
Damiana
Datura
Dextromethorphan
Doña ana
Ephedra
Hawaiian baby wood rose
Henbane
Hops
Hydrangea
Inhalants
Kava kava
Ketamine
Labelia
Mandrake
Morning Glory
Nitrous oxide
Nutmeg
Salvia divinorum
San Pedro
Tobacco
Trihexylphenidyl
Virola
Food for Thought

Part II: Illegal Drugs from A to Z

Alphabetical List of Drugs Illegal in the United States

Chapter 8. Amphetamines

Speed: The Story of Amphetamines
From ephedra to amphetamine
Ice
The rise of Ritalin
Other amphetamine-like drugs
You can never be too thin
Who Is Using Amphetamines?
Meth labs
Pure speed?
Chemical Characteristics
Testing for amphetamines
Legal and illegal amphetamines
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 9. Barbiturates
Dolls and Devils: The Story of Barbiturates
Three types of barbiturates
Valley of the Dolls
Downside of the downers
Who Is Using Barbiturates?
The choice of suicides
Chemical Characteristics
Testing for barbiturates
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 10. Cathinone
Nine Lives of Cat: The Story of Cathinone
Migration of people and their drugs
Methcathinone
Who Is Using Cathinone?
Cat contaminants
Chemical Characteristics
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 11. Cocaine
Flake: The Story of Cocaine
Chewing coca
Coca becomes powder cocaine
Powder cocaine becomes freebase
Freebase becomes crack
Who Is Using Cocaine?
Traditional use: Coqueros
Medical use
Recreational use
The Colombian cartels
From field to flake: the making of cocaine
Economics of crack
Pure coke?
Chemical Characteristics
Cocaine and alcohol
Testing for cocaine
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
Cocaine nose
Cocaine lungs
Cocaine and the heart
Cocaine and the brain
Cocaine paranoia
Cocaine babies
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 12. DMT, Bufotenine, and Psilocybin
Businessman's High: The Story of DMT
Who Is Using DMT?
Smoking Toad: The Story of Bufotenine
Toxins and toadstools
Mayan toad statues
Toad licking in Australia
Toad smoking in America
Who Is Using Bufotenine?
Magic Mushrooms: The Story of Psilocybin
Who Is Using Psilocybin?
Chemical Characteristics
DMT
Bufotenine
Psilocybin
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 13. Flunitrazepam
Roofies, Rape, and Robbery: The Story of Flunitrazepam
The "forget-me" pill
Easy prey
La Rocha becomes illegal
Who Is Using Flunitrazepam?
Why are roofies popular?
Chemical Characteristics
Testing
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 14. GHB
Dancehall Depressant: The Story of GHB
Body builders
Raves
GBL
BD
Who Is Using GHB?
Making GHB
Medical uses
Chemical Characteristics
Effects on the nervous system
GHB and sleep
Glasgow Coma Scale
Effects on the heart
Effects on the lungs
Other effects
Testing
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose
Emergency Department care

Chapter 15. Ibogaine
Out of Africa: The Story of Ibogaine
Anti-addiction potential
Who Is Using Ibogaine?
Chemical Characteristics
Effects
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 16. LSD
Acid: The Story of LSD
Who Is Using LSD?
Pure LSD?
Chemical Characteristics
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
Flashbacks
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 17. Marijuana
Up in Smoke: The Story of Marijuana
Joints and blunts
Acapulco Gold and Maui Wowie
Sinsemilla
Hashish
Hash oil
Superweed
Medical marijuana
Marinol: a medical substitute
The debate continues
Who Is Using Marijuana?
Going Dutch
Medical use
NORML
Chemical Characteristics
Effects
Marijuana and the brain
Drug testing
Withdrawal Signs
Reverse tolerance
Long-term Health Problems
Marijuana and the immune system
Other health problems
Is marijuana addictive?
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 18. MDMA
Adam, Eve, and Ecstasy: The Story of MDMA
From amphetamines to MDA
Empathy agent
Designer drugs
Alphabet (and chemical) soup
2C-B
Who Is Using MDMA?
Is that pill Ecstasy?
Chemical Characteristics
Effects
Ecstasy and sex
Nerve destruction
Withdrawal Signs
Terrible Tuesdays
Long-term Health Problems
Brain damage
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 19. Methaqualone and Glutethimide
'Luding Out: The Story of Methaqualone and Glutethimide
Who Is Using Methaqualone & Glutethimide?
Chemical Characteristics
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 20. Opiates
The First Narcotics: The Story of Opiates
Opium
Morphine
Codeine
Heroin
Medically Used and Abused Opiate Derivatives
Hydrocodone
Hydromorphone
Ketobimidone
Oxycodone
Thebaine
Tilidine
Opioids: Synthetic Narcotics
Anileridine
Etorphine
Fentanyl
LAAM
Meperidine
Methadone
Propoxyphene
Other illegal opioids
Who Is Using Opiates?
Purity of heroin
Another form of China White
Chemical Characteristics
Effects
Testing for opiates
Poppy seed positive
Withdrawal Signs
Treating opiate addiction
Ultra-rapid detox
Long-term Health Problems
What To Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 21. PCP
Angel Dust: The Story of PCP
Who Is Using PCP?
Chemical Characteristics
Testing for PCP
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Chapter 22. Peyote and Mescaline
Divine Cactus: The Story of Peyote and Mescaline
Varities of hallucinogenic cacti
The flesh of God
Mescaline
The Native American Church
Why is peyote illegal?
Whos Is Using Peyote and Mescaline?
Inside an NAC peyote ceremony
Mescaline use
Chemical Characteristics
Withdrawal Signs
Long-term Health Problems
What to Do If There Is an Overdose

Part III. Self-help Resources
Self-help Resources
Drug identification
Further information
Drug abuse prevention and treatment coordinators

Notes
Photographic Acknowledgments
Index