CHEMICAL UPPERS

BASIC PROSPECTIVES

CNS stimulants:
Cocaine, amphetamine, caffeine ecc...
-increase alertness, physical activity and speeding up the body's process.
-High power of reinforcing because provoke pleasure
-The most widely used are caffeine and nicotine!

COMMON EFFECTS:
Use of the stimulants forces the body to release its natural stimulants (neurotransmitter):
Norephinephrine
Dopamine
Serotonin

Increase:
-alertness
-levels of oxygen and sugar in blood
-heart rate and blood pressure
-energized muscolar activity
-perceived surge of energy

Overstimulation may surface:
-Irritability
-restlessness
-insomnia
Long-term or High-dose depletes the body's normal neurotransmitter, result ing in physical collapse and mental depression

VARIOUS USE PATTERN

-Oral (amphetamine)
-Nasal (cocaine)
-intravenous injection (methamphetamine, speed or cocaine)
-Smoke (crack, freebase)

Intravenous injections:
Users report an initial "flash". This "flash" is short, intense and generalized sensation similar to a total body orgasm (complete well-being, svanish boredom and depression)

DRUG DEPENDENCE

High dose level is accompanied by paranoid feelings
The user may engage compulsive activities:
-grinding the teeth
-touching and picking the face and the extremities

EVENTUAL TOXIC SYNDROME:
- tremors
-agitation
-panic
-hostility
-headache
-vomiting (addominal cramps)
-chest pain
Etc...

When the users stop taking:
-disturbing period of depression (crashing)
-sleep for long time
-huge appetite
-assaultive and suicidal behavior are common!

COCAINE

Characteristics:
White, odorless, crystal or crystalline powder derivate from coca leaf paste (Vegetable alkaloid: benzoylmethylecgonine)
Another names: coke, snow, freeze etc

The cocaine sold in the street:
Contain pure cocaine substance and various adulterants
Sugar: lactose, inositol etc
Local anesthetics: lidocaine
-the purity varies from 15% to 95% (today the higher 83%)
-smokable crack from 75% to 90%

MEDICAL USES:
-the inca tribes chewed coca leaf for mild refreshment and relief from fatigue
-during the last quarter of nineteenth century: therapy for depression and mental illnesses, digestive disorders, de generations of tissue etc (Freud)
-presently: local anesthetics or in bromptom's cocktails (painkillers for the terminal patients)

Some historical aspect:
-the Inca tribes (religion)
-Mariani's wine (artists and religious leader) EUROPE
-UNITED STATES 1885: John Styth Pemberton concocted Coca-cola
-Golden age of patent medicines: cocaine was a basic ingredient for a lot of medicine (asthma,colds,corns ecc)
-1960: reemergence of a recreational used
-now: 1,5 million of Americans use cocaine (5,7 on 1985)

PATTERN OF USING

ORAL USE
Chew coca is a social ritual for mild stimulation (Peru)
This way causes no serious health hazard or social problems.

SNORTING:
Sniffing directly into the nostrils, where absorbed into the bloodstream trough the nasal mucosa (arrive in the brain within 5 minutes - one line: 30 minutes of stimulation)

INTRAVENOUS INJECTION
initial "rush" during ten minutes after the dose

Smokable type: freebase or crack
Smokable with water pipe or with tobacco\marijuana cigarette
Freebase: chemical process more dangerous
Crack: is the most addictive substance (similar to slivers of soap). The process for making crack is somewhat safer...

EFFECTS:
Wakefulness, talkativeness, increase heart beat and blood pressure, dilation of the pupils, rise body temperature, constriction of blood vessels, reducing appetite and fatigue etc...

Mechanism of action:
Cocaine mimic the natural release of adrenaline and noradrenaline, the result is the powerful stimulant of the Sympathetic N.S (nucleus accumbens)
- cocaine block the reuptake of this neurotransmitter ( increase the levels in the synapse -> "down regulation")

DARK SIGHT:

• Regular users: irritability, anxiety and sleeplessnes
• Addiction: psychological problems and mood swings
• hallucinations of touch, sight, taste or smell ( cocaine psychosis: formication)
• Malnutrition and vitamine deficits, sexual problems (low sperm etc)
• Prolonged snorting: dry out the mucous in the nose and ulcer

Cocaine-exposed babies:
Women use the cocaine during the pregnancy
High number of premature births and miscarriages (baby is tipically small at birth)
Babies: minor congenital abnormalities, possibility of brain demage or attention deficit disorder or motor troubles

AMPHETAMINE

-the amphetamine are synthetic
-like cocaine the effects are: blood pressure, heart action, breathing, metabolic rate (all increase)
Amphetamine is the collective term for at least four closely related drugs:
-levoamphetamine(Benzedrine)
-dextroamphetamine(Dexedrine)
-methamphetamine(meth or speed)
-dextrometamphetamine(ice)

Historical aspect
-1887: first synthesized
-1927:discover the drugs ability (nsc stimulant, alleviate fatigue and relieve congested nasal passages
-1935: treatment of narcolepsy
-W.W.2: used for increase the soldier "ability"
-1950-1970: used for the treatment of all (depression, epylepsy, asthma etc)
-today: illicit amphetamine is more popular (low cost, greater purity)

MEDICAL USE TODAY:
Narcolepsy
Hyperkinetic children
(In the past amphetamine used in the treatment of obesity)

CAFFEINE

-usually considered nondrug (beverage, candies etc)
-is a natural component of some plants (tea, cocoa, kola nut) The most important source: coffea arabica plants
-1 cup: from 70mg to 215mg

Origin:
Coffee - Arabia and Turkey
Tea - China
Kola nut - West Africa
Cacao tree - Central and South America (Mexico)

The pharmacological action:
Induced higher rates of cellular activity, increase synthesis of norephinephrine ( NSC, kidney and cardiovascular system)
-force the heart contraction
-clearer though(increase mental effort)
-increase motor activity
-less drowsiness
-vasodilatation accompanied by vasoconstriction in the brain
-increase respiratory rate

In addition:
-speed up the production of urine
-increase capacity of muscular work
-raise the level of gastric secretions

Condition of chronic "caffeine intoxication":
(Caffeinism: 4+ cup a day)
Mood changes, anxiety, disruption of sleep, nervousness, muscle twitching, gastrointestinal disturbance, diuresis, rambling flow of thought and speech etc...

Caffeine and pregnancy:
-more of three cups tends to inhibit the conception
-nursing mother report that their babies are sleepless and irritable
-caffeine can danger the fetus and cause various birth defects
-increase the risk of fetal loss

Methcathinone and ephedrine:
-Effect and collateral effects like cocaine
-use in asthma treatment
- Catha edulis / Ephedra Sinica
Ephedrine and phsichedelic mescaline mix is very popular (MDMA)

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