TERMS TO PONDER IN THE STUDY OF DRUG ABUSE
1. Administer- The act of introducing any dangerous drug into the body of any person with or
without his knowledge.
2. Chemical- It is any substance taken into the body that alters the way and the mind and the body
work.
3. Chemical Abuse- It is an instance when the use of chemical has produce negative or harmful
consequences
4. Cultivate- It means the act of knowingly planting, growing, raising or permitting the planting,
growing of any plant which is the source of a prohibited drug.
5. Drug- is synthetic chemicals used as medicine or in the making of medicines, which affects the
body and mind and have potential for abuse Drugs in its criminological meaning, refers to substances
other than food and water that is intended to be taken or administered for the purposed of altering,
sustaining or controlling recipients physical, mental or emotional state.
6. Drug Abuse- it is the illegal, wrongful or improper use of any drug.
7. Drug Addiction- it refers to the state of periodic or chronic intoxication produced by the repeated
consumption of a drug.
8. Drug Dependence- it refers to the state or physic or physical dependence or both on dangerous
drugs following the administration or use of drug World health organization defines it as the periodic
continuous repeated administration of drug.
9. Drug experimenter-one who illegally, wrongfully or improperly uses any narcotic substances for
reasons of curiosity, peer pressure or other similar reasons
10. Drug Syndicate - it is a network of illegal drug operations operated and manned carefully by
groups of criminals who knowingly traffic through nefarious trade for personal or group profit.
11. Manufacture - the production, preparation, compounding or processing a dangerous drug either
directly or indirectly or by extraction from substances of natural origin or by chemical synthesis.
12. Narcotic Drug - refers to illegally used drugs or dangerous drugs which are either prohibited or
regulated drugs. It also refers to drugs that produces sleep or stupor and relieves pin due to its
depressant effect of the CNS. The term Narcotic comes from the Greek word "narcotikos". It is
sometimes called "opiates"
13. Physical Dependence- an adaptive state caused by repeated drug use that reveals itself by
development of intense physical symptoms when the drug is stopped (withdrawal syndrome).
14. Psychological Dependence - an attachment to drug use which arises from a drug to satisfy some
emotional or personality needs of an individual.
15. Pusher - any person who sell, administer, deliver or give away to another, distribute, transport
any dangerous drug.
16. Rehabilitation - it is a dynamic process towards the change of the health of the person to prepare
him from his fullest life potentials and capabilities, and making him law abiding and productive
member of the community without abusing drugs.
17. Tolerance - it is the tendency to increase dosage of drugs to maintain the same effect in the body.
18. Treatment - A medical service rendered to a client for the effective management of his total
condition related to drug abuse. It deals w/ the physiological complication arising from drug abuse
19 Use - The injecting, consuming, any dangerous drug. This means of introducing the dangerous
drug into the physiological system of the body.
THE DRUG ABUSE JARGONS
1. Opiate - Narcotics
2. On-the-Nod/Nodding - Suspended sleep
3. Mainline/ to shoot - injecting a drug into the vain
4. A hit - slang for injection of drug
5. Work - Apparatus for injecting a drug
6. A fix- One injection of opiate
7. Juni - Heroin 8. Junkie - An opiate addict
9. Skin popping - to inject a drug under the skin
10. A Bag - a pocket of drug
11. Cold turkey - withdrawal effects of opiate use
12. Track - Scars on the skin due injection
13. Overdose - death occurred
14. Speed - Amphetamines
15. Speed freaks - Amphetamines addicts
16. Uppers - Street slang for amphetamines
17. Rush - the beginning of a high
18. High- under the influence of drugs
19. Coke - Street slang for cocaine
20. Flashback - drug use after stoppage
21. Acid-slang term for LSD
22. Acid Head - LSD user
23. Drop-taking drug orally
24. Joint-An MJ Cigar
25. Roach - butt end of a joint
26. Stoned - intoxicating effect of a drug
27. Trip - reaction that is caused by drugs
28. Head-drug user
29. Downer - street slang for depressant
TWO FORMS OF DRUG
1. Natural drugs - Include natural plant leaves, flowering tops, resin, hashish, opium, and marijuana.
2. Synthetic drugs / Artificial - drugs that are produced by clandestine laboratories w/c include
those drugs that are controlled by law because they are used in medical practice.
Note: The practice of taking drugs w/out proper medical supervision is called the "non-medical use
of drugs or drug abuse.
Prescriptive Drug - These are drugs requiring written authorization from a doctor to allow purchase.
They are prescribed according to the individuals age, weight, height, and should not be taken by
anyone else.
Over-the-counter Drugs (OTC) - are non-prescription medicines, which may be purchased from
any pharmacy or drugstore w/o written authorization from a doctor. They are use or treat minor and
short term illnesses and any persistent condition should be immediately referred to a physician.
Self-medication Syndrome - is found in users and would be users of drug whose sources of
information are people or literature other than doctors, pharmacist and health workers. These could
be members of the family, relatives or neighbours, whom may have previously used the drug for their
specific disease or disorder
Dose of drug - is the amount of drug taken at one time.
THE AMOUNT OF DRUGS IN A DOSE ARE THE FOLLOWING
1. Minimal dose - The amount needed to treat or heal, that is, the smallest amount of a drug that will
produce a therapeutic effect.
2. Maximal dose - The largest amount of a drug that will produce a desired therapeutic effect,
without any accompanying symptoms of toxicity.
3. Toxic dose - The amount of drug that produces untoward effects or symptoms of poisoning.
4. Abusive dose - The amount needed to produce the side effects and action desired by an individual
who improperly used it.
5. Lethal dose - The amount of drug that will cause death.
THE COMMON METHODS OF DRUG ADMINISTRATION ARE AS FOLLOW
1. Oral - This is the most and safest convenient and economical route.
2. Injection - this form of drug administration offers a faster response than the oral method. It makes
use of needle or other device to deliver the drug directly into the body tissue and blood circulation.
3. Inhalation - this route makes use of gaseous and volatile drug, drugs which are inhaled and
absorbed rapidly through the mucous of the respiratory track.
4. Tropical - this refers to the application of drugs directly to a body sight such as the skin and the
mucous membrane.
5. lontophoresis - the introduction of drugs into the deeper layers of the skin by the use of special
type electric current for local effect.
Toxicology - is commonly known as the science of poison, their effects and antidotes. In connection,
drugs may cause dangerous effects because of any of the following:
1. Overdose - when too much of a drug is taken into the psychological system of the human body,
there may be an over extension of its effects.
2. Allergy - some drugs cause the release of histamine giving rise to allergic symptoms such as
dermatitis, swelling, fall in blood pressure, suffocation and death
3. Idiosyncrasy - it refers to the individual reaction to a drug or food for unexplained reasons
4. Poisonous Property - a drug are chemicals and has a property of being general protoplasmic
poisons.
5. Side Effects – some drugs are not receptors for one organ but receptors of other organs as well.
CHAPTER II
DRUGS: THEIR SOURCES, EFFECTS AND LEGAL CONSEQUENCE
"Some drugs are illegal, and so taking or possessing them is a crime"
Drug defined.
Drug is a chemical substance that brings about physical, physiological, behavioral and/or
psychological change in a person taking it.
Are all Drugs Harmful?
Any drug may be harmful when abused. The fact that many drugs will produce beneficial
results has led some people to feel that drugs solve all problems. Drugs that affect the mind can have
subtle or obvious side effects which can immediate or may only become evident after continuous use.
There are drugs that are taken as medicines. But certain drugs are taken not as medicines but to
satisfy a craving or a strong desire and taking them becomes an ingrained habit. These habit- forming
drugs have brought misery to millions of people in every part of the globe.
MEDICINES VS. DRUGS
All medicines are drugs, but not all drugs are medicine drug.
Medicinal Drugs
A substance which when taken into the human body. cures illness and/or relieves
signs/symptoms of disease.
Dangerous Drugs
A substance affecting the central nervous system when taken into the human body brings
about physical which emotional or behavioral changes in a person taking it.
Drug Abuse
Any non-medical use of drugs that cause physical psychological, legal, economic, or social
damage to the user or to people affected by the user's behavior.
Abuse usually refers to illegal drugs but may also applicable to drugs that are available
legally, such as prescribed medications and certain over-the-counter medications.
CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS
According to origin:
a. Natural Drugs - are active ingredients, secondary metabolic products of plants and other
living systems that may be isolated by extraction.
Examples:
Raw opium
Marijuana
Coca bush
b. Synthetic Drugs - are artificially produced substances synthesized in the laboratory for the
illicit market, which are almost wholly manufactured from chemical compounds in illicit
laboratories.
Examples:
Methamphetamine
Barbiturates
According to Legal classification:
a. RA 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002)
Under Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as The comprehensive Dangerous drugs Act of
2002):
R.A. 9165 gives a single definition to dangerous drugs, removing the distinction between
prohibited and regulated drugs. The old law defines the term "dangerous drugs" as pertaining to
either "prohibited drug" or a "regulated drug".
b. PD 1619 (Volatile Substances)
c. RA 6425 (Classified as: Regulated and Prohibited)
Under Republic Act 6425, otherwise known as The Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972:
"Dangerous Drugs" refers to either:
(1) "Prohibited drug", which includes opium and its active components and derivatives, such as
heroin and morphine; coca leaf and its derivatives, principally cocaine; alpha and beta eucaine;
hallucinogenic drugs, such as mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and other substances
producing similar effects; Indian hemp and its derivatives; all preparations made from any of the
foregoing; and other drugs and chemical preparations, whether natural or synthetic, with the
physiological effects of a narcotic or a hallucinogenic drug; or (As amended by B.P. 179 dated
March 2, 1982)
(2) "Regulated drug", which includes self-inducing sedatives, such pentobarbital, as such
secobarbital, Phenobarbital, as secobarbital, barbital, amobarbital and any other drug which contains
a salt or a derivative of a salt of barbituric acid; any salt, isomer or salt of an isomer, of amphetamine,
such as Benzedrine or Dexedrine, or any drug which produces a physiological action similar to
amphetamine; and hypnotic drugs, such as methaqualone, nitrazepam or any other compound
producing similar physiological effects; (As amended by PD No. 1683 dated March 14, 1980).
