Psychoactive Drugs Classification and History CAS 712R

Psychoactive DrugsPsychoactive DrugsClassification and HistoryClassification and History

CAS 712RCAS 712R

definitionsdefinitions

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What is a Psychoactive Drug?What is a Psychoactive Drug?

DefinitionsAny substance that directly alters the normal functioning of the central nervous system.Any substance that when entering the body can change either the structure or function of the organism.Each culture, each generation, each profession, and each user has a definition of what constitutes a psychoactive drug.

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Psychoactive DrugsPsychoactive DrugsUppers

Stimulants

DownersCNS depressants.

All-AroundersPsychedelics, hallucinogens, marijuana.

Other drugs.InhalantsSteroids and other sports drugsPsychiatric medications

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Compulsive gamblingCompulsive shopping HoardingEating disordersSexual addictionInternet / electronic addictions

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Process / behavioral Process / behavioral addictionsaddictions

Drug SchedulingDrug Scheduling

Developed in 1970 to classify and regulate controlled substances.

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Least Dangerou

s

Most Dangerous

Then and NowThen and Now

Historical Perspective

Alter their state of consciousnessReduction of painForget harsh surroundings / discomfortAlter moodMedicate a mental illnessEnhances senses

Current Perspective

To feel good…looking for pleasureTo feel better…looking for reliefTo do better…looking for improvementCuriosity and “because others are doing it”

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Current Societal ConcernsCurrent Societal ConcernsWhat is getting our attention currently?

Continued debate of legalization of marijuanaDevelopment of SYNTHETIC THC and methamphetamine-like drugsDevelopment of more “designer” drugsImpact of increased prescription drug abuse

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Costs of addiction – work productivity, medical costs, impact on family members, legal action, financial issues, etc. Connection between drug use and crimeIncrease in electronic based addictionsContinued legalization and expansion

of all forms of gambling

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Societal Focuses, ContinuedSocietal Focuses, ContinuedSteroids and performance enhancing drugsLimitations on where people can smoke cigarettes and efforts by tobacco companies to find new methods of deliveryUnderstanding, recognizing and treating co-occurring disorders in persons with addictions and mental illness

Historical Themes for Drug Historical Themes for Drug UseUse

1. Coping with the environment and enhancing existence.

Ingesting certain plants could ease fear and anxiety, reduce pain, treat some illnesses, give pleasure, and let them talk to their gods.

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Historical ThemesHistorical Themes2. Human brain chemistry can be

affected by psychoactive drugspsychoactive drugs, behavioral addictions and mental illness to induce an altered state of consciousness.

If psychoactive drugs and behavioral addiction did not work, we wouldn’t do it.

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Historical ThemesHistorical Themes3. The ruling classes, governments, and

businesses as well as criminal organizations have been involved in growing, manufacturing, distributing, taxing, and prohibiting drugs.

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Historical ThemesHistorical Themes4. Technological advances in refining,

synthesizing, and manufacturing drugs has increased the potency of these substances.

Distilling, refining and synthesizing substances has increased the potency.

Marijuana in 2007 has up to 14x as much THC as the average street marijuana in the 1970’s.Coca leaves contain only 0.5% to 2.0% cocaine, whereas street cocaine is often 60% to 70% pure.

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Historical ThemesHistorical Themes5. The development of faster and more

efficient methods of putting drugs into the body has intensified their effects.

Mixing drugs together for a greater impact.Inhaling, snorting, smoking and injecting all increase the speed with which drugs impact the brain.

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Hiking through historyHiking through history

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So How Far Back Does It Go?So How Far Back Does It Go?About 4000 plants yield psychoactive substances . . . only about 60 of these plants have been in continuous use somewhere in the world throughout history.

Evidence shows that 50,000 years ago Neanderthals in Europe and Asia used medicinal and psychedelic plants in shamanistic religions.

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Ancient Civilizations Ancient Civilizations (4000 B.C. to A.D. (4000 B.C. to A.D. 400)400)

Alcohol was the most popular substance.

The earliest crops were wheat and barley, used to make bread . . . and beer.First written references to alcohol are on Sumerian clay tablets from 4000 B.C.

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In many ancient cultures, alcohol was considered a gift from the gods . . BUT . . it caused both the desired effect and side effects capable of creating social and health problems.Most civilizations throughout history have placed religious, social, and legal CONTROLS on the use of alcohol and other drugs.

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And then there is the opium poppy.5,000 years ago, Egyptians used opium for soothing crying babies, treating mental illness, soothing female hysteria and for pain control.In A.D. 312 in Rome, an excise tax was placed on stores selling opium which generated 15% of the

city’s revenue.

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MarijuanaHistorically, cannabis has been prized as a source of oil and fiber, for its edible seeds, as a medicine, and as a psychedelic.

Peyote and psychedelic mushrooms.Sacramental use of these plants can be traced back approximately 7000 years.

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Finally there is tobacco and the coca leaf.

Plants containing stimulant alkaloids occurred 65 to 250 million years ago – the bitter alkaloids were the plants’ way of repelling dinosaurs, herbivores and insects.Discoveries in the Andes show the use of coca leaves for spiritual and medical practices going back to 3000 B.C.

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Middle Ages (A.D. 400 to Middle Ages (A.D. 400 to 1400)1400)

Psychedelic herbs and molds.Psychoactive plants from the nightshade family were used in religious, magical and social ceremonies.

Datura, henbane, belladonna and mandrake

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ERGOT, a fungus which grows on infected rye and wheat plants, contains the natural active ingredient LSD, the precursor to the modern hallucinogen.


• Distillation of alcohol.– Knowledge / techniques became

widespread. Evaporation process now raised the alcohol content from 14% to 40%.

• Religious ceremonies began using less and less alcohol until it was only used symbolically.

• It was thought that the excessive use of alcohol led users away from God.

• Controlling drinking becomes a MORAL ISSUE.

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• And they found caffeine.– First coffee was consumed by chewing

the beans or by infusing in water. Then people learned how to roast and grind the beans.

• It was not until 1820 that the active ingredient, caffeine was identified.

• Approximately 60 plants contain caffeine. • Chocolate has been traced back to

1500 B.C.

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Renaissance (AD 1400 to Renaissance (AD 1400 to 1700)1700)

• Trade routes put drugs and drug-using customs in the hands of the rest of the world and so drugs spread.

• Laws were developed – Limiting the use of alcohol – Produced hefty tax revenue

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Age of Enlightenment (1700 – Age of Enlightenment (1700 – 1900)1900)

• Seeing more substance users, more mental and physical problems, more ties to financial arena.

– London Gin Epidemic from 1710 to 1750 when the English Parliament ENCOURAGED the production

and consumption of gin. • 1751 prohibition laws were put in

place to control consumption.

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– Rum was the chief “coin” of exchange in the slave trade.

– Whiskey and tobacco were mainstays of the economy of colonial America.

– The federal government enacted a tax on liquor to help pay off federal debt – led to the Whiskey Rebellion.


– Opium was refined to create morphine Opium was refined to create morphine and then to heroin.and then to heroin.

• Morphine was about 10x more powerful than opium.

• Heroin was about 2x – 5x stronger than morphine.

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– The alkaloid cocaine was isolated from the coca leaf.

• Users went from experiencing only a mild stimulatory sensation to an intense rush followed by ecstatic feelings.


– Invention of hypodermic needles led to new methods of drug delivery.

• Meant drugs could be put directly into the bloodstream creating a more intense effect.

2020thth Century Century

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Addiction as a moral issueAddiction as a moral issue• Regulation activities varied from

trying to control the supply to providing treatment.– Eliminated over-the-counter tonics –

opiates and cocaine.– Alcoholics Anonymous, a spiritual

program that teaches twelve steps to recovery was founded by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in 1934.

– Marijuana cultivation and use banned in 1937.

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Early 20Early 20thth Century Century• Alcohol prohibition . . . and treatment.

– Alcohol consumption is illustrated in the fact that between 1870 and 1915, between 1/2 and 2/3 of the U.S. budget came from the liquor tax.

– In 1920 the 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacture and sale of any beverage with an alcohol content of

greater than 0.5%.

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Experimentation, Changing Values, and Governmental Response

– In 1963 the first legislation was created to treat addiction (under the guise of mental illness).

– In 1965 Drug Abuse Control Amendment prohibited the illicit manufacture of stimulants and depressants.

– In 1970 laws expanded the 1965 legislation and developed “schedules” to rate drugs.

• President Nixon declared the “War on Drugs”

Culture of Culture of the “60s”the “60s”

– Counter-culture

– Quick-Fix generation

– Attitudes about Addiction

Counter-Culture: 1956-Counter-Culture: 1956-19741974

• Negative attitudes about the Cold War and Vietnam precipitated the birth of the Hippie Counter Culture– Drug revolution with

increases in drug experimentation and popularity (Zinberg, 1984)

– Timothy Leary: LSD– Sexual mores: Woodstock– Civil Rights & Race

Change in beliefs about individual rights

2. Quick-Fix 2. Quick-Fix GenerationGeneration

• Microwave meals• Weight loss in a flash• Got a headache?• Credit Cards….

Quick FixQuick Fix

• A medication to fix anything that ails you

• Increased use of prescriptions and OTC medication

• Increased chance of adverse interactions with alcohol and other substances

An Era of Ambivalence– Drinking age raised to 21 in 1984.– In 1986 the Anti-Drug Abuse Act strengthened

federal efforts to encourage foreign cooperation in eradicating drug crops.

– 1990 Crime Control Act allowed for the seizure of drug traffickers’ assets, and controlled drug paraphernalia and money laundering.

– Treatment option for first-time nonviolent drug offenders developed in 2000.

– Since 1996, 36 states have passed laws legalizing medical use of marijuana.

– In 2000 legislation in California required a treatment option for first-time nonviolent drug offenders. 41

2020thth Century: Office on National Century: Office on National Drug Control PolicyDrug Control Policy

– Formal efforts to address problems of abuse, addiction and crime brought on by misuse of drugs.

• Demand reduction – prevention plus treatment.

• Harm reduction – reduce the physical and social damage cause by abuse and dependence.

• Supply reduction – stricter laws concern use and “war on drugs.”

• Treatment of addiction became a medical as well as social science.

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2020thth Century: Changing Use Century: Changing Use– Amphetamines –

• First synthesized in 1887 and methamphetamines created in 1919.

– Used to fight fatigue, heighten endurance, etc. for soldiers.

• Over past few years there has been intense focus on amphetamine-type stimulants (ATSs).

– Restricted sale of OTC cold medications containing drugs used in the manufacture of methamphetamines.

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2020thth Century Century– Steroids and performance enhancing drug

usage prompts Olympic Committee to institute drug testing.

– Synthesizing medications rather than relying on extracts from natural products.

– Recognition of brain chemical imbalances as the cause of almost all mental illnesses spurred the development of psychiatric medications.

– Methadone used as a legal substitute for heroin.

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2020thth Century Century– Development of new ways of preparing

and using cocaine led to the crack epidemic and then to smokable methamphetamine.

– Prescription drug abuse/dependence.– HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis C.– “Raves” and “club drugs.”– Behavioral addictions explode

Now and FutureNow and Future• Worldwide figures –

– 2.0 billion people drink alcohol with at least 76 million having an alcohol use disorder, and 2.5 million die from it every year.

– 155 million to 250 million people use illicit substances.

– 1 billion use tobacco.– 129 million to 190 million smoke marijuana.

• 2011 Global Commission on Drug Policy declared, “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world” 46

20122012• Americans voted to legalize marijuana

in Washington and Colorado…• What is next?

Documents

Psychoactive Drugs Classification and History CAS 712R