HELP FOR ADDICTS- Addiction is a disease - rehabilitation and medicines

 A parent can remind the addict that marijuana can be habit-forming, cause listlessness with prolonged use, and temporarily alter vision enough to make driving extremely dangerous. And, of course, too, it may lead to possible arrest and conviction of a felony, barring the individual from the practice of many professions and from obtaining a passport. Barbiturates, it can be explained, can be as addictive as heroin. Strong doses of amphetamines are dangerous, too, and even hippies have been known to post signs warning that "Speed Kills.

“A child tempted by drugs or already experimenting with them is not a hopeless case by any means. And with wise rather than hysterical action on the part of parents, there is a good chance he may "turn off" rather than "turn on." Where, if needed, can a parent turn for help? A good place to start is with the family physician. In most communities help is also available through psychiatric clinics and outpatient services. Virtually every major city has a center that will refer a parent to the best agency for a particular problem. 

Hospitals, child-guidance centers, voluntary health and social organizations, and many law enforcement agencies which are anxious to protect rather than prosecute, unless prosecution is absolutely essential, can tell parents what to do.

HELP FOR ADDICTS Addiction is a disease. It is not an easy one to overcome-but it is curable in many instances. In fact, as authorities point out, many addicts, when they reach the age of 30 or 35, often suddenly lose the need for heroin, for example. They withdraw on their own and never go back to the habit. Why this maturing-out process, as it is known, occurs is a mystery; addicts themselves are unable to explain it. "Our problem," says one authority "is to keep them from dying of heroin addiction before they get to be 30 or 35 and to replace their 10-year to 15-year period of drug abuse with years of useful activity.

 There are three major approaches to treatment in the United States. One is civil commitment, used in some states, with emphasis on education, job rehabilitation, and careful follow-up. Another is a methadone maintenance program which substitutes the milder drug methadone for heroin and includes schooling, job training, and other rehabilitative activities. There are also group therapy programs, typified by organizations such as Synanon and Day Top, which are regarded by many authorities as promising. 

Drug use and rescue measures - heroin and it effects on health

SUSPECTING DRUG USE Rehabilitation of a chronic drug user can be a long, hard process. Prevention and intervention-turning youngsters off when they start turning themselves on-are problems of parental concern.

How can a parent begin to suspect that a child may be taking drugs? It's important to note any unusual changes from normal behavior. If a child who has always been friendly and outgoing suddenly becomes withdrawn and hostile, something is wrong though it may not necessarily be drug use. 

Some experts suggest that a youngster who keeps to himself for long periods in his room or in the bathroom, who is often on the phone and who is called by persons who will not identify themselves to parents, may be taking drugs. Other possible indications include a sharp slide in school grades, disappearance of clothing and personal belongings and thievery at home (used to pay for drugs), alienation from old friends, and taking up with strange companions. There are physical indications.

Person smoking marijuana has a strong odor of burnt leaves on both his breath and clothes which persists for hours after use of the drug. Marijuana dilates the pupils of the eyes and sometimes reddens and inflames the eyes. Other symptoms include sleepiness, lack of coordination, wandering mind, increased appetite, and craving for sweets. There may be a tendency to laugh and giggle excessively. 

If a person is high on LSD or another hallucinogen, the symptoms are almost unmistakable: severe hallucinations, incoherent speech, cold hands and feet, strong body odor, laughing and crying jags, vomiting. Symptoms of amphetamine usage include aggressive behavior, rapid speech, giggling and silliness, confusion of thinking, extreme fatigue, shakiness, loss of appetite.

Those for the barbiturates are stupor, dullness, blurred speech, drunk appearance, vomiting. If pills are found on children who deny they are illicit drugs, the pills can be identified by a druggist or physician. If cigarette papers and possibly small seeds are found in clothing pockets, they may well indicate marijuana usage. When a child is sniffing glue or drinking cough medicine containing narcotics for kicks, he may have a dreamy blank expression and a drunk about that, the seriousness of the situation justifies the invasion.

There should take effort then to find out whether the child has only experimented a drug regularly. In discussing drugs with a child, the parent can, and should, use an intelligent, reasonable approach. It is far more likely to be successful than an authoritative pronouncement. A youngster can be reminded that LSD usage is extremely dangerous risk-taking; that it has caused hundreds of victims to end up in mental institutions or to suffer injuries such as three University of California at Santa Barbara students suffered when, on an LSD trip, they stared 50 long at the sun while holding a "religious conversion" that they never again will be able to read. A youngster resists any argument that marijuana is as addictive or is dangerous as heroin. 

Sedatives and drug addiction - Medicines and rehabilitation

SEDATIVES

Sedatives constitute a large family of compounds with relaxing effects on the nervous system. Dating back to 1846, the barbiturates are the best known.

 Many barbiturates with different types of action are available. Some, such as pentobarbital and secobarbital, are fast-starting and short- acting, exerting their effects quickly but for a relatively short period. Others, phenobarbital, amobarbital, and butabarbital, are slow-starting but long-acting. Most often abused are the short-acting compounds, commonly called goofballs and barbs. In normal, medically prescribed doses, barbiturates mildly slow the heart rate and breathing, lower blood pressure, and mildly depress nerve activity.

In larger doses, they may cause confusion, slurred speech, and staggering, deep sleep-symptoms much like those of alcoholic inebriation. Sedatives not only produce tolerance so that increasingly greater doses are needed to achieve the same results; they also produce physical dependence.

Their abrupt withdrawal can lead to cramps, nausea, delirium and convulsions, and, in some cases, sudden death. Withdrawal must be carried out in a hospital over a period of weeks with gradual reduction of dosage. It isn't only large dosage that can be fatal. Even a small dose may produce slowing of reaction and some distortion of vision. Barbiturates Drugs are a major cause of automobile accidents. 

The combination of barbiturates and alcohol is especially dangerous; the two substances have a synergistic effect in which each greatly increases the effects of the other. Barbiturates are frequently implicated in suicides, but they also cause many accidental deaths which only appear to be suicides.

 A major problem with barbiturates is that a user may react more strongly at one time than another; and with a strong reaction, there may be some confusion about how many pills have been taken and the user may groggily go on to take more, sometimes a fatal over dosage.