Monday, February 23, 2015

Activity 6- OxyContin Express

Oxycontin Express was a very interesting documentary about Florida becoming a pill popper’s paradise and how Florida is the main source of an illicit prescription pipeline. I was actually quite shocked after watching this documentary because I had no idea that Florida was so lenient on prescription drugs and that there were so many pain clinics, especially in Broward County.I think that Florida being as liberal on prescribing pain pills as it is presented in this documentary is absolutely unacceptable and it is a huge problem. I was also really shocked to find out that people come from all over the United States to get these prescriptions because they cannot get this type of prescription in their home state. I thought it was ridiculous that the prescription drug abuse capital of the US-Kentucky- got most of their prescriptions filled in Florida because they could not get as many pills in Kentucky. Additionally, I could not believe that these pain clinics were essentially legal drug dealers that prescribed huge amounts of strong pain pills to people that seemed to not even need it. I do not know how these doctors are okay with prescribing these types of drugs to people they know have to be addicts. After watching this video, I read more on the governor’s stance on the issue. I cannot believe that Governor Rick Scott let this type of thing go on in his state just because he thought that some type of prescription monitoring program was an infringement on citizens’ rights and would violate their privacy.
   It would be difficult to enact a policy that would completely stop the pill pipeline that stretches from Ft. Lauderdale to Appalachia. However, the policy would have to start with Florida. Florida needs to become a little more conservative on their prescriptions and enact a policy that stops doctor shopping and the amount of pain clinics that can be in one area. Additionally, I think there needs to be a policy in place that holds the doctors of these clinics accountable for what they are prescribing. I think there needs to be a policy in place that limits the prescribing of medicine to those people that are from out of the state. Finally, I think there needs to be a policy in place that establishes the extent of pain patients need to be in in order to get these medications prescribed.
This documentary relates to class material because it shows one way these users and addicts are getting these types of drugs that we learn about in class. I think this documentary is a great example of how addictive and dangerous these drugs can be.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Activity 5- Cocaine Kids

Cocaine Kids by Terry Williams was a very interesting insight on the lives of young cocaine dealers in New York City. The author followed these kids for 4 years. The form of research this author used was ethnography. Williams observed these individuals in their own social setting, and took clear, detailed, and descriptive field notes throughout. Williams did not take notes while observing, but instead, reconstructed the conversations the next day. In the end, he had 1,200 hours of fieldwork.
            This book had very interesting aspects. One aspect of the drug culture that I found particularly interesting was that these kid cocaine dealers acted as if they were adults. It didn’t really seem like they had any sort of normal childhood. It was interesting that they were dealing with adult situations, despite their young age. For example, some were married and dealt with marital problems and some were parents and dealing with parenting their children. Kitty and Splib have several adult life issues addressed in the book, like being married for 3 years and separating and parenting issues with their two year old son, Armando. Additionally, Max and Susanne also got married at a young age and deal with problems with married life.
            Another aspect of the drug culture that I found interesting is the after-hours clubs and the fact that it is a key social institution of the cocaine culture. All types of users attend these clubs and share cocaine and engage in cocaine rituals and socialize with other dealers and cocaine users. It was also interesting to me that these dealers took time off from selling cocaine and just went to these places to socialize with other dealers and share their stories.
            A third aspect I found interesting about the drug culture is the crack houses. Williams’ description of the crack house he went to is the picture I have in mind whenever I think of crack houses. He explained that the floors were blood stained and dirty. The house was desolate, uninviting, dank and smoky. Williams described the people in this establishment as only there for sex and cocaine. Kitty described Jason’s crack house as a place to go for intercourse and that is how it was advertised. It was bothersome that she described the girls in this house as very young and that they stayed for days at a time.
            The author’s observations and this book as a whole relate to class material. In class, we generally learn about the drug itself and the effects these drugs have on users, but we do not usually go into detail about the people that deal these drugs. I think this was a good book to read in addition to class material and lectures because it gives an insight to the other side of cocaine and gives insight to the dealers lives and what goes into getting the drugs into the hands of users and addicts.
           

            

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Activity 4


MSNBC’s article “Go pills: A war on drugs?,” NY Times’ article “Bombing error puts a spotlight on pilots’ pills,” and The Christian Science Monitor’s article “Military looks to drugs for battle readiness” all provide insight on the use of “go pills” in military pilots to fight fatigue on long missions. I had not heard of the use of these pills for pilots before, so I found these articles and this subject to be interesting. I think the military’s continued use of amphetamines to increase alertness and performance is a very controversial issue that has logical arguments and support for both sides.
In my opinion, I think that the military is ethically distributing the pills. These pills and their use are strictly regulated and the military is not forcing any of the pilots to take any pill if they do not agree to it and sign a consent form. Additionally, the unused pills are taken away after each mission. I think that since it is the pilot, and the pilot alone, in the aircraft then it should be his/her decision on whether or not they need the pills to prevent fatigue and potentially save their lives. As pointed out by Major General Dan Leaf, “It’s an insurance policy. When they’re in the air there’s no place to pull over. It’s a life-or-death situation. The decision to take a pill is made by the individual pilot.” The pilots are fully informed of the potential for abuse and every pilot is not going to become addicted.
As for the pilots’ careers, I think that they will suffer without the pills because they are expected by the military to preform and resist effects of sleep deprivation. However, there are consequences of using this type of drug in this line of work. One of these consequences includes impaired judgment, as shown by the two National Guard pilots that mistakenly bombed Canadian troops. Another consequence is that this drug, Dexedrine, is currently a schedule II drug, meaning it has a high potential for abuse and can also cause anxiety, paranoia and heart problems.
Some strategies to reduce the consequences of taking amphetamines include making sure that the pilot is well-rested before he/she leaves for their mission because studies show that low doses of amphetamines do not affect reaction time or decision making ability in well rested people. They just improve the mental performance of people who are fatigued. I think this would reduce the amount of pilots that use the drug while in flight. Another strategy that could reduce the consequences is continuing to monitor how many and how often pilots are consuming the pills. I think that the military taking away the unused pills right after flights helps to reduce the potential of addiction as well.
I think this topic relates to class material because it ties into the government and the bans they place on certain substances. It is shocking to me that the military would provide a schedule II drug to soldiers, but I think that the most shocking statistic out of these three articles was that fatigue has claimed more deaths among military pilots in the past two decades than combat duty. It was also stated in the articles that the use of this drug has not caused any deaths. This goes to show just how dangerous fatigue can be and the necessity for something to remedy it. Even though providing drugs is not the ideal way to fix this problem, it seems to be the best solution out there at the present time.


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Activity 3

Mir et al’s research article “Myocardial Infarction Associated With Use of the Synthetic Cannabinoid K2” explores K2 and presents 3 cases in which there was ST-elevation MI associated with recent exposure to the synthetic cannabis product. The article explains that John W. Huffman developed the most popular synthetic cannabinoid in order to research the effects of cannabinoids on the brain and peripheral receptors and possible medical uses for THC. These products are reported to have stronger physiologic effects than natural cannabis but there is a lack of information about the chemical composition and toxicology of the chemicals in these drugs. All three cases were sixteen-year-old boys that came into the ER with chest pains after smoking K2 and marijuana. The article goes on to explain that marijuana and cocaine have led to MI in adolescents. Additionally, the article explains the effects marijuana and THC have on the cardiovascular system. An interesting point the article makes is that the makers of these synthetic drugs have the advantage of knowing what components are detectable so they are able to alter the chemical composition of the drug in order to bypass drug testing. I think this is important because this shows that you never are guaranteed what you are consuming and the safety risk of consuming these products is very high. Although the article states that there is not much data regarding synthetics, I think that it is important that the researchers explained the effects the marijuana has on the cardiovascular system because the synthetic drugs are somewhat similar. I thought this research was very interesting. I did not realize that marijuana and THC had a large effect on the cardiovascular system. Additionally, another element I thought was significant in this article was the researchers suggestions on how to handle the synthetic drugs and their advice that health care providers should be alert of these substances despite negative drug screenings, and that further research of these products is essential.
Schneir et al’s “Spice” Girls: Synthetic Cannabinoid Intoxication research article presented two patients that used spice recreationally and recorded their reactions. It is stated that the appeal of synthetic products includes a legal high and the inability to urine drug tests to detect. At the time of this research, there was very little information of the effects of smoking this substance. As for the two case studies, the two girls each shared a packet of the synthetic substance and each ended up in the ER with feelings of disorientation, anxiety, tremulous, and were experiencing heart palpitations. Each girl had normal vital signs otherwise, however the younger girl was experiencing tachycardia. It is also stated in the article that the packets are labeled “not for human consumption”. The DEA has made some synthetic cannabinoids schedule I drugs; however the article does not reveal any extreme harm from use. I thought it was interesting that the researchers only used two girls for testing with only one type of synthetic marijuana. I think there should be a much larger testing group using a wide variety of types of synthetics. I don’t think just the two girls were an adequate way to research this issue. Additionally, it didn’t seem to me that there were any conclusive findings in the research. I also thought it was interesting that the packets are labeled “not for human consumption”. That leaves one to wonder why someone would chose to use this drug and think that it is safe. I think that even though the article did not find any “harmful” effects, that does not necessarily mean there are not any due to the fact that the article mentioned there has not been much medical literature and the article itself did not really provide any conclusive or supported findings.
Halpern et al’s research article “Residual neurocognitive features of long-term ecstasy users with minimal exposure to drugs” explores ecstasy and the cognitive function in users with minimal exposure to other illicit drugs or alcohol. The study used 111 participants- 52 ecstasy users and 59 non-users. The results of this study were that both groups appeared similar in many measures, but users were more frequently reported with lower levels of parental education and lower vocabulary skills, and use of the non-dominant hand. The researchers go on to explain that these differences may not even be due to neurotoxicity of ecstasy. The negative findings of this research are inconstant with many past studies and recent studies. I think that the methods of this study were effective because the researchers controlled for factors that previous studies had not. As for the findings, I was very surprised of the negative findings because I thought that ecstasy use would have been a significant effect on cognitive function. I think that this study is has a lot of significance because it shows contradicting evidence. Further, I think this study proves that there should be more research done on the use of ecstasy and the effect this drug has on humans.  


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Current Event Analysis- Marijuana and Synthetics

For my current event analysis, I am responsible for covering the topic of marijuana and synthetics. The current event article I chose as a representation of this topic is “State Issues New Ban on Synthetic Marijuana” dated January 30th, 2015 from a news station in New Orleans, Louisiana. This article addressed that there are new forms of synthetic marijuana out in society and the consequences have been deadly.
The Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, has added several new varieties to the list of banned synthetic drugs, but the problem resulting is that drug makers keep finding loopholes to get drugs back in stores just by tweaking and changing their formulas.Dr. Peter Winsauer with LSU Health Sciences Center, explains that the drugs are not going to have the same effects as marijuana and that the drug has been linked to several recent deaths and numerous hospitalizations in Louisiana. He goes on to explain that people who use the drug tend to feel very anxious, agitated, and proceed to act out, do bizarre things and eventually end up being hospitalized. Additionally, it is pointed out that this type of behavior often comes with suicidal thoughts. Dr. Winsauer is also quoted explaining that “They [drug makers] don’t know what they’re making, and it can be attached with all kinds of impurities, and once those impurities get into the brain, the brain’s going to respond to it in a negative way”. Another important point the article makes is that just because the drug is sold in stores, does not make it safe. All types of people, ranging from students to people that are employed, were buying this drug to get high, because they thought that they were not breaking the law. The article explains that Louisiana poison control received more than 17,000 calls related to synthetic marijuana, which has contributed to the ban of these substances. After targeted crackdowns, there are no longer stores that sell the drug.
This article, and the class material of synthetics in general, is relevant and important to society in many ways. In this class we discussed how drugs are classified, and more specifically, how drugs are classified under the Controlled Substances Act. According to whitehouse.gov, “The Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act is part of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act of 2012, signed into law by President Obama.  The law permanently places 26 types of synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).” I think that this article supports the fact that most chemicals found in synthetic marijuana should be Schedule I substances considering there is no health benefit and there is a high safety risk and potential for abuse. In addition to the Synthetic Drug Prevention Act, the government has taken several other steps in order to ban synthetic drug products and increase public safety from synthetic drugs. Identity, purity, and potency are some other topics covered in class that are very relevant to society, and synthetic drugs in particular, today. Identifying exactly what you are consuming while taking synthetic drugs can be difficult and you can never be sure of its purity or potency. The contents and effects of these drugs are unpredictable due to the constant changing formulas and of the chemicals used in manufacturing in order for drug makers to avoid bans on these substances.
On a personal note, for someone who has seen the effects of synthetic marijuana first hand, I think that it is extremely important for society to be aware of the dangers and consequences of using synthetic drugs. Three years ago, a friend of mine passed away after smoking a form of synthetic marijuana. Logan drowned in less than 2 feet of water in a park after smoking “Jazz”. His death was not caused directly from smoking the substance, however the medical examiner linked it with the cause of death. His actions, while under the influence of the synthetic marijuana, ultimately led to his death. I think it is important to emphasize that Logan was not addicted nor a frequent user of this drug and he still ended up paying the ultimate price for experimenting with it. I think this shows that drugs do not have to be addicting to be dangerous, and just one bad experience with a drug can have devastating consequences.  


 Link to article: 
Resources:
"Synthetic Drugs (a.k.a. K2, Spice, Bath Salts, Etc.)." The White House. Office of the National Drug Control Policy, n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
Yates, Wynton. "State Issues New Ban on Synthetic Marijuana." Wwltv.com. Gannett, 30 Jan. 2015. Web.


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