STORY BY

Sonora Hudson

Despite the U.S. “war on drugs,” it appears we are not winning the battle. Studies indicate the number of young recreational drug users remains fairly constant and widespread throughout all socioeconomic levels. Indeed, the use of certain synthetics, called “club drugs,” may be increasing.

Reports suggest amphetamines (stimulants) and MDMA (Ecstasy) are becoming more popular worldwide: an estimated one million doses of Ecstasy are taken in Britain each weekend, and emergency room visits involving Ecstasy increased 58 percent in selected U.S. metropolitan areas in the year 2000. What often seems to get lost in the numbers is the potential for adverse health effects.

“The problem is intensified because people don’t understand the characteristics of the drugs they’re taking,” said John Grabowski, PhD, professor, department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Ecstasy, GHB (commonly known as the “date rape drug”) and ketamine (an anesthetic) are currently the most popular club drugs. Ecstasy, an amphetamine producing feelings of euphoria, can cause rapid heartbeat, muscle spasms, fatal overheating, salt depletion and kidney and heart problems. Deaths have been due to allergic reactions, convulsions, brain hemorrhage, heart failure, and liver and kidney damage.

GHB, which affects the nerves, stimulates the release of opiate-like substances within the body and can cause coma and respiratory depression. Chronic users can experience agitation, abnormal thinking, disordered attention and high blood pressure. Emerging evidence suggests it also causes significant physical dependence. Ketamine can stop breathing and cause loss of the airway.

Other recreational drugs can also be hazardous to one’s health. Cocaine and amphetamines can cause abnormal accumulation of fluid in the lungs and heart problems. Recent data indicate that as many as one in four heart attacks in 18- to 45-year-olds in the United States can be linked to cocaine use. Morphine can cause a variety of adverse effects, including slow or irregular heart rate, and low blood pressure. Oxycodone, an opium derivative used to relieve pain, is habit forming. Overdose can cause respiratory depression, coma, slow heart beat, low blood pressure, circulatory collapse and sudden heart beat cessation. Combining it with alcohol use can be fatal. Inhalants (often abused by adolescents) have been linked to sudden death and damage to the kidneys, liver, lungs, heart and nervous system.

The three recreational substances used most often in this country are alcohol, marijuana and tobacco.

“Alcohol is still a major substance abuse problem in this country among young people,” says Dr. Marianne Marcus, the John P. McGovern professor of Addiction Nursing at the UT School of Nursing at Houston.

Deaths due to excessive alcohol consumption among college students gained considerable media attention over the past few years, and efforts to discourage binge drinking on college campuses seem to have somewhat alleviated this problem. However, recent statistics indicate Texans, among others, are still abusing this substance. Last year 1,800 died, and 25,000 were injured in alcohol-related wrecks; and estimates indicate someone in Texas is hurt every 21 minutes in a road accident involving alcohol.

A recent concern of the National Institute of Drug Abuse is marijuana, says Marcus. “What they are reporting is strong, compelling evidence that marijuana has profound physical, mental and emotional effects.” Low or moderate doses of marijuana can produce rapid heartbeat and an increase in cardiac output, along with angina (heart pain), especially in individuals with pre-existing heart disease. It also may trigger rupture of plaque (a cholesterol-containing mass in arteries). Higher doses can result in slow heartbeat and low blood pressure.

“Even in moderate doses, marijuana appears to affect cognitve and decision-making skills, both necessary when you are behind the wheel of a car,” Marcus says. This concern, she adds, is also shared by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Tobacco, considered a drug because of its addictive properties, both calms the nerves and acts as a stimulant. Its long-range effects in increasing the risk for lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease and adverse effects upon unborn children are well known.

An especially problematic area associated with recreational drug use is that individuals taking these drugs don’t really know what, or how much they’re taking, and that health problems can be exacerbated by excessive activity and dehydration.

Both Marcus and Grabowski advocate strong drug prevention programming. Marcus focuses on middle-school aged kids. “Life Skills Training is a Cornell University program that we have adapted for our demographics here in Houston that helps kids make decisions, build general life-coping skills, counteract the seduction of media messages, and create alternative activities to do with their free time,” Marcus explains.

Grabowski adds the need to view the recreational drug issue from a larger vantage point. “What we need is a broader look at policy rather than looking at each incident as epidemic. We will probably not see diminished use until we start looking at this issue as a public health problem.

“Public health efforts require education and information about the problem,” he said. “They are not enhanced by the ‘scare tactics’ that are common to ‘wars.’”

UPDATED: 11-18-2002

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