Part I. Marijuana

I think it’s time to once again write about the three drugs we addiction therapists run into most often nowadays in the Philippines.  They are marijuana, shabu and Ecstasy, a drug that is growing in popularity.

Marijuana is the substance that vast majority of drug users begin with.  And its use usually starts in high school.  It is not uncommon today to find men and women who have been using marijuana for 15 or 20 years.  The drug is popular even among professionals and businessmen.  These people started using in high school and never stopped.  Many of them use daily and think nothing of it.

Marijuana is derived from the cannabis plant.  It is grown in many countries, including ours.  People put it in rolling papers and make marijuana cigarettes.  This is why when you find rolling paper in the things of your child you can be almost sure that he’s using marijuana.  It is also smoked in pipes.  Find a pipe in a kid’s bag or in his room and that’s another sign of marijuana use.  The same is true of  water pipes or “bongs”.  Sometimes parents have no idea why their son would have a  water pipe.  Many think it’s merely a decoration.  It isn’t.

Hashish comes from the marijuana plant and is a stronger form of marijuana with a higher level of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.  Hashish isn’t used by beginners but mostly by experienced users of marijuana.

Marijuana contains several psychoactive chemicals that act on the brain.  Scientists do not know all the drug’s effects, but several studies have established that marijuana interferes with memory and learning.  A new study confirms that heavy (daily) use impairs critical skills related to attention, memory and learning.  In this study, “heavy users could not pay attention to the material well enough to register the information in the first place so that it could be recalled later,”  say the researchers in the journal of the American Medical Association.  These deficits persisted for up to 24 hours after the users stopped feeling high.

Marijuana also impairs judgment and reaction time.  Many people involved in car accidents are high on marijuana.  A special study in America found that one in three drivers stopped for reckless driving in Memphis, Tennessee were high on marijuana.  Another study revealed that of drivers involved in accidents, who were treated at a trauma center, 15 percent had been smoking marijuana. 

Daily use of 1 to 3 marijuana cigarettes appears to produce the same lung damage and cancer risk as smoking 5 times as many cigarettes.  Finally, researchers have found for the first time that marijuana can cause dependence and withdrawal symptoms in laboratory animals.

There are street names for marijuana.  The most common are pot, weed, joints and MJ.

Though marijuana is not addicting and not as devastating as shabu, it isn’t harmless either.  It is a gateway drug that very often leads to more serious drug use.  It’s also against the law and can get you up to six years in jail. KNOW

THE ENEMY:  Shabu
Part II
By:  Bob Garon

After marijuana, the drug of choice of addicts is shabu.  Shabu is known as the poor man's cocaine.  It's relatively cheap.  You can buy a hit for P100.  Since it is made easily in clandestine laboratories, shabu can be found just about anywhere, even in 7remote barrios.

Shabu is an addictive stimulant that dramatically affects the central nervous system. In the Philippines, it is smoked. It's a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder.  It is sold  in  plastic sachets  of varying sizes. When you find small empty sachets in your son's room, along with tinfoil (especially darkened used foils) then you can be almost sure that he's into shabu.

When they smoke shabu, addicts get a "rush" that they will tell you make them feel great.  They feel self-confident, and get the sense that they can do almost anything. In short, shabu gives them a general feeling of well being.   Since shabu is an amphetamine, is causes increased activity.   The user might become more aggressive, more talkative, more combative even.

Shabu takes away your appetite.  This is why heavy users lose a lot of weight.  Shabu also keeps you awake.  It is common for shabu addicts to stay up all night, often going without sleep for 2 or 3 days. Some have gone sleepless for up to a week.

After being without sleep for a while, the body cries out for rest and the addict "crashes".  That is when he may sleep all day as the body tries to renew itself.  Chronic users get into the  "binge and crash” pattern.  In order not to crash, the addict might continue to take one dose after the other.

The reason for the high is that the Sheba causes the release of high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine into areas of the brain that regulate feelings of pleasure.

Short-term effects of Sheba can include increased activity and decreased fatigue.  There is euphoria and a rush that gives intense pleasure.  There is increased respiration because the heart beats at a faster rate.

Addiction to Shabu is a chronic relapsing disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and drug use.   It causes functional and molecular changes in the brain if used over the long-term.  Chronic users can also exhibit violent behavior, anxiety and confusion.  The chronic user will take shabu a number of times daily as long as his supplies last.  He will also begin to feel paranoid.   He may even hallucinate. You will notice strong mood swings.

In fact, chronic users might even be seen as mentally ill because they exhibit signs of psychotic behavior such as out-of-control rages and feelings that the world is out to get him.  Though some  chronic abusers are now confined in psychiatric wards,  the question of whether or not shabu causes mental illness is still an open question.  I tend t think that prolonged use of shabu has to somehow affect the brain.

What is certain is that prolonged shabu usage surely affects ones health. The shabu addict neglects his body. Tuberculosis isn't an uncommon condition for the chronic abuser. Nor is high blood pressure and a general deterioration of his health. In short, the shabu addict pays a very high price for his pleasure.

KNOW THE ENEMY:  Ecstacy
Part III
By:  Bob Garon

Though marijuana is the number one drug abused and shabu is next, ecstacy is becoming more and more popular among those who can afford to pay P1,000 to P1,5000 a pill.

Ecstacy is the Johnny-come-lately among the abused drugs.  At least 80 percent of all the Ecstacy in the world comes from clandestine labs in the Netherlands.

Called the “hug-drug,”  Ecstacy triggers a chemical reaction in the brain that lowers inhibitions and causes feelings of well being and closeness to others.  This is why people  on Ecstacy like to touch each other a lot.

Ecstacy is similar to the stimulant amphetamine (which is contained in shabu) and the halucinogen mescaline.  This is why Ecstacy can produce both stimulant and psychedelic effects.

Ecstacy is taken orally, usually in tablet or capsule form.  Its effects are said to last 3 to 6 hours, though confusion, depression, sleep problems, anxiety and paranoia have been reported to occur even weeks after the drug is taken.  Because Ecstacy contains a measure of amphetamine, there is a significant increase in heart rate and blood pressure and a sense of alertness.

The stimulant effects of Ecstacy, which enables users to keep on dancing for extended periods, may also lead to dehydration.  Ecstacy is popular in clubs, parties, and those all-night dances that are called “raves” and are held in warehouses.  If your kid goes to a rave, you can be absolutely sure there will be lots of Ecstacy being passed around.

Blood pressure increases when Ecstacy is used.  In high doses Ecstacy can be “extremely dangerous”, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Nida).  “It can cause a marked increased in body temperature (malignant hypothermia) leading to the muscle breakdown and kidney and cardiovascular system failure reported in some fatal cases at raves.  Its use may also lead to heart attacks, strokes and seizures in some users.”

There is now “pretty good evidence that it probably causes permanent damage to the brain”, says David McDowell, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry and head of the Substance Treatment and Research Service at Columbia University.  McDowell goes on to say that the chemicals in Ecstacy impair the function and long-term production of serotonin, a brain chemical that keeps people on an even emotional keel and whose absence can lead to major psychological problems.  Other recent studies have indicated possible long-termmemory loss and cognitive impairment.

Though people use Ecstacy because of the high it gives them the words of Alan Leshner, the director of the NIDA, should always be kept in mind:  “No drug is benign”.  That’s like saying that for every pleasure a drug gives you, there will be a price to pay.

Published in TODAY,
November 2, 3, and 4, 2000