PS268 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Biology Of Depression, Personality Disorder, Impulsivity
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Drugs and Behaviour – Chapter 2
1
Laissez-Faire
o Hands-off approach to government interference in the workings of the market
If the seller wanted to sell, and buyer wanted to buy, let them do it
o Factors that precipated creation of drug laws have varied from country to country
o Three concerns have led to creation of laws
Toxicity
o Toxic – poisonous or dangerous
o All drugs can be dangerous depending on the dosage
Alcohol in high doses can suppress respiration
o Behavioural toxicity
Toxicity resulting from behavioural effects of a drug
Cause people to distort their behaviours
o Physiological toxicity
Damages to the body
o Categories of toxicity
Physiological toxicity is a social problem
Impacts hospital ERs, increased health care costs, lost productivity and social system
suffers for it
Acute vs chronic
Acute – sharp/intense, sudden onset
o Effects from one single use of the drug
o Behavioural – intoxication from drug use that impairs behaviour and
increases danger to individual
o Physiological – overdose of drug causing bodily functions to impair
Chronic – long-lasting condition
o Result from long-term exposure of the drug
o Behavioural –personality changes because of alcohol use
o Physiological – cancer/long and heart disease…etc
o Determining the toxicity of drugs of abuse and misuse
Drug abuse warning network monitors toxicity of drugs in the USA (DAWN)
Collect data on drug-related information from emergency room visits
o Could be for a wide range of reasons (as long as drugs are involved)
Not every ER uses the DAWN system (provides rough estimate for overall number of
ER visits in entire country)
Collects information on deaths and injuries
Alcohol does it not recorded by DAWN system, unless combined with another drug
Canada does not have a system like dawn, but information is collected from Canadian Institute
for Health Information (CIHI)
Federally chartered institution
Collected information on all patient hospital separations (death, discharge, sign out,
transfer)
Recorded based on International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes
Collects data on diagnostic, therapeutic and support intervention while in hospital
Has means to obtain information from ER, but has not yet
o How dangerous is the drug?
DAWN and systems like it can determine relative toxicities of drugs of abuse and misuse
within society
National survey on drug use and health (NSDUH)
Publishes rates of current use of alcohol and cocaine, alongside marijuana use for
Americans between 19-25