Module 5
CWTS 1
Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College Department
Lesson 1 : Definition of a drug and Commonly abused drug
Chapter 6 : Drug Addiction
Week no: 13
Introduction :
A drug is any substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or
psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that
provide nutritional support. It is also a chemical substances that can change how your body and
mind work. They include prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, alcohol, tobacco,
and illegal drugs. Drug use, or misuse. Some of the illegal substances that commonly abused
are Anabolic steroids, Club drugs, Cocaine, Heroin, Inhalants, Marijuana and
Methamphetamines. Drug use is dangerous. It can harm your brain and body, sometimes
permanently. It can hurt the people around you, including friends, families, kids, and unborn
babies. Drug use can also lead to addiction.
Objectives :
After successful completion of this cycle, you should be able to:
Identify the use and misuse of drugs;
Be familiar of some of the illegal substances that commonly abused.
Course Materials :
What is drug addiction? Drug addiction is a chronic brain disease. It causes a person
to take drugs repeatedly, despite the harm they cause. Repeated drug use can change the brain
and lead to addiction. The brain changes from addiction can be lasting, so drug addiction is
considered a "relapsing" disease. This means that people in recovery are at risk for taking drugs
again, even after years of not taking them.
Does everyone who takes drugs become addicted? Not everyone who uses drugs
becomes addicted. Everyone's bodies and brains are different, so their reactions to drugs can
also be different. Some people may become addicted quickly, or it may happen over time. Other
people never become addicted. Whether or not someone becomes addicted depends on many
factors. They include genetic, environmental, and developmental factors.
Who is at risk for drug addiction? Various risk factors can make you more likely to
become addicted to drugs, including
1. Your biology. People can react to drugs differently. Some people like the feeling the first
time they try a drug and want more. Others hate how it feels and never try it again.
2. Mental health problems. People who have untreated mental health problems, such
as depression, anxiety, or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to
become addicted. This can happen because drug use and mental health problems affect the
same parts of the brain. Also, people with these problems may use drugs to try to feel
better.
3. Trouble at home. If your home is an unhappy place or was when you were growing up, you
might be more likely to have a drug problem.
4. Trouble in school, at work, or with making friends. You might use drugs to get your mind
off these problems.
5. Hanging around other people who use drugs. They might encourage you to try drugs.
6. Starting drug use when you're young. When kids use drugs, it affects how their bodies
and brains finish growing. This increases your chances of becoming addicted when you're
an adult.
Some of the illegal substances that commonly abused are:
1. Anabolic steroids. It is also known more properly as anabolic–androgenic steroids, are
steroidal androgens that include natural androgens like testosterone as well as synthetic
androgens that are structurally related and have similar effects to testosterone. Anabolic
steroids are synthetic (man-made) versions of testosterone. Testosterone is the main
sex hormone in men. It is needed to develop and maintain male sex characteristics, such
as facial hair, deep voice, and muscle growth. Women do have some testosterone in their
bodies, but in much smaller amounts.
2. Club drugs. Also called rave drugs, or party drugs are a loosely defined category of
recreational drugs which are associated with discothèques in the 1970s and nightclubs,
dance clubs, electronic dance music parties, and raves in the 1980s to today.
3. Cocaine. It is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant
native to South America. Although health care providers can use it for valid medical
purposes, such as local anesthesia for some surgeries, recreational cocaine use is illegal.
As a street drug, cocaine looks like a fine, white, crystal powder.
4. Heroin. It is an opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance taken from the seed
pod of the various opium poppy plants grown in Southeast and Southwest Asia, Mexico,
and Colombia. Heroin can be a white or brown powder, or a black sticky substance known
as black tar heroin. Other common names for heroin include bigH, horse, hell
dust, and smack.
5. Inhalants. The term inhalants refers to the various substances that people typically
take only by inhaling. These substances include:solvents (liquids that become gas at room
temperature), aerosol sprays, gases, nitrites (prescription medicines for chest pain).
Inhalants are various products easily bought and found in the home or workplace—such
as spray paints, markers, glues, and cleaning fluids.
6. Marijuana. The history of marijuana use reaches back farther than many would guess.
Cultivation of the plant dates back thousands of years. The first written account of
cannabis cultivation (ostensibly used as medical marijuana) is found in Chinese records
dating from the 28th century B.C.E. And a nearly 3,000-year-old
Egyptian mummy contained traces of THC, the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana,
as well as other drugs. Cannabis sativa is perhaps the world's most recognizable plant.
Pictures of the ubiquitous, green cannabis leaf show up in the news media, textbooks and
drug-prevention literature. Its shape is made into jewelry, plastered on bumper stickers
and clothing, and spray-painted on walls. The leaves are arranged palmately, radiating
from a common center, like the fingers of a hand spreading apart. Although most people
know what the cannabis plant looks like, they may know very little about its horticulture.
7. Methamphetamines. Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that
affects the central nervous system. Crystal methamphetamine is a form of the drug that
looks like glass fragments or shiny, bluish-white rocks. It is chemically similar to
amphetamine, a drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and
narcolepsy, a sleep disorder.
Read:
National Service Training Program with Common and Specific Modules
By: Rogelio I. Espiritu, Maria Rosario E. Monce, Madeleine M. Co, Jayme C. Ignacio and
Katherine C. Guevarra
Activities / Assessment :
Make slogans, quotations or posters campaigning against drug abuse.
Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College Department
Lesson 2: Characteristics of Drug addict
Chapter 6 : Drug Addiction
Week no: 14
Introduction :
What is the difference between drug dependence and drug addiction? People
sometimes use the terms “addiction” and “dependence” interchangeably. Dependence is not the
same as addiction. Addiction can occur without being dependent on drugs. It may involve using
drugs despite the consequences, being unable to stop using drugs, and neglecting social and
work obligations because of drug use, on the other hand it is possible to be dependent on drugs
without being addicted. Dependence can be a bodily response to a substance. This often occurs
if you rely on medications to control a chronic medical condition. These conditions may include
high blood pressure, diabetes and glaucoma.
Objectives :
After successful completion of this cycle, you should be able to:
Be familiar with the signs and symptoms of drug abuse;
Be aware of the campaign made by the government to prevent drug abuse.
Course Materials :
Drug addiction alters perception, can distort thinking, creates emotional imbalances, and
leaves sufferers with a damaged sense of self-esteem.
The psychological and emotional characteristics of drug addiction include:
Abrupt changes in mood. As chemical imbalances develop, drug addicts can
experience feelings of depression, anxiety, irritability, hostility, and paranoia that seem to
come from nowhere.
Decrease in ability to enjoy formerly pleasurable activities. Drugs sap emotional
energy, leaving little room for other types of enjoyment or pleasure.
Rationalization and denial. People addicted to drugs erect walls of denial to protect
themselves from the truth, and the attempts of loved ones to break through those walls
will bring a string of excuses and rationalizations, which the drug abuser will actually
believe.
Stronger symptoms of mental illness. In 2016, 43.3 percent of people with drug
abuse problems also suffered from some form of mental illness , and the symptoms of
mental disorders are likely to intensify when complicated by substance dependence.
Impulsivity. As time passes drug addicts may lose their inhibitions and suffer from
impaired judgement, which leads them to make rash and questionable decisions that
may seem completely out of character.
Feelings of guilt and shame. People with addictions often feel deeply ashamed
because of their inability to stop using drugs, and they also feel guilty about the pain
their behavior causes for loved ones.
Hallucinations and delusions. At the extreme edges of addiction, people who abuse
drugs repeatedly may begin to lose touch with reality, to the point where immediate
medical intervention is required.
In the early stages of a person’s descent into addiction, friends and family members may
not understand what is happening. Or, they may have suspicions but still be uncertain.
Either way, they will know something is terribly wrong with their loved one, who may attempt to
hide what they’re thinking and feeling but won’t be able to do so completely.The inner feelings of
drug addicts may be somewhat difficult to decode, but their behavior will show clear signs of
their drug dependency, and of the desperation and chaos it is creating in their lives.
Some of the most common behavioral characteristics of drug abuse include:
Lying and manipulative behavior. People trapped by drug addiction will habitually lie
about their actions and whereabouts. They also won’t hesitate to manipulate others to
get what they want (which is more drugs). But over time, they tell so many lies or half-
truths that eventual exposure is inevitable.
Blaming others for life problems. Unable to see through their own rationalizations,
people dependent on drugs will usually blame others, or bad luck, or life circumstances,
for their troubles. They become experts at making excuses to deflect responsibility and
protect themselves from exposure.
Neglectfulness. As drug addiction deepens sufferers will begin to neglect their
responsibilities, as parents, family members, friends, employees, students, and citizens.
Drugs become their priority, and the physical and emotional toll of their drug abuse can
make it difficult to manage—or even remember—their personal responsibilities.
Drugs take over. Addicts will spend enormous amounts of time using drugs, thinking
about them, trying to obtain them, or attempting to manage the fallout from their
prodigious drug consumption.
Involvement in criminal activity, as perpetrator and/or victim. Much of it may involve
stealing, either drugs or the money to buy them. But addicts often become impulsive and
lose their capacity to make wise decisions, which leads them into other kinds of trouble
as well.
Read:
National Service Training Program with Common and Specific Modules
By: Rogelio I. Espiritu, Maria Rosario E. Monce, Madeleine M. Co, Jayme C. Ignacio and
Katherine C. Guevarra
Activities / Assessment :
Write a reflective essay on the insights / learning gained in drug abuse. Focus on how
you can contribute in its prevention.
Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College Department
Lesson 3: Cause and effect of drug addiction
Chapter 6 : Drug Addiction
Week no: 15
Introduction :
Runaway drug addiction causes enormous life complications that go beyond its direct
effects on a person’s health. Drug addicts lose the ability to manage their daily affairs, meet
their obligations, or attend to the needs of others, and the result is broken relationships, financial
catastrophe, unemployment, encounters with law enforcement, frequent victimization at the
hands of others, and helplessness in the face of repeated failures and disappointments. If
nothing is done, drug addicts may eventually lose everything, possibly even their lives if they are
not careful. Drug overdose is now the number one cause of accidental death in most country in
the world. People suffering from substance use disorders are six times more likely to commit
suicide than members of the general public. Drugs were involved in 43 percent of fatal
automobile accidents in 2015, which surpasses the percentage of crashes that involved alcohol
consumption. The consequences of continued substance abuse highlight the urgency and
importance of drug addiction treatment, which can offer a lifeline to those who are the brink of
disaster.
Objectives :
After successful completion of this cycle, you should be able to:
Be familiar with the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002;
Develop an active participation in the prevention of drug abuse.
Course Materials :
Drug addiction is not a hallmark of moral failure or lack of willpower—it’s a complex
disease that deserves long-term, extensive treatment, just like any other chronic condition.
People who have not struggled with substance abuse may find it difficult to understand why
anyone would start using. Why would someone willingly put themselves in harm’s way by taking
dangerous substances? There are, in fact, many reasons why some people turn to or start
abusing drugs, and unfortunately the consequences can be life-shattering. While every case is
unique, there are general patterns that indicate why some people use drugs, how addiction
develops, and the consequences of drug abuse.
Why People Use Drugs?
While specific incentives differ from person to person, generally speaking, people start
using drugs to escape or mask pain.
In some individuals, the onset of drug use can be from untreated psychiatric issues including
anxiety and depression. The rush of pleasure from using drugs can provide temporary solace
from suffering, which can stem from many mental health or other issues including the following:
1. Trauma or abuse
2. Mental illness
3. Low self-esteem
4. Poverty
5. Relationship problems
6. Loss of a loved one
7. Stress
8. Chronic pain or medical conditions
How Addiction Develops?
For most people, the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary. But as they are swept up
into the cycle of addiction, the neural pathways in their brain change so they are less able to
control their behavior and resist their intense impulses.It works like this: the brain rewards
pleasurable experiences (such as food, intimacy, and laughter) with surges of feel-good
chemicals like dopamine. But using drugs triggers the release of much more dopamine than
chocolate or cuddling does, and the rush of euphoria compels them to repeat the experience.
The more someone uses drugs, the more they condition their brain to anticipate the same
substance-fueled pleasant sensations. That’s why it’s so difficult to stop. The brain becomes
wired for addiction. Eventually, one’s tolerance may build so much that addictive behavior no
longer provides any pleasure, and using drugs simply becomes a way to avoid withdrawal. They
need drugs just to keep feeling normal.
The Effects of Drug Addiction
The sad truth is that more deaths, illnesses, and disabilities are caused by substance
abuse than by any other preventable health condition. Prolonged drug dependence interferes
with just about every organ in the human body, and while different drugs have different
damaging effects, these are some of the common conditions substance abuse can cause:
1. Damaged immune system, which increases susceptibility to infection
2. Cardiovascular conditions, including heart attacks and collapsed veins
3. Nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain
4. Liver overexertion or liver failure
5. Seizures and strokes
6. Widespread brain damage that can interfere with memory, attention, and
decision-making, as well as permanent brain damage
Some of the worst effects of substance abuse aren’t even health related. Drug abuse
can have a number of damaging consequences on an addict’s social and emotional well-being,
including:
1. Loss of employment
2. Relationship loss
3. Incarceration
4. Financial trouble
5. Homelessness
6. Risky sexual behaviour
Many problems can be reversed or minimized by getting sober, but there may be some
health and emotional issues that simply won’t heal with time. The best way to prevent
permanent damage is to seek professional treatment ASAP to overcome the addiction.
Read:
National Service Training Program with Common and Specific Modules
By: Rogelio I. Espiritu, Maria Rosario E. Monce, Madeleine M. Co, Jayme C. Ignacio and
Katherine C. Guevarra
Activities / Assessment :
Discuss the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002.
