WHAT ARE AMPHETAMINES?

Amphetamines, first produced in the 1920's for medical use, are stimulants to the central nervous system and are best known for their ability to combat fatigue and sleepiness. They are also sometimes used to curb appetite in medically supervised weight reduction programs. The most commonly used stimulants are amphetamine (Benzadrine), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), and methamphetamine (Methedrine).

Slang terms for these drugs by some people who misuse them include "pep pills," "bennies," and "speed."

HOW DO THESE DRUGS AFFECT MOOD?

When properly prescribed by a physician, moderate doses can check fatigue, and produce feelings of alertness, self-confidence, and wellbeing.. In some people, this is followed by a letdown feeling, or depression hangover. Heavier doses cause jitteriness, irritability, unclear speech, and tension. People on very large doses of amphetamines appear withdrawn, with their emotions dulled, and they seem unable to organize their thinking.

WHAT ARE THE PHYSICAL EFFECTS?

Stimulant drugs increase the heart rate, raise the blood pressure, cause palpitations (throbbing heart and rapid breathing), dilate the pupils, and cause dry mouth, sweating, headache, diarrhea, and paleness. They also depress the appetite.

HOW DO THESE STIMULANTS WORK?

Scientists have found that in the body these drugs stimulate the release of norepinephrine, a substance stored in nerve endings, and concentrate it in the higher centers of the brain. This speeds up the action of the heart and the metabolism, which is the body's process for converting food into the chemicals it needs.

WHAT ARE THE MEDICAL USES?

Stimulants were first used to treat colds, because they shrink the nasal membranes and can give temporary relief for “stuffy" heads. More effective drugs with fewer side effects are now used for this purpose. Stimulants are now mainly prescribed for narcolepsy (overwhelming attacks of sleep), depression, and to control overweight. Use of these drugs as appetite depressants, for overweight, or for any purposes, is advisable only under the supervision of a physician, since stimulants can produce unwanted reactions, and are too risky for self-medication. Doctors also prescribe these drugs for fliers, astronauts and others who can use them as medically directed to ward off fatigue during dangerous and prolonged tasks.

ARE STIMULANTS MISUSED?

About 20 percent of all medical prescriptions for mood-affecting drugs are stimulants. The amount produced by the drug industry each year is enough to provide each American with 25 doses of these drugs. The Food and Drug Administration reports that about half this supply enters illegal channels, for nonprescribed use. Stimulants are also produced in black-market laboratories and are easily obtained from illegal sources.

Stimulants are misused or abused by people of different ages and walks of life-from the middleaged businessman or housewife to students, athletes, and truck drivers. Recent government surveys show that young people are becoming the greatest abusers of these drugs. Drivers take them to stay awake on long trips, students take them while cramming for exams, and athletes take them although sporting associations have banned their use. Some try them for a temporary "kick." Some abusers "get" on both stimulant and sedative drugs, to get a chemical "up" and a chemical "down." This practice is, of course, unsound, and is not recommended.

The stimulant drugs are generally swallowed as pills, but can be taken in liquid form by injection

into a vein at regular time intervals. This is a dangerous practice known among abusers as "speeding."

ARE THESE STIMULANTS ADDICTING?

Benzedrine, Dexedrine and other stimulant drugs do not produce physical dependence as do the narcotics. The body does not become physically dependent on their continued use. It does, however, develop a tolerance to these drugs, with larger and larger doses required to feel the effects.

There is another kind of dependence medical authorities note in connection with the abuse of stimulants. They call it "psychological" dependence, or a practice that can become a habit for mental or emotional reasons, with the person "getting used to" and turning to the drug for its effects.

HOW DANGEROUS ARE
STIMULANT DRUGS?

The drugs can drive a person to do things beyond his physical endurance that leave him exhausted. Heavy doses may cause a temporary toxic psychosis (mental derangement) which re

quires hospitalization. This is usually accompanied by auditory and visual hallucinations (hearing and seeing imaginary things). Abrupt withdrawal of the drug from the heavy abuser can result in a deep and suicidal depression.

Long-term heavy users of the amphetamines are usually irritable, unstable, and like other heavy drug users, show social, intellectual, and emotional breakdown.

Dangers from unsanitary injections of "speed" (methamphetamine) include serum hepatitis and abcesses. Injections of "speed" cause abnormal heart rates, and may result in psychotic states (mental derangement) and long term personality disorders. Unaccustomed high doses may cause death.

WHAT ARE SEDATIVES?

The sedatives belong to a large family of drugs manufactured for medical purposes to relax the central nervous system. Of these, the best known are the barbiturates, made from barbituric acid, which was first produced in 1846.

Barbiturates range from the short-acting, faststarting pentobarbital (Nembutal) and secobarbital (Seconal) to the long-acting, slow-starting phenobarbital (Luminal), amobarbital (Amytal) and butabarbital (Butisol). The short-acting preparations are the ones most commonly abused. The slang terms for these include "barbs" and "goof balls."

HOW WIDELY ARE THEY USED?

Recent surveys show that, of all the prescriptions doctors write for mind-affecting drugs, one in four is for a barbiturate.

Probably an equally large supply of these drugs is obtained illegally, without prescription.

WHAT ARE THEIR MEDICAL USES?

Doctors prescribe sedatives widely to treat high blood pressure, epilepsy, insomnia; to diagnose and treat mental illness; and to relax patients

before and during surgery. Alone or together with other drugs, they are prescribed for many types of illnesses and medical conditions.

WHAT ARE THEIR EFFECTS?

Taken in normal, medically supervised doses, barbiturates mildly depress the action of the nerves, skeletal muscles, and the heart muscle. They slow down the heart rate and breathing, and lower the blood pressure.

But in higher doses, the effects resemble alcoholic drunkenness: confusion, slurred speech, and staggering. The ability to think, to concentrate and to work is impaired, and emotional control is weakened. Users may become irritable, angry, and want to fight or assault someone. Finally, they may fall into deep sleep.

IS BARBITURATE USE DANGEROUS?

Authorities consider the barbiturates highly dangerous when taken without medical advice and prescription. Because these drugs are commonly prescribed by doctors, many people mistakenly consider them safe to use freely and as they choose. They are not. Overdose can cause death.

Barbiturates distort how people see things and slow down their reactions and responses. They are an important cause of automobile accidents, especially when taken together with alcohol. Barbiturates tend to heighten the effects of alcohol.

Users may react to the drug more strongly at one time than at another. They may become confused about how many pills they have taken, and die of an accidental overdose. Barbiturates are a leading cause of accidental poison deaths in the United States.

Because they are easily obtained, and produce sleep readily, barbiturates are also one of the main methods people choose to commit suicide.

ARE BARBITURATES ADDICTING?

Yes. These drugs are physically addicting. The body needs increasingly higher doses to feel their effects. Some experts consider barbiturate addic tion more difficult to cure than a narcotic dependency. If the drug is withdrawn abruptly, the user suffers withdrawal sickness with cramps, nausea, delirium and convulsions, and in some cases, sudden death. Therefore, withdrawal should take place in a hospital over a period of several weeks on gradually reduced dosages. It takes several months for the body to return to normal.

WHAT ARE THE LEGAL CONTROLS?

Stimulants and barbiturates are regulated by the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, Department of Justice. These provide for a strict accounting of supplies of drugs by the manufac turer, distributor, and seller, and restrict the user to five refills of the prescription, at the discretion of his physician. This means that these drugs can be had legally only through a doctor. Illicit manufacturing and dispensing of barbiturates can bring fines up to $10,000 and prison sentences up to 5 years. Those convicted of selling the drugs to persons under 21 can be fined $15,000 to $20,000 and receive 10 to 15 years in jail. Merely possessing these drugs illegally can bring a fine of from $1,000 to $10,000 and/or imprisonment of 1 to 3 years. State laws also control the illicit use of these drugs.

WHAT RESEARCH IS BEING DONE?

The National Institute of Mental Health, a bureau of the Public Health Service, is a Federal agency primarily responsible for research on drug addiction and abuse. This research is done through the NIMH Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse.

The NIMH is conducting extensive animal

Merely possessing this drug illegally can bring a fine of from $1,000 to $10,000 and/or 1 to 3 years in prison. Some State laws are even more severe.

WHAT ARE NIMH ACTIVITIES IN LSD?

The National Institute of Mental Health, a bureau of the Public Health Service, is the primary Federal agency responsible for supporting and overseeing research on the drug. It possesses the only legal supply of LSD in the United States. The NIMH Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse is currently supporting 58 research projects which include surveys of the extent of the use of LSD by students and by the general population; LSD's biological, psychological, and genetic effects in animals and in humans; basic studies to explain the drug's action and to chart its course through the body; and long-range projects to study LSD users and their culture.

Investigators are about to complete a series of studies to determine the value of the drug as a treatment for alcoholism and emotional problems, and as a way to provide some mental relief for persons with terminal illness. They are also searching for new ways to treat people who suffer from the drug's bad side effects.

Research in this area is expected to grow until science has found more answers to the many questions LSD has raised.

Public Information Branch National Institute of Mental Health Chevy Chase, Maryland 20015 Revised March 1969

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Health Services and Mental Health Administration National Institute of Mental Health

WHAT IS LSD?

A powerful man-made chemical, lysergic acid diethylamide, generally called LSD, was first developed in 1938 from one of the ergot alkaloids. Ergot is a fungus that grows as a rust on rye-a common grain plant. Just how powerful is LSD? A single ounce is enough to provide 300,000 of the average doses.

Legally classed as a hallucinogen-a mindaffecting drug-LSD is noted mainly for producing strong and bizarre mental reactions in people, and striking distortions in their physical senseswhat and how they see, touch, smell and hear. Other less known but powerful hallucinogens or psychedelic (mind-manifesting) drugs include peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, DMT and STP.

WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE LSD?

Reasons given by some users for taking LSD include: "curiosity," "for kicks," "to understand myself better," or in quest of religious or philosophical insights. At various times in history substances as diverse as alcohol, ether, opium, and nitrous oxide (so-called "laughing gas") have also been claimed capable of providing an easy and instant path to wisdom, or to religious or philosophical insights. Today these "consciousness expanders" of an earlier day are regarded as merely commonplace substances without any mystical properties whatever.

Recent surveys and hospital reports show that the drug's popularity may be dropping, at least in some areas of the country, as its potential ill effects become better known.

WHAT ARE ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS?

An average dose of LSD, amounting to a speck, has an effect that lasts for about 8 to 10 hours. Users take it in a sugar cube, a cracker, a cookie, or can lick it off a stamp or other object impregnated with the drug. It increases the pulse and heart rate, causes a rise in blood pressure and temperature, dilated eye pupils, shaking of the hands and feet, cold sweaty palms, a flushed face or paleness, shivering, chills with goose

pimples, a wet mouth, irregular breathing, nauses, and loss of appetite.

The drug is not physically addicting as are the narcotics. That is, the body does not develop a physical need for LSD or physical sickness when it is withdrawn.

WHAT ARE ITS PSYCHOLOGICAL
EFFECTS?

People who use LSD say that it has a number of effects. The first effects, they indicate, are likely to be sudden changes in their physical senses. Walls may appear to move, colors seem stronger and more brilliant. Users are likely to "see" unusual patterns unfolding before them. Flat objects seem to stand out in three dimensions. Taste, smell, hearing, and touch seem more acute. One sensory impression may be translated or merged into another; for example, music may appear as a color, and colors may seem to have a taste.

One of the most confusing yet common reactions among users is the feeling of two strong and opposite emotions at the same time they can feel both happy and sad at once, or depressed and elated, or relaxed and tense. Arms and legs may feel both heavy and light.

Users also report a sensation of losing the normal feeling of boundaries between body and space. This sometimes gives them the notion they can fly or float with ease.

Effects can be different at different times in the same individual. Researchers have found, even in carefully controlled studies, that responses to the drug cannot be predicted. For this reason, users refer to "good trips" or "bad trips" to describe their experience.

DOES THE DRUG AFFECT THINKING?

Among LSD's other effects on the user is the loss of his sense of time. He doesn't know how much time is passing, but he does remain conscious. Scientists report that he can reason logically, up to a point, while undergoing the drug's effects. He usually remembers after the