Substance Abuse: Prevention and Treatment - HLT 121 at Patrick & Henry Community College
https://courses.vccs.edu/colleges/phcc/courses/HLT121-SubstanceAbusePreventionandTreatment
Effective: 2022-05-01
Course Description
Explores the use and abuse of drugs in contemporary society with emphasis upon sociological, physiological, and psychological effects of drugs.
Lecture 3 hours. Total 3 hours per week.
3 credits
The course outline below was developed as part of a statewide standardization process.
General Course Purpose
HLT 121 explores the science of drug use and drug abuse among members of society.
Course Objectives
- Communication
- Communicate openly and accurately with others regarding the motivations for drug use, socio-behavioral factors involved, and the various treatment programs offered
- Critical Thinking
- Classify the drugs designated under the course content as to their physiological and psychological effects
- Recognize stress as a physical and/or emotional tension
- Social and Cultural Understanding
- Designate various drugs according to the legal schedules (both Federal and State), describe the potential for abuse, and illustrate possible penalties for possession and for distribution
- Scientific Reasoning
- Describe functions of the various parts of the central nervous system and the effect of drugs on the functioning of each
- Drug Use as a Social Problem
- Distinguish between the federal government's regulatory approach before the early 1900s and the present time
- Distinguish between acute and chronic toxicity and between physiological and behavioral toxicity
- Describe the two types of data collected in the DAWN system and know the top four drug classes for emergency room visits and for mortality
- Explain why the risks of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis are higher among injection drug users
- Define tolerance, physical dependence and behavioral dependence
- Differentiate between substance abuse and substance dependence using diagnostic criteria
- Describe ways that drug use might cause an increase in crime
- Drug Policy
- Discuss the role of reformist attitudes and social concerns in moving the U.S. government toward drug regulations
- Identify the major purposes and influence of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act
- Identify the evolution, major purposes and influence of the 1914 Harrison Act
- Identify the process of approval for new pharmaceuticals
- Describe drugs and dietary supplements as defined by the FDA
- Describe the historical sequence of controls on opioids, cocaine, marijuana, and other controlled substances
- Identify controlled substance schedules (I-V)
- Compare the major types of drug testing
- Explain how drug control efforts affect the federal budget, international relations, and the criminal justice systems
- Drug Actions
- Distinguish among generic, brand, and chemical names for a drug
- Define and explain dose-response relationship, effective dose (ED50), lethal dose (LD50), and therapeutic index
- Identify why pharmacological potency is not synonymous with effectiveness
- Compare and contrast the most important routes of drug administration
- Identify ways psychoactive drugs interact with neurons to produce effects in the brain
- Stimulants
- Discuss the history of at least one stimulant
- Discuss the route of administration for at least one stimulant
- Discuss the dependence potential of at least one stimulant
- Discuss the dependence potential of at least one stimulant
- Compare acute and chronic toxicity concerns associated with at least one stimulant
- Describe how cocaine hydrochloride and crack cocaine are processed from coca
- Describe early psychiatric uses of cocaine and its current use for local anesthesia
- Compare the supply sources for illicit cocaine and illicit methamphetamine
- Depressants and Inhalants
- Give several examples of depressant drugs and describe the general set of behavioral effects common to them
- Explain how concerns about barbiturate use led to acceptance of newer classes of sedative-hypnotics
- Describe the differences in dose and duration of action that are appropriate for daytime anxiolytic effects as opposed to hypnotic effects of prescription depressants
- Describe how the time of onset of a depressant drug relates to abuse potential and how duration of action relates to the risk of withdrawal symptoms
- Describe the mechanism of action for barbiturates and benzodiazepines
- Explain why it is not recommended that people use sleeping pills for more than a few days in a row
- Describe several types of substances that are abused as inhalants
- Describe GHB's typical dose range and behavioral effects, as well as its effects when combined with alcohol
- Drugs for Treating Psychological Disorders
- Discuss the medical model of mental disorders and why many professionals oppose it
- Describe the typical characteristics of anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and mood disorders
- Explain the historical context and the importance of the discovery of the phenothiazine antipsychotics
- Identify the names of a number of currently available antipsychotic drugs
- Distinguish between conventional and atypical antipsychotics
- Discuss theories of antipsychotic drug action and why it is difficult to understand the mechanism of action for these and other classes of psychoactive drugs
- Explain the sales trend of antidepressants since 1987 and what is expected in the future
- Explain why it is simplistic to say that antidepressant drugs work by restoring serotonin activity to normal
- Describe how lithium and anticonvulsant drugs are used in treating bipolar disorder
- Alcohol
- Identify the history and effectiveness of temperance and prohibition movements in the United States
- Describe how alcohol is processed by the body
- Identify how consumption rate and body size influence blood alcohol concentration and know the legal BAC
- Identify the likely role of GABA in alcohol's mechanism of action
- Identify "alcohol myopia," acute alcohol poisoning, and alcohol withdrawal symptoms
- Describe the impact of alcohol on traffic fatalities
- Discuss the role of alcohol in sexual behavior and violence
- Discuss alcohol exposure versus malnutrition in the effects of chronic alcohol use on the brain and liver
- Discuss the role of Alcoholics Anonymous in promoting the disease model of alcohol dependence
- Discuss genetic influences on the risk of developing alcohol dependence
- Tobacco
- Describe how Europeans spread tobacco around the world
- Explain the historical importance of tobacco to America
- Describe the history of anti-tobacco efforts and the tobacco companies? responses
- Explain the difficulties in marketing "safer" cigarettes as related to FDA regulation, and how this impacts regulation of electronic cigarettes
- Describe the most important adverse health consequences of smoking and the total annual smoking-attributable mortality in the United States
- Compare and contrast the controversy over secondhand smoke as both a social issue and a public health issue
- Describe the effects of cigarette smoking on the developing fetus and the newborn
- Explain why smoking is not immediately lethal, in spite of nicotine's powerful toxicity
- Describe how nicotine affects cholinergic receptors in the brain and throughout the body
- Describe the most common physiological and behavioral effects of nicotine
- Describe the roles of counseling, nicotine replacement therapy, and other medications in smoking cessation
- Caffeine
- Describe the early history of coffee, tea, and chocolate use
- Name the xanthines found in coffee, tea, and chocolate
- Describe the methods for removing caffeine from coffee
- Name the one plant from which hundreds of varieties of tea are produced
- Distinguish among the terms cacao, cocoa, and coca
- Describe the origin of Coca-Cola in relation to cocaine, caffeine, and FDA regulations
- Explain the caffeine content of "energy drinks" in relation to colas and coffee
- Describe the caffeine content of drugs like NoDoz and Vivarin
- Explain how caffeine exerts its actions on the brain
- Describe the time course of caffeine's effects after ingestion
- Describe symptoms of caffeine withdrawal
- Discuss the circumstances in which caffeine appears to enhance mental performance and those in which it does not
- Describe the concerns about high caffeine consumption during pregnancy
- Track caffeine consumption and analyze the results
- Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Drugs
- Explain the legal distinction between drugs and dietary supplements, particularly with regard to health-related claims
- Identify the implications of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act
- Identify Saint John?s wort, SAMe, and Ginkgo Biloba as dietary supplements intended to have psychoactive effects
- Identify the concepts behind the terms GRAS and GRAE
- Name the only active ingredient allowed in OTC stimulants
- Explain the risks of PPA and ephedra and describe how their removal from the market impacted OTC products promoted for weight loss
- Name the primary ingredient in OTC sleep aids
- Describe the benefits and dangers of aspirin
- Explain what is meant by NSAID and give some examples
- Name the four types of ingredients found in many OTC cold and allergy drugs and give a common example of each type
- Opioids
- Describe how opium is obtained from poppies
- List several historical uses for opium and describe early recreational uses of opium and its derivatives
- Explain the role of the opium trade in the wars between Great Britain and China in the 1800s
- Describe the relationship of morphine and codeine to opium and the relationship of heroin to morphine
- Explain how the "typical" opioid abuser has changed from the early 1900s to the present
- Describe how sources of supply for heroin have changed over the past 30 years and list the current major source countries
- Explain how opioid antagonists block the effects of opioid drugs
- Describe three current medical uses for opioids
- Describe the typical opioid withdrawal syndrome
- Explain how people die from opioid overdose
- Describe the typical method of preparing and injecting illicit heroin
- Hallucinogens
- Identify why plants with psychoactive effects have been used in religious practices all over the world
- Identify several examples of indole and catechol psychedelics
- Describe the relationship of LSD to the ergot fungus
- Discuss the early research and evidence on LSD for use in interrogation and in psychotherapy
- Discuss what is meant by "hallucinogen persisting perception disorder"
- Describe the major active ingredient and some history of use of psilocybe, morning glories, ayahuasca, peyote, San Pedro cactus, Amanita, and Salvia divinorum
- Identify the chemical relationship among DOM, MDA, and MDMA
- Compare PCP effects with those of LSD
- Explain how anticholinergic psychedelics act in the brain
- Compare stories about medieval witches using belladonna to contemporary stories about people using marijuana, LSD, or cocaine
- Marijuana
- Describe the relationship among Cannabis, marijuana, and THC and discuss different preparations of cannabis
- Describe how Europeans became exposed to the psychological effects of Cannabis
- Explain how marijuana was described in the years leading up to the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act
- Discuss the legal status of marijuana in the United States since 1937, including current debates
- Draw parallels among the various scientific and medical studies on marijuana
- Describe the type of receptor THC acts on in the brain and compare the time course of smoked vs. oral THC
- List the two most consistent physiological effects of marijuana
- Discuss evidence for the abuse potential of marijuana and influences on the psychological effects of marijuana
- Describe the effects of marijuana use on driving ability, the lungs, sperm motility, and the immune system
- Describe the range of evidence relating to whether marijuana smoking leads to brain damage in humans
- Performance Enhancing Drugs
- Relate historical uses of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes
- Describe the history of use of stimulants to enhance performance
- Describe the development and current state of drug testing in sports
- Describe the performance-enhancing effects and primary dangers of stimulant drugs
- Distinguish between androgenic and anabolic effects of testosterone and other related steroid hormones
- Describe the desired effects and undesirable side effects of steroids in men, women and adolescents
- Identify the effects of human growth hormone as well as its dangers
- Identify the effects of creatine
- Discuss the usefulness of dietary supplements in relation to their label claims
- Preventing Substance Abuse and Treating Substance Use
- Distinguish among drug legalization, drug prohibition and drug decriminalization
- Explain how relying on anecdotal information can lead to inappropriate drug policy
- Give examples of countries that have decriminalized all illegal drugs
- List specific strategies used to reduce harms associated with illegal drugs
- Describe a prevention or treatment program
- Discuss the stages of recovery
- Summarize the pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for addiction
- Evaluate whether total abstinence is the only solution for drug or alcohol abuse
- List the characteristics of effective addiction treatments
Major Topics to be Included
- Drug Use as a Social Problem
- Drug Policy
- Drug Actions
- Stimulants
- Depressants and Inhalants
- Drugs for Treating Psychological Disorders
- Alcohol
- Tobacco
- Caffeine
- Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Drugs
- Opioids
- Hallucinogens
- Marijuana
- Performance Enhancing Drugs
- Preventing Substance Abuse and Treating Substance Use