Pill Abuse

This book has examined how diet pills work and which herbal and prescription products are most commonly used for weight loss. Disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and body dysmorphic syndrome may lead someone to abuse both over-the-counter and prescription diet pills. There are health and legal ramifications of diet pill abuse that are ignored or not even realized when abuse is taking place. 

Anorexia is an eating disorder that mainly affects adolescents (most often, girls). People with this disorder have an intense fear of gaining 

Several signs may indicate that a person has anorexia. These are often behavioral in nature, and include  

Using extreme means to lose weight, such as laxatives or diet pill abuse or exercising excessively  

Inability to think clearly, moodiness, irritability, fainting  

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HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH DIET PILL ABUSE... 

Abuse of diet pills is a problem not only due to the concern about the health effects, but also because laws can be broken in the process. Obviously, it is easier to abuse drugs that are more readily available—for example, an over-the-counter laxative— but it can be surprisingly easy to obtain diet pills that require a prescription. .. if one is willing to risk the dangers of dealing with the black market. ... 

One benefit of pemoline s milder effects and slower onset of action is that it appears to possess less abuse potential than other stimulants. The abuse potential, however, is usually a concern not for patients who are prescribed the stimulant, but for others who may want to buy it on the street or steal the pills from someone else. Although pemoline does have some potential for abuse, it is limited. 

The symbolic importance of doctor-prescribed pill-taking as a kind of identity point of no return is powerfully illustrated by Sarah s case. Recall from Chapter 3 that Sarah s persistent insomnia had caused her, in her own words, to abuse over-the-counter remedies for many years. However, she had steadfastly refused to visit a psychiatrist or to take prescribed medications. Then, after her mother s death, she had found a large stockpile of Xanax, a powerful antianxiety drug, among her mother s belong-... 

Stimulant drugs commonly abused in the USA include methamphetamine ("crank," "crystal"), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy"), and cocaine ("crack") as well as pharmaceuticals such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) and ephedrine (as such and in the herbal agent Ma-huang) (see Chapter 32). Caffeine is often added to dietary supplements sold as "metabolic enhancers" or "fat-burners" and is also sometimes combined with pseudoephedrine in underground pills sold as amphetamine substitutes. 

Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Research at the University of Pennsylvania. As a specialist in vision and memory, she joined in a debate over the acceptable uses of prescription drugs by arguing in favor of taking pills to improve brain function. Although concerned about the potential for abuse and harmful side effects,... 

In 2005, a continued decline in methamphetamine abuse (methamphetamine pills or yaba ) was reported by Thailand. This followed a forceful intervention by the Thai authorities in the market in 2003, which resulted in a decline in methamphetamine abuse, but unfortunately also in a significant number of casualties. The 2001 household survey showed that Thailand had a prevalence rate of 2.4 per cent of the population aged 12-65 and thus the world s most serious methamphetamine problem at the time, despite also having reported the world s largest ATS seizures for many years. In 2003, a subsequent household survey found far lower prevalence rates (0.2 per cent)8. However, these data may have been influenced by police operations, resulting in a likely underestimate as respondents were influenced by... 

As with all the other depressants it is abused. Especially noted were incidences in Southern California in 1982 wherein abusers would take handfuls of Empirin IV, a mixture of glutethimide and codeine. The practice was called "loading". Since bogus pills were on the... 

The amphetamine Benzedrine first appears on the market in the form of an inhaler for treating nasal congestion. The inhalers are soon abused. Amphetamine pills will soon appear as pep pills and for treating obesity. Congress passes the Uniform Narcotic Act. It requires that drug prescriptions and sales be recorded using standard forms. 

Goetz, K., Kids abuse cough pills, Cincinnati Enquirer, p. ID, February 18, 2000. 

Prescription amphetamines come in tablet or capsule form. The most common way amphetamines are ingested is by swallowing amphetamine pills or capsules. However, drug abusers also crack open the capsules for the amphetamine powder or grind the tablets into a powder. That powder can then be inhaled or snorted. Mixed with tobacco or marijuana, it can be smoked. The ice form of methamphetamine looks like shaved glass slivers or rock salt and can be smoked in a glass pipe. 

It is known that amphetamines may counter the sedative effect of antihistamines and other sedating agents. Amphetamines raise blood pressure, so abusers who take prescription anti-hypertension pills do not get the full benefit from those anti-hypertensives. 

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