There are likely a lot more people who would smoke marijuana if they didn’t have concerns about not being able to pass a drug test…and then along came Spice. It relieved those worries because now anyone who wanted a “weed like” high could have one and still test clean for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). With no legal risks involved, anyone over the age of 18 can walk into a head shop or some gas stations and pick up the herbal compound called Spice.

Most adults learn about Spice from teens who have already tried it and are quick to offer advice on which brand to buy and which brands got them so high that they just sat there “spacing out.” Whatever you want to call it–Spice, Posh, or K2– it is dangerous, addictive, cheap, and very popular. Many see Spice as a safe alternative to marijuana when in fact, it is not.

What Is Spice?

Spice, one of the new designer drugs on the market, is a combination of herbal material and synthetic cannabinoids. When inhaled, Spice damages the lungs and the respiratory system. Spice is so damaging that many countries have made the synthetic additives that are found in Spice illegal. There are also states that are following suit and trying diligently to get Spice off of the market. Even though the label clearly reads that the product is not safe for human consumption, people are still eager to use it. It is loaded with the synthetic chemicals HU-210 and JWH-018.

Unregulated

Spice is even more perilous because of the way that it is produced and the fact that it does not have to have FDA approval. It is produced in environments similar to in-home meth labs. It has to answer to absolutely zero regulations. If home labs run out of one ingredient they can substitute it for any other ingredient of their liking. This means that those who use Spice have no idea what they are getting.

Spice Effects

Side effects are the likely reasons why there are so many Spice-related emergency room visits annually. It is known to cause heart palpitations, panic attacks, delusions, nausea, vomiting, restlessness, and weakened motor coordination. It will not take long before a full-blown addiction occurs. A Spice addiction is like any other addiction and includes compulsively seeking it out and ignoring negative health and personal consequences.

Spice Addiction

Spice addiction requires formal treatment like any other addiction. Withdrawal from Spice is also likely where individuals will suffer from trembling, tremors, panic, headache, nausea, heart palpitations, agitation, insomnia, vomiting, and depression. While none of these symptoms are considered to be life threatening, the process of withdrawal from Spice is nothing short of uncomfortable. Individuals who are abusing Spice should be treated in a professional care facility under medical supervision. Usually, addiction of any kind is intertwined with some kind of mental problem. Inpatient treatment can treat both the addiction and the concurring disorder.

Designer Drugs

Spice and other designer drugs such as Bath Salts are being abused more and more. Spice has already caused deaths and hospitalization. Specialists in the field of treating addiction now have to learn even more about these new drugs and how to treat people. This is even more concerning since many of the ingredients are unknown. Some of these designer drugs are even causing psychosis in some people and irreparable brain damage.

Spice may not show up on a drug test but it might show up on an MRI or some other brain scan image. That should account for something. Anything that is labeled as not for human consumption might be wise to avoid.

Cheryl Hinneburg writes web content for KLEAN Treatment Center in Los Angeles, CA. KLEAN specializes in offering dual diagnosis drug and alcohol treatment. Cheryl is currently pursuing her MS in Substance Abuse Counseling.

The Time Has Come for a Drug Intervention

When someone close to you is caught in the downward spiral of addiction, it may be very difficult for that person to recognize exactly what is happening to his or her life. People with substance abuse problems are living in denial, making promises to themselves and others that they can’t keep. When heart-to-heart talks haven’t helped, a formal drug intervention may be required.

Preparation is key to a successful drug intervention. Use the resources available on our website to find an intervention specialist. You will then gather together a group of people who care deeply about the addict. You will rehearse the intervention process at least once, making sure that everyone knows how to proceed.

 Appropriate things to say during an intervention are:

• How you feel about what’s happening to the addict.
• How his or her actions are affecting you.
• A clear statement that you will not tolerate drug use any longer.
• An explanation of the consequences for continued use.

The intervention counselor will help you identify objections the addict might make, and help you learn how to respond to them.

The Goal of a Drug Intervention Is Immediate Treatment

When confronted, the addict may make sincere promises to stop using, but this cannot be accepted as an outcome. The goal of intervention is to get the addict into treatment without delay. Therefore, you must have made preparations before beginning the intervention. The treatment center will be expecting him or her, payment arrangements have been made, transportation prepared, and even a suitcase packed.

A drug intervention is a difficult and painful process both for the addict and for those who participate in the confrontation. However, that anguish is well worth it if the result is a person you love finally freed from addiction.

Alcohol and drug addiction are very serious illnesses. Whether you have an addiction to alcohol, drugs, or both, you need to seek treatment to avoid the inevitable crash your life will take. These drugs take over your mind, and you are no longer the same person you were before you started using. People will do anything to feed their addiction. Many people who are addicts can lose their jobs over their addiction. They will resort to stealing and other law-breaking activities to get their fix. Drugs and alcohol will kill you if treatment isn’t started soon.

The main point of treating alcohol and drug addiction is to rid the person of the chemical dependency they have on whichever substance they abuse. This is called detoxification, or detox. Treatment programs work with users to deal with the emotional and physical pain involved in ridding the body of harmful chemicals. Once the drugs are out of the system, you can finally start the healing process.

Seeking Treatment for Alcohol and Drug Addiction

Achieving sobriety is a long road. It takes determination and a solid support system. Understanding your specific addiction will help you to decide which treatment plan is the best for you. You can start by asking your family doctor about treatment programs or you can get onto the internet and start searching for facilities that can assist you. Many hospitals offer programs, and if you can’t find a free-standing clinic in your area, the local hospital may be a great choice to contact. Whichever you chose, seeking treatment for alcohol and drug addiction is a brave step to take, and the sooner you’ve admitted that you have a problem, the sooner you can start to recover.

During the late 1990s, the predicted 3% of pregnant ladies used unauthorized drugs in early gestation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pregnancy complications and poor fetal outcomes are common in these women. However, drug abuse may not be solely responsible for these adverse outcomes; other contributing factors in this population include a lack of prenatal care, violence, and sexually transmitted diseases. Breast-feeding is contraindicated with all of the following agents:Marijuana

This drug disrupts neurodevelopment, but there is no evidence that it is a structural teratogen. Exposure in utero can cause fetal growth retardation and subtle, long-lasting neurobehavioral abnormalities related to effects in the prefrontal cortical regions of the brain. Marijuana also has been linked to transient irritability, tremors, and an exaggerated startle reflex in neonates, but after this early period, there is little evidence of adverse neurobehavior in children followed up to age 3 years. In studies of older children up to 12 years of age, however, exposure in utero, especially if heavy and/or long term, is associated with inattention, hyperactivity, increased impulsivity and delinquency, and deficits in short-term memory tasks and problem solving.

Cocaine

Cocaine is a human teratogen that causes anomalies of the genitourinary tract, heart, limbs, face, and bowel. The toxicity of cocaine in the mother and fetus is related to the dose taken and duration of use. Toxicities result from the drug’s sympathomimetic properties, which lead to hypertension and vasoconstriction, causing decreased uterine blood flow and fetal hypoxia.

Maternal toxicities include spontaneous abortions, premature labor and delivery, premature rupture of membranes, placenta previa, and abruptio placentae. Fetal and neonatal toxicities can result from maternal use at any point during gestation and include growth retardation, fetal distress, in utero cerebrovascular accidents, and abnormal neonatal neurobehavior.

Amphetamines

This group of drugs includes amphetamine, dextroamphetamine, methamphetamine, Ecstasy (MDMA), and the structurally related agents mescaline (from peyote) and STP (4-methyl-2,5-dimethoxyamphetamine, or DOM). Amphetamine-induced malformations have been observed in some animals (pregnancy category C), but only at high doses. Various birth defects, such as oral clefts, cardiac defects, and biliary atresia, have been noted in the offspring of women taking amphetamines for therapeutic reasons or recreational use. A causative association has not been established, but the risk, even if it is eventually proved, appears to be low Mild neonatal withdrawal has also been observed. There is practically no information on the use of peyote during pregnancy, but it is teratogenic in one animal species. On the other hand, there is ample evidence that recreational use can present significant risks, including intrauterine growth retardation, decreased head circumference, premature delivery, and increased maternal, fetal, and neonatal morbidity. Amphetamine abuse during pregnancy, which is frequently combined with alcohol consumption, use of other drugs, and smoking, may cause altered growth and neurobehavior that are still evident after puberty.

LSD

LSD is a potent hallucinogen, but there is no published evidence that the pure chemical causes chromosomal abnormalities, spontaneous abortions, or major congenital malformations. Reports of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women using LSD were probably related to simultaneous ingestion of other drugs of abuse, selective reporting, and other factors not related to drug abuse.

Narcotics

These agents, which cross the placenta rapidly, do not cause structural defects, but neonatal withdrawal may occur at birth if the mother is addicted. Among newborns whose mothers have been on methadone, the incidence and severity of withdrawal were related to the dose. Lowering the maternal dose of methadone to less than 20 mg/day significantly reduced neonatal withdrawal and length of hospital stay.

Phencyclidine (PCP)

In animals, PCP causes both structural defects and neurobehavioral effects. Congenital defects have been reported in children of women who used PCP while pregnant, but a causative association has not been proved, largely because PCP, a hallucinogen, is rarely used alone. Neonatal neurobehavioral dysfunction (irritability, jitteriness, depression, hypotonia, poor feeding, and poor sucking reflex) may be a effects of abuse during pregnancy, but these poor effects have not been observed at age 2 years in children exposed in utero.

Productivity, safety, absenteeism and medical expense are some of the problems that require correction. Workers who experienced drugs and alcohol are 25% less productive than those who abstain. They also threaten the safety of fellow employees and the general public and can run up enormous medical and rehabilitation expenses for their employers.

Drug use causes fatigue, paranoia, difficulty in concentrating, impaired judgment, slowed reaction time, poor coordination, and confusion. Alcohol abusers have high absenteeism, frequently arrive late and leave early, display verbal and physical aggression, often sleep on the job, and are a drag on productivity and quality.

As a result, accidents are three to five times more likely among alcohol and drug users, and when accidents do occur, druggies and alcoholics are five times more likely to file Workers’ Comp claims. Drug and alcohol abuse is the primary cause of 47% of industrial injuries and deaths.

The problem is not isolated among a few bad apples. Studies have shown that 85 million Americans have experimented with illegal drugs. Seventy percent of illicit drug users are employed, as are 85% to 90% of alcohol users. In a typical work force, 80% of the employees know someone who drinks, or buys or sells drugs at work.

Why workers turn to drugs and alcohol

If you understand the reasons why workers turn to drugs and alcohol, you stand a much better chance of changing attitudes and modifying habits through health promotion programs.

Essentially, people take drugs because of low job satisfaction, job insecurity, dangerous working conditions, job stress, isolation from friends and family, and to try to stay awake while performing boring and repetitious jobs. Alcoholics, on the other hand, drink because they have low job autonomy and lack control over work conditions and products, are bored, stressed out and sexually harassed, and frequently have to put up with verbal and physical aggression from fellow employees or management. Many also are in rebellion against workplace alcohol policies.

Researchers have begun to look not just at the effectiveness of workplace alcohol programs in intervening in drinking problems, but also at the culture of the workplace itself as a determinant in both drinking and non-drinking behavior of employees.

While alcohol testing is able to immediately measure the level of worker intoxication at the time of testing, drug testing does not measure impairment, and there is usually a delay of several days in getting a laboratory report. Drug testing also does not determine the quantity of the drug consumed, or when it was consumed.

Although alcohol programs in the workplace are now the rule rather than the exception, creating a drug-free workplace seems to take precedence over establishing a workplace free from both drugs and alcohol. The main reason is that the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1998 requires mandatory testing of federal employees and requires that all federal contractors must provide a drug-free workplace as a precondition of receiving contracts or grants. Also, in 1995-96, the federal Department of Transportation initiated alcohol and drug testing and requires annual random testing of all commercial drivers.

There is no comparable law for alcohol abuse, and historically most male-dominated workplace cultures accept the use of alcohol. Many even encourage drinking as a way to build solidarity and show conformity to the group. As a result, most firms are “tough” on illicit drugs but “soft” on alcohol, and it is common knowledge among workers that anti-drinking policies are rarely enforced.

Even if a firm is not dependent on government contracts, it still makes sense to establish a policy on drugs and alcohol. The reason: failure to do so could constitute a breach of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s General Duty clause requirement to maintain a safe workplace. Establishing a substance abuse program also demonstrates an employer’s commitment to maintaining a safe workplace and high product quality. And, finally, lost productivity related to alcohol alone has been estimated to cost industry $70 billion to $120 billion a year.

To formulate and implement a drug free job environment, an employer should establish a representative group of employees to develop a policy. The policy should include provisions to provide assistance for rehabilitation and counseling, even though only 27% of small businesses currently offer employee assistance programs. Confidentiality also should be a major concern.

Employee assistance programs (EAP’s) work better if they are conducted at the work site rather than someplace else. Employees are more likely to take advantage of an internal EAP rather than an external one.

Drugs to be covered by the policy should include cannabis (marijuana and hashish), heroin, cocaine, MDMA (Ecstasy), opium, amphetamine morphine, and hallucinogens (LSD and PCP).

A sample drug-free workplace policy that also covers alcohol can be found on the Web and is a good starting point. The prototype policy was prepared by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. Substance abuse policies should include education, training, and healthy lifestyle programs, as these can have a positive effect on a person’s behavior. But they also must clearly state that anyone reporting to work under the influence of alcohol or other unauthorized drugs may be released without any caution.