Prescription Sedatives

September 24th, 2008  |  Published by BRAHA Editor in A - Z of Drugs


Print This Post  |  Email This Post

What are the street names/slang terms for Prescription Sedatives Tranquilizers?
Mebaral, Quaaludes, Xanax and Valium (benzodiazepines), Nembutal.

What are Prescription Sedatives Tranquilizers?
Prescription medications that act as central nervous system depressants. Barbiturates are prescription sedatives or “sleeping pills” and benzodiazepines are prescription “tranquilizers.”

What do they look like?
Multi-colored tablets and capsules; some can be in liquid form.

How are they used?
Medically, barbiturates are prescribed for acute anxiety, tension and sleep disorders. Benzodiazepines are prescribed for anxiety, acute stress reactions, and panic attacks. When abused, they are swallowed or injected.

What are their short-term effects?
Prescription sedatives and tranquilizers can cause euphoria. They also slow normal brain function, which may result in slurred speech, shallow breathing, sluggishness, fatigue, disorientation and lack of coordination or dilated pupils. During the first few days of taking a prescribed sedative or tranquilizer, a person usually feels sleepy and uncoordinated, but as the body becomes accustomed to the effects of the drug, these feelings begin to disappear. Higher doses cause impairment of memory, judgment and coordination, irritability, paranoid and suicidal ideation. Some people experience a paradoxical reaction to these drugs and can become agitated or aggressive. Using Prescription sedatives and tranquilizers with other substances - particularly alcohol - can slow breathing, or slow both the heart and respiration, and possibly lead to death.

What are their long-term effects?
Continued use can lead to physical dependence and - when use is reduced or stopped abruptly- withdrawal symptoms may occur. Because all Prescription sedatives and tranquilizers work by slowing the brain’s activity, when an individual stops taking them, there can be a rebound effect, possibly leading to seizures and other harmful consequences. Tolerance to the drug’s effects can also occur, meaning that larger doses are needed to achieve similar effects as those experienced initially.This may lead users to take higher doses and risk the occurrence of an overdose.Addiction can also occur, meaning that users continue to take these drugs despite their harmful consequences.Source: NIDA

What is their federal classification?
Not Applicable

Source: DEA — this drug is classified as a Schedule IV drug

http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/Drug_Guide/Prescription%20Sedatives%20Tranquilizers


Print This Post  |  Email This Post

ATTENTION: The publication of the material in this site is intended as a source for research and consulting by serving as a source of information for society and therefore has no commercial objectives.


Medicine & Health »

  • Liquid Candy - The new addiction is taxing addictions
    Oct 7, 2009 | Full text

    The world’s best business model has always been addiction. Tobacco and alcohol have been around for ages, but new temptations and spinoffs are being marketed all the time: meth, painkillers, energy drinks, you name it.

  • Substance Abuse, Schizophrenia And Risk Of Violence
    Aug 17, 2009 | Full text

    Importantly, the study also finds that the risk of violence from patients with psychoses who also have substance use disorder is no greater than those who have a substance use disorder but who do not have a psychotic illness – in other words, schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses do not appear to be responsible for any additional risk of violence above the increased risk associated with substance abuse.

  • Marijuana Linked to Aggressive Testicular Cancer
    Feb 16, 2009 | Full text

    Smoking marijuana over an extended period of time appears to greatly boost a young man’s risk for developing a particularly aggressive form of testicular cancer, a new study reveals. [...]

Psychoactive Substances »

  • Prescription Pain Relievers
    Oct 22, 2008 | Full text

    Relief from pain. In some people, prescription pain relievers also cause euphoria or feelings of well being by affecting the brain regions that mediate pleasure. This is why they are abused. Other effects include drowsiness, constipation and slowed breathing. [...]

  • Study shows Ritalin may cause long-term changes in the brain
    Oct 21, 2008 | Full text

    On Sunday researchers at the University of Buffalo reported that Ritalin, used on children diagnosed with ADHD, may cause long-term changes in the brain. Many clinicians regard Ritalin as short-acting but the research with gene expression in an animal model suggests that it has the potential for causing long-lasting changes [...]

  • Brain Receptors for Marijuana/Cannabis
    Oct 20, 2008 | Full text

    The body produces many chemicals and hormones, i.e., histamines, steroids, thyroid hormone, digitalis-like substances, adrenalin, etc, all of which work by attaching to corresponding brain receptors. The key is that these natural substances produced by the body are present in nanogram amounts [...]

Cultural Environment »

  • Time for a Sales Tax on Sinsemilla?
    Mar 16, 2009 | Full text

    As California State Assembly member Tom Ammiano put it: “What if California could raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue to preserve vital state services without any tax increase?” [...]

  • Stop The Afghan Drug Trade, Stop Terrorism
    Mar 1, 2009 | Full text

    “The fight against drugs is actually the fight for Afghanistan,” said Afghan President Hamid Karzai when he took office in 2002. Judging by the current situation, Afghanistan is losing. [...]

  • Conventional wisdom strikes out
    Oct 6, 2008 | Full text

    Among the things everybody knows is that Democrats, being the party of the little people, raise money in small contributions, whereas Republicans, being the party of fat cats, raise funds in huge basketfuls from wealthy corporate types. At least, that’s the way the world is usually portrayed by the “Today Show,” The New York Times and the Democratic Party. So it’s of more than passing interest to see [...]