The Encouragement Institute LLC
8209 Nature's Way, Suite 221
San Marco Plaza
Lakewood Ranch, FL. 34202
941-356-5393
Spanish Speaking: Call Yvonne at 941.720.1869

Member of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce

Prevention and Interventions for Substance Abuse and Alcoholism


Do you need to get on the path to Recovery from DRUGS?

Marijuana

More young people go into treatment for marijuana use than for all other illegal drug use combined.Marijuana Marijuana use affects nearly every organ system in the body. It can have a profound impact on people’s education, employment, and personal life.


Cancer Risks

  • Puff for puff, marijuana is more dangerous than cigarettes
  • Linked to head and neck cancer

Marijuana and Driving

  • A factor in many fatal car crashes
  • Driving ability is impaired for hours even after the high fades

Marijuana and Pregnancy

  • Use during pregnancy can cause
  • Low birth weight
  • Problems with fetal brain and nerve development

Long-Term Effects

  • Impaired learning and memory
  • Lower grades and poor work performance
  • Suppressed immune system impairing the body’s ability to fight infection and disease

LSD

LSD is a hallucinogenic drug, sold as tablets or dissolved onto blotter paper. One out of every 10 people ages 12 and older has tried LSD.


Physical Effects

  • High doses which produce hallucinations—known as a trip— can cause confusion, panic, and terror
  • The effects last 12 hours, followed by depression and extreme tiredness
  • Regular users can have flashbacks, even without taking the drug
  • LSD has been linked to serious mental illness, such as depression and schizophrenia

Opioids

Opioids are natural or synthetic substances such as Oxycodone, Vicodin, Demerol, and Dilaudid, which act on the brain’s opiateSpoon and Needle receptors. People abuse them because they provide a feeling of euphoria (a ‘rush’).


Physical Effects of Opioids

  • Constricted pupils
  • Flushing of the skin
  • Heavy feeling in the limbs
  • A rush followed by confused, drowsy feeling that lasts several hours
  • Slowed breathing and heart rates

Rohypnol

Rohypnol, a prescription drug in Europe and Mexico, is not legal in the U.S. Brought illegally into this country, it is popular with youth because it is cheap. Rohypnol is 10 times stronger than valium.


Physical Effects

  • Sold in its original packaging, so people think it is legal
  • Can cause headaches, nightmares, tremors, muscle pain, and blackouts
  • Later effects include decreased blood pressure, slurred speech, impaired judgment, and trouble walking

Heroin

Heroin is a white to dark brown powder. It often is mixed with other substances (sugar, starch) or poison (strychnine). Popular with youth because it is cheap. 1 million Americans may be addicted to heroin. Smoking orHeroin snorting heroin can lead to addiction, just as injecting heroin does. Among people younger than 26, heroin is linked to more deaths than any other substance except alcohol.


Physical Effects

  • Causes people to ignore other aspects of their lives, like family and loved ones, finances, and legal concerns
  • This neglect can lead to weight loss, sickness, money problems, criminal activity, and housing and family problems

GHB

Lady in Rain Jacket GHB is a light powder that usually is dissolved in liquid and sold from a bottle.


Physical Effects

  • Can cause coma-like sleep
  • Mixed with alcohol, it can lead to overdose and death

Ketamine

Ketamine is a white powder, which can be added to drinks, snorted, or smoked. It has no smell or taste, so it is hard to detect. Ketamine has been linked to date rape because users may be unable to resist sexual acts.


Physical Effects

  • High doses can lead to a feeling in which a person’s senses shut down—the K-hole
  • Can cause heart attack, stroke, coma, and death

MDMA (“Ecstasy”)

Ecstasy use began in clubs but has spread to other social settings. It was used in psychotherapy, but proved to have no therapeutic value. Today, it is a banned substance.


Physical Effects

  • Causes increased heart rate and blood pressure, nausea, loss of appetite, jaw tightness, and teeth clenching

Oxycodone

Oxycodone, a time-release prescription medicine for cancer and back pain, comes in various forms, such as OxyContin, Percodan. Percocet, and Codeine. On the street,Oxycodone it is known as oxy, kicker, killers, blue, and hillbilly heroin. The drug is highly addictive when abused. People forge prescriptions and rob pharmacies to obtain it illegally. They abuse it by crushing the tablet and swallowing or snorting the powder, or by dissolving it in water and injecting it. Since its introduction in 1999, oxycodone abuse has increased every year. In 2004, five percent of a high school seniors said they had used oxycodone at least once.


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