Deck 1: An Introduction to Drug Use

Question 1

Which drug type speeds up signals passing through the central nervous system (CNS)?

A) sedative/hypnotics
B) opiates/narcotics
C) hallucinogens/psychedelics
D) marijuana/cannabis
E) stimulants

Answer 1

E

Question 2

The chemical keys of THC fit into and bind with the organic structures that control:

A) breathing.
B) heartbeat.
C) dying of an overdose.
D) cognitive functioning.
E) none of the above.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following drugs generates the most compulsive pattern of continued, abusive use in laboratory animals?

A) marijuana
B) alcohol
C) cocaine
D) LSD
E) nicotine

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The psychoactive ingredient in marijuana is:

A) THC.
B) alcohol.
C) methamphetamine.
D) cocaine.
E) XYZ.

Question 5

Drug "effects":

A) are the same as drug "actions."
B) are highly specific and constant.
C) are nonspecific and variable.
D) are as predictable as mixing two chemicals in the lab.
E) refer exclusively to biophysical reactions.

Question 6

Which of the following routes of administration is the most efficient and effective in delivering a drug to the brain?

A) IV administration
B) subcutaneous administration
C) oral administration
D) dermal patch
E) smoking

Question 7

With respect to drug effects, synergy is the ________ effect.

A) additive
B) negative
C) multiplier
D) Fibunacci
E) antagonistic

Question 8

Which drug combination produces the most clear-cut synergistic effect?

A) Antabuse and alcohol
B) aspirin and cannabis
C) alcohol and marijuana
D) cocaine and heroin
E) barbiturate and alcohol

Question 9

Pharmacologically, a drug "action" takes place at the:

A) molecular level.
B) behavioral level.
C) chronic level.
D) societal level.
E) global level.

Question 10

The definition of the term "drug" that is central to this book is based on a substance's:

A) medical utility.
B) addictive property.
C) psychoactivity.
D) illegal status.
E) capacity to induce a lethal overdose in the user.

Question 11

It is virtually impossible to die of an overdose of:

A) heroin.
B) aspirin.
C) cannabis.
D) barbiturates.
E) opioids.

Question 12

Sedative/hypnotics are also called:

A) general depressants.
B) hallucinogens.
C) dissociative anesthetics.
D) analgesics.
E) euphoriants.

Question 13

Which of the following drugs generates the greatest immediate sensual appeal?

A) marijuana
B) alcohol
C) cocaine
D) LSD
E) nicotine

Question 14

In all probability, the psychoactivity of drugs was discovered by humans when they:

A) engaged in religious ceremonies.
B) distilled pure alcohol from wine.
C) foraged for food during the Paleolithic era.
D) took medication to treat ailments.
E) observed animals getting high as a result of ingesting plants.

Question 15

The author's position on drug use and drug abuse is that all:

A) illicit drug use is drug abuse.
B) drug use, licit or illicit, is drug abuse.
C) legal drug use is abuse; no illicit drug use is drug abuse.
D) illicit drug use is drug abuse; no legal drug use is drug abuse.
E) drug abuse is drug use.

Question 16

Some drug effects take place over the long run; others are more short-term. Which of the following distinctions or dimensions is this difference relevant for?

A) the acute-chronic distinction
B) the ED/LD ratio
C) effective dose versus lethal dose
D) route of administration
E) the central nervous system (CNS)

Question 17

What happens after heroin enters the body? It breaks down into:

A) THC.
B) morphine.
C) methamphetamine.
D) amphetamine.
E) LSD.

Question 18

According to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which of the following drugs is used on the greatest number of days during the prior year by past-year users?

A) marijuana
B) alcohol
C) cocaine
D) LSD
E) PCP

Question 19

Not all drugs are addicting in the classic sense of the term. Which one of the following substances is not classically addicting?

A) alcohol
B) barbiturates
C) morphine
D) marijuana
E) heroin

Question 20

In this book, we are mainly interested in drug taking:

A) for the purpose of getting high.
B) to achieve a specific, delimited, practical, instrumental purpose.
C) healing the body.
D) healing the mind.
E) that results in arrest.

Question 21

Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) is an important consideration when assessing the harm or damage that a drug inflicts on its users and the users' peers. Weigh the relative harm that tobacco and alcohol inflict, in the light of YPLL. Do the same for the legal drugs versus the illegal drugs. Does the factor of YPLL significantly change our previous estimates of the picture of drug harm?

Question 22

Discuss some of the ways that prescription or instrumental drug use differs from recreational use. Discuss the ways that legal drug use differs from illegal use.

Question 23

Consider why certain drugs are taken mainly or only in certain ways, knowing what you know about the drugs' properties and the factor of route of administration.

Question 24

Sociologists who studied drug use in the 1950s and 1960s emphasized that the neophyte user had to learn to enjoy the effects of drugs before he/she became a regular user. Does this model still hold up as an adequate explanation for understanding drug use today? Or is it obsolete? Or does it need to be supplemented with other factors rather than being replaced?

Question 25

Why is smoking the fastest, most efficient route of administration in generating drug effects-even faster and more efficient than IV administration? Why is oral administration such a slow means of administering drugs? Do these routes determine how dependency-producing drugs are used by each route? Why or why not?

Question 26

Alcohol is the most widely used drug both globally and in the United States, and marijuana is the most popular and widely used illicit drug. Is the popularity of these drugs an accident of history, a function of their legal status, or inherent to the objective properties of these two drugs themselves? Justify your argument.

Question 27

Discuss some of the more important "objective" or essentialist factors that are related to whether or not a given psychoactive substances becomes illegal in a given society.

Question 28

Delineate the various types of drug tolerance. Are they the same? What are their significant differences, and why is tolerance an important consideration in understanding drug use, especially continuing, compulsive use?

Question 29

In the past, the classic model of drug addiction was used to explain why some users took drugs compulsively and abusively. More recently, drug researchers have used the dependence-reinforcement model to explain ongoing, abusive, compulsive drug abuse. How are these two models different, what phenomena do they help explain, which drug is each of them most relevant to, and why is the latter model a more powerful explanation for drug abuse?

Question 30

Why do drug experts investigate the factor of cross-tolerance? Under what circumstances would cross-tolerance be a factor in the harms one or more drugs inflict on users?