Drugs Across the Spectrum Raymond Goldberg Chapter 9 Sedative-Hypnotic Drugs

1. Albia Dugger • Miami Dade College
Chapter 9
Sedative-Hypnotic
Drugs

2. Sedative-Hypnotics Drugs
• Sedative-hypnotic drugs are central nervous system
depressants that produce relaxing to sleep-inducing effects
depending on dosage
• Three main types of sedative-hypnotic drugs:
• Barbiturates
• Nonbarbiturate sedatives
• Minor tranquilizers

3. Adolescents and Prescription Drugs
• In 2011, 4.3% of high school seniors had used a sedative for
nonmedical purposes within the previous 12 months
• Girls are more likely to intentionally abuse prescription drugs
than boys
• One misconception among adolescents is that these drugs
provide a medically safe high

4. Barbiturates
• Barbital
• Sedative-hypnotic drug used to treat anxiety and
nervousness; the original barbiturate
• Veronal
• Brand name for barbital
• Phenobarbital
• Second barbiturate developed
• Produces relaxation and relieves anxiety

5. Types of Barbiturates
• Classified based on potency and the length of time they act:
• Ultra-short-acting
• Short-acting (less than 4 hours)
• Intermediate-acting (4 to 6 hours)
• Long-acting (more than 6 hours)
• Drugs that take effect rapidly have a higher abuse potential
than slow-acting drugs

6. Selected Barbiturates

7. Effects of Barbiturates
• Barbiturates produce a depressed, mood-altering action on
the central nervous system
• They also affect activity of the muscle tissue, the heart, and
respiration
• Can cause confusion, short attention span, impaired cognitive
functioning, inadequate emotional control, slurred speech,
poor judgment, hangovers, and intoxication

8. Potential Hazards
• Reduced attention span
• Impaired cognitive
functioning
• Diminished hand-eye
coordination
• Inadequate emotional
control
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Birth defects
• Confusion
• Poor judgment
• Slurred speech
• Vertigo
• Diarrhea
• Respiratory failure
• Violent behavior

9. Potential Hazards
• Combination of alcohol and barbiturates can lead to
accidental or intentional death
• Withdrawal is life-threatening without medical supervision:
marked by profuse sweating, insomnia, muscular twitching,
paranoia, vomiting, aches and pains, cramps, quick temper,
nightmares, hallucinations, and seizures

10. Medical Uses
• Used primarily as sleeping pills, for certain convulsive
disorders, and for anxiety
• Short-acting barbiturates such as thiopental (Pentothal)
continue to be used for anesthetic purposes
• The effectiveness of barbiturates as sleep agents is
questionable, because they interfere with rapid eye
movement (REM), and may result in rebound insomnia

11. Some Prescription Depressants

12. Nonbarbiturate Sedatives
• Chloral hydrate (“knockout drops” or Mickey Finns)
• Induces sleep
• Works rapidly
• Margin between effective dose (ED) and lethal dose (LD)
is slight
• Risk of hepatoxicity
• Produces gastric distress, vomiting, and flatulence

13. Nonbarbiturate Sedatives
• Paraldehyde
• Effective and safe central nervous system depressant
• Used with severely disturbed mental patients
• Produces a terrible smell and taste
• Bromides
• Used to treat epileptic convulsions
• Build up in the body, cause depression, and can be highly
toxic

14. Nonbarbiturate Sedatives
• Meprobamate (Miltown and Equanil)
• Minor tranquilizer used for psychosomatic conditions
• Severe withdrawal and low margin of safety
• Minor tranquilizer
• Drug used primarily to relieve anxiety
• Anxiolytic
• Anxiety-reducing drugs

15. Methaqualone (Quaalude)
• Methaqualone (Quaalude)
• Relieves tension and anxiety without barbiturate-like
aftereffects
• Withdrawal symptoms can be extremely severe, including
mania, seizures, vomiting, convulsions, and death
• Induces dreamlike moods at low dosage levels
• Memory is affected
• Especially lethal in combination with alcohol

16. Minor Tranquilizers
• Benzodiazepines (Librium and Valium)
• Used primarily to treat anxiety
• Addictive; produces tolerance and withdrawal symptoms
• Have a wider margin of safety, fewer side effects, and less
severe side effects than barbiturates
• Some women who took Valium while pregnant had
children with fetal benzodiazepine syndrome
• Halcion (triazolam) reportedly produces a number of
distressing side effects

17. Selected Benzodiazepines

18. Date-Rape Drugs
• Rohypnol
• A depressant 5-10 times more powerful than Valium
• Dangerous in combination with alcohol
• Can cause sedation, muscle relaxation, blackouts,
addiction, complete memory loss, and death
• Takes effect 20 to 30 minutes after ingestion, and lasts for
2 to 10 hours
• Dependency and withdrawal symptoms

19. Date-Rape Drugs
• Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB)
• Neurotransmitter that produces relaxation and sleepiness
• Used in opiate detoxification
• Potentially deadly; shuts down the respiratory system
• When mixed with alcohol, the person may lose memory
and consciousness
• Other effects are vomiting, nausea, seizures,
hallucinations, coma, and respiratory distress

20. Inhalants
• Inhalants serve as gateway drugs
• Most frequently used class of illegal drugs among adolescents
aged 12 and 13
• Strong relationship between inhalant use and other problem
behaviors and sensation-seeking
• Long-term effects: nosebleeds, liver and kidney damage,
sores, weight loss, depression, irritability, disorientation,
paranoia, hostility, and bone marrow abnormalities

21. “Huffing” Inhalants
• Twice as many 8th-
grade students use
inhalants as 12th-grade
students

22. Inhalants
• Glue (volatile hydrocarbon solvents)
• Psychoactive agent is toluene
• Possible immediate cardiorespiratory arrest
• Brain damage and memory loss
• Anesthetic inhalants
• Ether used as industrial solvent and anesthetic
• Nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
• Can cause irreparable brain damage or death due to
decreased oxygen (hypoxia)

23. Nitrite Inhalants
• Nitrite inhalants
• Inhaled for sexual purposes
• Amyl nitrite: used to treat angina pectoris and congestive
heart failure
• Butyl nitrite: found in perfume and antifreeze
• Isobutyl: used to treat angina pain; causes vasodilation,
flushing, and warmth
• Suppresses the immune system
• Linked to HIV and AIDS