Nicotine & the body
What is the name of the highly addictive stimulant found in all tobacco and smoking products?
Nicotine
What is an e-cigarette ?
An electronic device that delivers nicotine to the user to inhale.
Define drug use and give an example
Taking a legal drug or medicine exactly as directed by a doctor or the product label. Example: Taking one prescription pill every 12 hours as written on the bottle.
What type of drug increases a person's energy, alertness, heart rate, and central nervous system activity?
Stimulants
What is fentanyl?
A synthetic opioid that is incredibly potent (up to 50 times stronger than heroin), making even a microscopic amount potentially lethal.
How does nicotine affect your heart and blood vessels?
It acts as a stimulant, causing blood vessels to constrict (narrow) and making the heart beat faster, which increases blood pressure.
Explain how an e-cigarette works internally to deliver nicotine or flavorings
A battery powers a metal heating element (coil), which warms up a liquid (e-juice) until it vaporizes into an aerosol.
Define drug misuse and give an example
Taking a legal prescription or over-the-counter drug for a legitimate medical reason, but not following the exact directions. Example: Taking three aspirin instead of two because your headache is severe, or sharing a prescription allergy medication with a friend.
What type of drugs are specifically used medically to relieve severe pain?
Opioids / Narcotics
Explain how the emergency medication Narcan works.
It acts as an opioid antagonist, meaning it quickly binds to opioid receptors in the brain to block and temporarily reverse the life-threatening effects of an overdose (like respiratory depression).
True or False: Nicotine permanently alters brain chemistry by flooding it with dopamine, creating a cycle of addiction that makes it very difficult to quit smoking.
True
Explain the difference between an e-cigarette and a vape?
E-cigarettes is a battery-operated device that heats a liquid into an inhalable aerosol., whereas vapes (vaping) is the action
Define drug abuse and give an example
Deliberately taking any substance (legal or illegal) for non-medical reasons, typically to get "high," escape reality, or fit in. Example: Using an illegal street drug, or taking a family member's ADHD medication to stay awake and study
Name at least three different ways or routes that drugs can be administered into the human body
Oral (ingestion), Inhalation (smoking/breathing in), Injection (intravenous/intramuscular), Topical (transdermal patch), or Sublingual (under the tongue).
Explain the difference between drug tolerance and drug dependence
Tolerance means the body gets used to a drug and needs larger doses to get the same effect; Dependence means the body or mind has adapted so much that it legally needs the drug just to function normally.
Because nicotine constricts blood vessels, what major cardiovascular health risk increases over time for a chronic smoker ?
Heart attack (or stroke/heart disease)
Name the chemical frequently used for buttery flavorings in e-cigarettes and explain how it affects your lungs
Diacetyl; it causes severe, irreversible scarring and inflammation of the small airways in the lungs (commonly called "popcorn lung")
If someone takes a prescription painkiller that belongs to their sibling because their own back hurts, is this considered drug misuse or drug abuse?
Drug misuse (because it is being used for a medical purpose—pain relief—but it is not their prescription and is not being used as directed).
To which broad class of drugs do nicotine and caffeine belong ?
Stimulants
Explain the difference between drug withdrawal and drug addiction
Withdrawal refers to the physical and mental illness symptoms that occur when a dependent person stops using a drug; Addiction is the chronic disease characterized by compulsive, uncontrollable drug seeking despite severe negative consequences.
Describe the two major types of laws or regulations that contributed significantly to the decrease in smoking cigarettes globally.
Pro Children Act( bans smoking in schools) & Indoor smoking bans (Clean Air Acts)
True or False: Because e-cigarettes don't burn tobacco, the aerosol they produce is completely harmless water vapor
False. It contains toxic chemicals, heavy metals (like nickel and lead), and ultrafine particles that damage lung tissue.
If a person deliberately drinks an entire bottle of over-the-counter cough syrup to experience hallucinations, which category does this fall under?
Drug abuse (because the legal substance is being intentionally taken for non-medical, mind-altering effects).
Which route of drug administration delivers a substance to the brain the fastest, making it the most immediate in effect and often the highest risk for addiction ?
Inhalation or Injection (both bypass the digestive system and enter the bloodstream instantly).
Why is the presence of illegal fentanyl driving up accidental overdose rates so drastically today?
Because it is incredibly cheap and powerful, drug traffickers frequently mix or lace it into other street drugs and counterfeit prescription pills without the user's knowledge.