BARBITURATES
Most of us at one time or another has seen some variation of the following scene in movies or on television:
HERO: “You can’t get me to talk there is nothing you can do to get me to give him up”!
BAD GUY: “Don’t bet on it tough guy. We have a little magic potion here to make you talk! Give him the needle Jimmy!”
HERO: You can’t make me talk! That stuff won’t have any effect on me! Hey! Cut it out!
Moments later our once defiant hero is almost unrecognizable. His eyes are glassy and rolled back into his head somewhat and he is much less combative. What could have possibly turned our hero into a turn coat? The ill fated, oft used “truth serum” Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way in the real world. The “truth serum” in question is usually sodium pentothal. Sodium pentothal is a class of drugs known as a Barbiturate. While it may not make a POW give up the desired troop movements or missions to his captors as <:City>Hollywood would like us to believe, barbiturates do make people more relaxed and talkative in general. Hence the moniker “truth serum”. Although few would openly admit it, there have many occasions where a spouse wishes s/he had access to a truth serum. How does it work? What chemical reaction takes place so quickly that ingesting a chemical induces the brain to drop its guard so to speak.
In this the 21st century, the pressures of every day living have increased dramatically. Post 9/11 living aside, many people struggle everyday to maintain the balance in their lives between work and home life. It can be exponentially tougher if you factor in raising children and ora two income household. The pressure to keep up with or one-up everyone else becomes unbearable at times. Simple every day tasks like travel have become major headaches for some. The advent of the internet has allowed people to manage some of these tasks with the touch of a button. However the internet, like most time defying inventions comes with their own stress factors. Access to unsavory sites and a seemingly unending stream of advertisements has made going on line a chore for some. One way people try to get a handle on the stress is to “unwind”. Years ago that meant a beer or wine with dinner, never to excess however. With ever growing number stress inducers, comes a comparable number of ways to relax. They don’t come only with names like Budweiser or Coors any longer. Yellow Jackets. Reds. Blues. Amy’s. Rainbows. These are all part of the street vernacualr that make up the Barbiturate family. Doctor’s refer to them as their common names such as Pentobarbital, Secobarbital, Amobarbital and Phenobarbital or Phenobarb. Barbiturates have been used for years as a sedative and more recently to treat certain forms of epilepsy. More common today are a class of drugs called Benzodiazepines.
Here is how they work.
In lower doses barbiturates will decrease the heart rate as well as the respiration, blood pressure and control what is known as REM or rapid eye Movement sleep. Additionally it will decrease a person’s anxiety level.
A higher dose will actually increase a person’s erratic behavior as the drug is now reacting as a stimulant in the body.
Ingesting too much of a barbiturate has the potential to cause an anesthetic state, a drug induced coma and shallow respiration or death. The higher doses of barbiturates are in close proximity to a lethal dose. The addiction to barbiturates can come faster then most other narcotics as the euphoric and calming effects felt by the drug are almost instantaneous and therefore desirable.
As with any addiction, the immediate danger of over usage is developing a tolerance and conversely and dependence. Tolerance to the drug grows when the dose is increased because the body no longer recognizes a lower dose for the desired “high”. Dependence will occur when the user feels that he or she must use the drug to get high more often or to break the effects of withdrawal. Combined with its aforementioned strength a barbiturate overdose can become lethal due to the labored breathing it creates when taken in large amounts. Additionally barbiturates have become a member of a new informal class of drugs called “club drugs”. This refers to drugs that are used before or actually at a night club to achieve a desired high. The release of the stimulant in the body combined the pulsating rhythm of a night club atmosphere can institute a number of reactions to the user based on the dosage and use. That is a long way from their original introduction in the early 1900’s. Since their inception more than 50 barbiturates have been made safe for human usage. Currently there are only about a dozen of those still in use. They are classified four different ways based on their length of effectiveness: ultra short, short, intermediate and long acting. The Drug Enforcement Administration website (www.dea.gov) indicates that while significant number of the barbiturates in use in the medical profession fall under the category of either Schedule II,III or IV, the primary ones abused on the street are Schedule II short acting and intermediate acting Amobarbital (Amyta or Amy’s) and Pentobarbital (Nembutal). The effects of the drugs usually begin within 45 minutes of ingesting and the “high” can last up to six hours. To underscore the potential for serious health risks associated with abusing these, it should be noted that Veterinarians use Pentobarbital for euthanasia on animals.
