Explain pure pharmacological issues

Assignment: Explain pure pharmacological issues

Also explain purely pharmacological issues such as pharmacokinetics and routes of drug administration and dose.

“Cocaine is absorbed from all sites of application, including mucous membranes, the stomach, and the lungs. Cocaine hydrochloride crosses the mucosal membranes poorly because the drug is a potent vasoconstrictor (one of its defining pharmacological actions), constricting blood vessels and limiting its own absorption. Cocaine penetrates the brain rapidly; initial brain concentrations far exceed the concentrations in plasma. After it penetrates the brain, cocaine is rapidly redistributed to other tissues,” (Advokat, Comaty, & Julien, 2014, p. 205). The blood level then progressively declines. “The biological half-life of MA is more than 11 hours. After distribution to the brain, about 60 percent of the methamphetamine is slowly metabolized in the liver, and the end products are excreted through the kidneys, along with unmetabolized MA (about 40 percent is excreted unchanged) and small amounts of its pharmacologically active metabolite, amphetamine,” (Advokat, Comaty, & Julien, 2014, p. 217).

If needed, include factors such as supply, cultural attitudes to drug use, and the context of drug use.

I think culture plays a significant role in drug use. Culture is transmitted through the family. The way this worldview is taught in any particular family is unique because it is also influenced by the dynamics that shaped our parent’s in their childhood. Children usually imitate what they see, and if drug abuse is a norm in their family, most likely that child will become a drug abuser. Drug abuse not only can come from the home, but it can also come from social context and surroundings that includes the physical and social settings. Drug abuse can be imitated by friends and family.

Reference

Advokat, C. D., Comaty, J. E., & Julien, R. M. (2014). Julien’s primer of drug action: A comprehensive guide to the actions, uses, and side effects of psychoactive drugs (13th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Hoop JG, Layde J, Roberts LW. (2009). Ethical considerations in psychopharmacological treatment and research. In: Schatzberg AF, Nemeroff CB, eds. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychopharmacology. 4th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc;1477-1495.