Posted by Essie at 5:14pm Jan 20 '09There are many obstacles to your scenario ever taking place. I'll try to be concise in my discussion, but please bear in mind that the issue is a multifaceted medical, legal, ethical problem that isn't clear cut.
The first obstacle to your scenario is the illegality of these drugs. They are classified as such for various reasons, but the ones I will stick to are that they have no proven therapeutic value and have a high potential for abuse. While there are other drugs out there to treat underlying disorders such as antidepressants, stimulants, and the like in cooperating with cognitive/behavioral therapy to assist with the psychological and emotional aspects, they will be the route professionals will take. They are moderately safe and effective with lesser potentials for adverse effects or abuse.
The use of cocaine or ecstasy simply has too many risk factors. Cocaine, for example, causes psychotic episodes, permanently changes the chemistry of the neurotransmitters in the body (effecting everything from basic body processes to the personality and thought processes of the individual), and puts extreme strain on the cardiovascular system. The strain on the cardiovascular system alone affects the eyes, kidneys, liver, lungs, the vasculature itself (veins, arteries, capillaries, etc), the pancreas, spleen, heart muscle, brain, ears, etc. The greatest short term risk is stroke or heart attack. Most people have congenital weaknesses in their arteries (the tubes that carry blood away from the heart). These weak points are usually okay in people of good health. When that individual takes cocaine, their heart beats not only harder, but faster. The increased force and volume of blood in these weak points causes an aneurysm, or ballooning, of the vessel. This is very easy to rupture, causing a stroke. If this happens in a major vessel, you are dead before EMS can answer the phone.
This happens to people who use for the first time. Not just addicts or frequent users.
Ecstasy can cause a fluid and electrolyte imbalance that can effect everything from metabolism of waste products (causing liver or kidney failure) to imbalances in potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. These imbalances can cause your heart to stop. It doesn't take much to cause that to happen. It isn't an extreme scenario. Its fairly probable if anything (even antibiotics or exercise) have messed up your electrolyte balance.
The supposed benefits, of which there may be for some people, simply do not justify the use for therapeutic goals. I can not give someone cocaine in good conscience, as the inevitable short or long term damage has been proven again and again in the literature and real life scenarios. You will die from it at some point. As I've said to a few people, you meet 70 year old cigarette or pot users who have been doing those drugs for their entire lives. You do not meet 70 year old cocaine users. They've already died if they've been using for that long.
It isn't safe, so it won't be legalized. I'd prefer it that way. Other drugs are more debatable (such as marijuana) but ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, etc have all been proven to be deadly. I'm not putting a patient at risk. They're better off alone than in a relationship that takes illicit drugs to fix. Therapy is a much better option.
The first obstacle to your scenario is the illegality of these drugs. They are classified as such for various reasons, but the ones I will stick to are that they have no proven therapeutic value and have a high potential for abuse. While there are other drugs out there to treat underlying disorders such as antidepressants, stimulants, and the like in cooperating with cognitive/behavioral therapy to assist with the psychological and emotional aspects, they will be the route professionals will take. They are moderately safe and effective with lesser potentials for adverse effects or abuse.
The use of cocaine or ecstasy simply has too many risk factors. Cocaine, for example, causes psychotic episodes, permanently changes the chemistry of the neurotransmitters in the body (effecting everything from basic body processes to the personality and thought processes of the individual), and puts extreme strain on the cardiovascular system. The strain on the cardiovascular system alone affects the eyes, kidneys, liver, lungs, the vasculature itself (veins, arteries, capillaries, etc), the pancreas, spleen, heart muscle, brain, ears, etc. The greatest short term risk is stroke or heart attack. Most people have congenital weaknesses in their arteries (the tubes that carry blood away from the heart). These weak points are usually okay in people of good health. When that individual takes cocaine, their heart beats not only harder, but faster. The increased force and volume of blood in these weak points causes an aneurysm, or ballooning, of the vessel. This is very easy to rupture, causing a stroke. If this happens in a major vessel, you are dead before EMS can answer the phone.
This happens to people who use for the first time. Not just addicts or frequent users.
Ecstasy can cause a fluid and electrolyte imbalance that can effect everything from metabolism of waste products (causing liver or kidney failure) to imbalances in potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. These imbalances can cause your heart to stop. It doesn't take much to cause that to happen. It isn't an extreme scenario. Its fairly probable if anything (even antibiotics or exercise) have messed up your electrolyte balance.
The supposed benefits, of which there may be for some people, simply do not justify the use for therapeutic goals. I can not give someone cocaine in good conscience, as the inevitable short or long term damage has been proven again and again in the literature and real life scenarios. You will die from it at some point. As I've said to a few people, you meet 70 year old cigarette or pot users who have been doing those drugs for their entire lives. You do not meet 70 year old cocaine users. They've already died if they've been using for that long.
It isn't safe, so it won't be legalized. I'd prefer it that way. Other drugs are more debatable (such as marijuana) but ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, etc have all been proven to be deadly. I'm not putting a patient at risk. They're better off alone than in a relationship that takes illicit drugs to fix. Therapy is a much better option.
That theory may work, but I don't think it likely - Essie