Depressants Essay

Depressants have been around for centuries and have been portrayed in many cultures as far back as 3400 BC. Herbs and alcohol are known to ease down pain and induce sleep; they were the most common depressants. Depressants are drugs that reduce neural activity and slow down body functions, in order to decrease or alleviate anxiety, induce sleep and relieve stress (Depressants). Alcohol being one of the most popular agents, it produces depression in the central nervous system. Barbiturates and Benzodiazepines are the two groups of depressants. These two groups have taken over the market legally and illegally for a very long time. Paraldehyde and Chloral Hydrate are two old pharmaceutical depressants that are also referred as sedatives, downers, anti-anxiety, minor tranquilizers, hypnotics, and anxiolytics medications("Home." ). Opium, which comes from poppy plants, has been used for hundreds of years. This is used as a legitimate depressant drug, after this in 1806 morphine evolved.

These drugs can come from many different plants such as California poppies, lavender, and wild lettuce. They come in multicolored tablets and capsules or in liquid form, in rare occasions powder form. They may be swallowed, injected, smoked or snorted. Under the depressant category you will also have Zyprexa, Seroquel and Haldol. Some street names for depressants are barbs, candy, downers, red birds, tooies, yellows, reds, phennies, roofies, yellow jackets, tranks and many more. Large doses can cause impairment of memory, judgment and coordination, irritability, paranoia, and even suicidal thoughts. The withdrawal symptoms consist of insomnia, weakness and nausea. For people that continuously use at high doses, agitation, high body temperatures, deli...

... middle of paper ...

...urates to “come down” from amphetamine high. The fourth group is basically abusers of heroin and other narcotics. They use barbiturates as a substitute when other drugs are not available. Sometimes a combination of heroin and barbiturates creates a prolonged effect. Barbiturates abuse is considered to be far more dangerous then narcotic abuse ("The New International Standard Medical & Health Encyclopedia.").

Another depressant is Benzodiazepine, commonly used to treat anxiety, sleeping disorders and several other conditions. Since this depressant has low toxicity and is high on effectiveness, it is used on short-term treatments for anxiety problems and insomnia. Some approved benzodiazepines in the United States are alprazolam (Xanax), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), clonazepam (Klonopin) and a couple more. The exact mechanism of action of benzodiazepine is not known.