Drug Facts

• With repeated use, cocaine can cause long-term changes in the brain’s reward system as well as other brain systems.
• Ingesting cocaine by the mouth can cause severe bowel gangrene as a result of reduced blood flow.
• Injecting cocaine can bring about severe allergic reactions and increased risk for contracting HIV, hepatitis C, and other blood-borne diseases.
• Binge-patterned cocaine use may lead to irritability, restlessness, and anxiety. Cocaine abusers can also experience severe paranoia—a temporary state of full-blown paranoid psychosis—in which they lose touch with reality and experience auditory hallucinations.
• Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of the heart stopping (cardiac arrest) followed by an arrest of breathing.

Medical Amnesty

The University of Tennessee’s Student Code of Conduct provides protection from University disciplinary action for alcohol and/or other drugs when medical assistance is sought for an individual. Amnesty means that no formal disciplinary action is taken when a Good Samaritan: (1) contacts appropriate resources to report and request assistance and (2) demonstrates cooperation and care by remaining with the Impaired Student. Amnesty applies to the Impaired Student(s) and any Good Samaritan(s) under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.

• Impaired Student: student(s) in need of emergency medical attention due to alcohol or other substance use.
• Good Samaritan: student(s) that seek help for the impaired

• While stimulants promote wakefulness, they do not enhance learning or thinking ability for those without ADHD
• Types of stimulants: Adderall, Ritalyn, Vyvanase
• Stimulants can mask the effects of alcohol and increase the risk of alcohol overdose
• Repeated abuse of stimulants can lead to feelings of hostility and paranoia. At high doses, they can lead to serious cardiovascular complications, including stroke.
• If stimulants are abused chronically, withdrawal symptoms—including fatigue, depression, and disturbed sleep patterns—can result when a person stops taking them. Additional complications from abusing stimulants can arise when pills are crushed and injected: Insoluble fillers in the tablets can block small blood vessels.

Medical Amnesty

The University of Tennessee’s Student Code of Conduct provides protection from University disciplinary action for alcohol and/or other drugs when medical assistance is sought for an individual. Amnesty means that no formal disciplinary action is taken when a Good Samaritan: (1) contacts appropriate resources to report and request assistance and (2) demonstrates cooperation and care by remaining with the Impaired Student. Amnesty applies to the Impaired Student(s) and any Good Samaritan(s) under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.

• Impaired Student: student(s) in need of emergency medical attention due to alcohol or other substance use.
• Good Samaritan: student(s) that seek help for the impaired

• Types of Benzodiazepines: Xanax, Valium, Klonopin
• Types of Barbiturates: Nembutal (Pentobarbital)
• Types of Sedatives: Ambien, Lunesta
• Withdrawal from Benzos can cause seizures or other harmful consequences and should be discussed with health care provider
• When alcohol is used in combination with Benzos the heart rate and breathing can slow, which can lead to death
• Benzos are associated with amnesia, hostility, irritability, and vivid or disturbing dreams

Medical Amnesty

The University of Tennessee’s Student Code of Conduct provides protection from University disciplinary action for alcohol and/or other drugs when medical assistance is sought for an individual. Amnesty means that no formal disciplinary action is taken when a Good Samaritan: (1) contacts appropriate resources to report and request assistance and (2) demonstrates cooperation and care by remaining with the Impaired Student. Amnesty applies to the Impaired Student(s) and any Good Samaritan(s) under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.

• Impaired Student: student(s) in need of emergency medical attention due to alcohol or other substance use.
• Good Samaritan: student(s) that seek help for the impaired

• The incidence of heroin initiation was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical pain reliever use than among those who did not
• When misused, even a single large dose can cause severe respiratory depression and death.
• Withdrawal symptoms may occur if drug use is suddenly reduced or stopped. These symptoms can include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps (“cold turkey”), and involuntary leg movements.
• Nearly half of young people who inject heroin surveyed in three recent studies reported abusing prescription opioids before starting to use heroin. Some individuals reported taking up heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription opioids.
• Heroin misuse is associated with a number of serious health conditions, including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion, and infectious diseases like hepatitis and HIV (see box, “Injection Drug Use and HIV and HCV Infection”). Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, constipation and gastrointestinal cramping, and liver or kidney disease. Pulmonary complications, including various types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health of the user as well as from heroin’s effects on breathing.
• The State of Tennessee has developed a comprehensive plan to address the current climate related to opioid misuse and opioid use disorders. Find more information at: https://www.tn.gov/opioids.

Medical Amnesty

The University of Tennessee’s Student Code of Conduct provides protection from University disciplinary action for alcohol and/or other drugs when medical assistance is sought for an individual. Amnesty means that no formal disciplinary action is taken when a Good Samaritan: (1) contacts appropriate resources to report and request assistance and (2) demonstrates cooperation and care by remaining with the Impaired Student. Amnesty applies to the Impaired Student(s) and any Good Samaritan(s) under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.

• Impaired Student: student(s) in need of emergency medical attention due to alcohol or other substance use.
• Good Samaritan: student(s) that seek help for the impaired

• Increases levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine; therefore, depletes brain of these chemicals causing negative effects like depression, anxiety, or sleep problems
• It is chemically similar to both stimulants and hallucinogens, producing feelings of increased energy, pleasure, emotional warmth, and distorted sensory and time perception.
• Health effects include: nausea, muscle cramping, involuntary teeth clenching, blurred vision, chills, and sweating.
• Over the course of the week following moderate use of the drug, users may experience: irritability, impulsiveness and aggression, depression, sleep problems, anxiety, memory and attention problems, decreased appetite, and decreased interest in and pleasure from sex.
• High doses of MDMA can affect the body’s ability to regulate temperature. This can lead to a spike in body temperature that can occasionally result in liver, kidney, or heart failure or even death.

Medical Amnesty

The University of Tennessee’s Student Code of Conduct provides protection from University disciplinary action for alcohol and/or other drugs when medical assistance is sought for an individual. Amnesty means that no formal disciplinary action is taken when a Good Samaritan: (1) contacts appropriate resources to report and request assistance and (2) demonstrates cooperation and care by remaining with the Impaired Student. Amnesty applies to the Impaired Student(s) and any Good Samaritan(s) under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.

• Impaired Student: student(s) in need of emergency medical attention due to alcohol or other substance use.
• Good Samaritan: student(s) that seek help for the impaired

• Common hallucinogens include: Ayahuasca, DMT, LSD (D-lysergic acid diethylamide), Peyote (mescaline), psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine), DXM (Dextromethorphan), Ketamine, PCP (Phencyclidine), and Salvia (Salvia divinorum).
• Research suggests that hallucinogens work at least partially by temporarily disrupting communication between brain chemical systems throughout the brain and spinal cord. Some hallucinogens interfere with the action of the brain chemical serotonin, which regulates mood, sensory perception, sleep, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control. Other hallucinogens interfere with the action of the brain chemical glutamate, which regulates pain perception, responses to the environment, emotion, learning and memory.

Medical Amnesty

The University of Tennessee’s Student Code of Conduct provides protection from University disciplinary action for alcohol and/or other drugs when medical assistance is sought for an individual. Amnesty means that no formal disciplinary action is taken when a Good Samaritan: (1) contacts appropriate resources to report and request assistance and (2) demonstrates cooperation and care by remaining with the Impaired Student. Amnesty applies to the Impaired Student(s) and any Good Samaritan(s) under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.

• Impaired Student: student(s) in need of emergency medical attention due to alcohol or other substance use.
• Good Samaritan: student(s) that seek help for the impaired

• Methamphetamine is taken orally, smoked, snorted, or dissolved in water or alcohol and injected. Smoking or injecting the drug delivers it very quickly to the brain, where it produces an immediate, intense euphoria. Because the pleasure also fades quickly, users often take repeated doses, in a “binge and crash” pattern.
• In studies of chronic methamphetamine users, severe structural and functional changes have been found in areas of the brain associated with emotion and memory, which may account for many of the emotional and cognitive problems observed in these individuals.
• Methamphetamine use also raises the risk of contracting infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis B and C. These can be contracted both by sharing contaminated drug injection equipment and through unsafe sex. Regardless of how it is taken, methamphetamine alters judgment and inhibition and can lead people to engage in these and other types of risky behavior.

Medical Amnesty

The University of Tennessee’s Student Code of Conduct provides protection from University disciplinary action for alcohol and/or other drugs when medical assistance is sought for an individual. Amnesty means that no formal disciplinary action is taken when a Good Samaritan: (1) contacts appropriate resources to report and request assistance and (2) demonstrates cooperation and care by remaining with the Impaired Student. Amnesty applies to the Impaired Student(s) and any Good Samaritan(s) under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.

• Impaired Student: student(s) in need of emergency medical attention due to alcohol or other substance use.
• Good Samaritan: student(s) that seek help for the impaired