Deck 9: Heroin and the Opiates

Question 1

According to MTF, most high school seniors believe that the regular use of heroin is:

A) benign, innocuous, and harmless.
B) fun.
C) no different from marijuana.
D) harmful.
E) none of the above.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is not a narcotic, opiate, or opioid drug?

A) morphine
B) methedrine
C) meperidine
D) methadone
E) None of the above; all are narcotic drugs.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A study compared controlled opiate users with narcotic addicts and found that the former differed from the latter in:

A) the type of narcotic used-for instance, Darvon or codeine versus heroin.
B) the route of administration-snorting versus shooting.
C) personal acquaintance with other users who suffered overdoses.
D) the frequency of use-that is, less than once a day versus more than once a day.
E) none of the above.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Currently, the drug that causes the greatest number of deaths by overdose, in absolute numbers, is:

A) opiates.
B) cocaine.
C) alcohol.
D) antidepressants.
E) benzodiazepines (tranquilizers such as Valium).

Question 5

Soporific refers to the capacity to:

A) induce euphoria.
B) produce addiction.
C) kill pain.
D) induce drowsiness and sleepiness.
E) none of the above.

Question 6

The heroin that is derived from poppies grown in Afghanistan is shipped mainly to:

A) the United States.
B) Mexico.
C) Europe, China, Russia, and Africa.
D) Southeast Asia.
E) South America.

Question 7

On a dose-by-dose basis, which of the following drugs is most likely to cause death by overdose?

A) LSD
B) methamphetamine
C) marijuana
D) heroin
E) cocaine

Question 8

Given the maladies, harms, and dangers associated with narcotics, the questions that nonusers are likely to pose to persons who do use them are the following: "Why use narcotics?" "Why turn on in the first place?" Discuss the answer that users of narcotics give, knowing what you know from interview studies.

Question 9

From interviews of arrestees, sociologists have discovered that among criminals born after 1953, the percentage who said that they had used heroin has:

A) increased.
B) decreased.
C) remained the same.
D) fluctuated wildly and randomly from year to year.
E) remained unknown.

Question 10

Overall, the most effective and efficient analgesics are:

A) the narcotics.
B) aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen.
C) marijuana.
D) the amphetamines.
E) the sedatives.

Question 11

In the 1990s, several media sources reported that a new heroin epidemic had gripped the United States. Toward the end of the first decade of the 2000s, that epidemic had:

A) increased in seriousness.
B) subsided.
C) remained at the same level.
D) remained unknown as to its seriousness.
E) none of the above.

Question 12

Which of the following effects is not an effect of the relevant dose or doses of narcotic drugs?

A) euphoria
B) mental clouding
C) addiction-a physical dependence
D) analgesia
E) All are effects of the narcotics, given the relevant dose or doses.

Question 13

Which of the following is used by a greater number of people-heroin versus all of the other narcotics added together?

A) heroin
B) all the other narcotics added together
C) The two categories are used by about the same number of people.
D) This question cannot be answered; the answer is unknown.
E) none of the above

Question 14

Which of the following is not a narcotic, opiate, or opioid drug?

A) oxycodone
B) opium
C) codeine
D) fentanyl
E) All are narcotic, opiate, or opioid drugs.

Question 15

Compared with most of the other drugs, the margin between the ED and LD for narcotics is:

A) wide.
B) narrow.
C) the same.
D) unknown.
E) none of the above.

Question 16

Of all the well-known drugs, evidence suggests, which of the following ranks dead last with respect to the percentage of the U.S. population who uses it?

A) LSD
B) MDMA (Ecstasy)
C) methamphetamine
D) heroin
E) crack

Question 17

Evidence suggests that, currently, the majority of heroin used on the street in the United States comes into the country from:

A) North Africa.
B) Southeast Asia.
C) western Europe.
D) Russia.
E) Mexico.

Question 18

Which of the following painkillers or analgesics are not narcotics?

A) ibuprofen
B) Percodan
C) Darvon
D) Dilaudid
E) All are narcotic analgesics.

Question 19

What distinguishes controlled narcotic users from compulsive narcotic users, addicts, and abusers? How do controlled users avoid addiction? What are some tactics that might distinguish them-but don't?

Question 20

From interviews of arrestees, sociologists have discovered that among criminals born after 1970, the percentage who said that they had used crack cocaine has:

A) increased.
B) decreased.
C) remained the same.
D) fluctuated wildly and randomly from year to year.
E) remained unknown.

Question 21

Given the fact that heroin is one of the least often used of the illicit drugs, do you think that its use generates more hysteria and concern than is warranted by its objective harm and danger? Or do you think there is a legitimate basis for the fear and concern? Explain your answer.

Question 22

Summarize what we know about narcotic use and abuse over time from the indicators and sources of data we have-such as surveys, overdose statistics, and drug tests of arrestees.

Question 23

A high proportion of military personnel picked up a heroin habit during their wartime experience in Vietnam during the 1960s and 1970s. What happened to them? Did they remain addicted? Did they seek treatment? Describe their trajectory from addiction to their subsequent return to the United States. Be as specific and detailed as you can.

Question 24

Though anomie theory regards the opiate addict as a "double failure" and a "retreatist," addicts are more likely to see themselves as purposeful, active, and resourceful-exactly the opposite image. Why do these two images differ so sharply? On what basis do addicts view themselves in such a positive fashion?

Question 25

If you could press a button and magically make all the narcotics on the earth disappear, would you do it? Why or why not? Justify your answer.

Question 26

From interviews, we discover that drug use among arrestees can be divided into three eras. Describe what those eras were and which drugs tended to be used by arrestees during each.

Question 27

In the United States, addiction to and abuse of drugs in general, and narcotics specifically, has waxed and waned since the nineteenth century, with periods of much greater use alternating with periods of much less use. Can you imagine a time in the future when drug abuse, including addiction to the narcotics, simply declines to zero? Why or why not?

Question 28

What are some of the effects of the narcotics that would lead some members of the society to try and use them? On the other hand, what are some of their effects that would repel potential users from trying them? Given their frequency of use relative to some of the other drugs we've looked at (such as marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine, and LSD), which of these two forces is most influential or dominant?