
Depressants (back to main page)
Use Statistics Depressants Stimulants Designer Drugs Narcotics News Links Home Page	How do you recognize someone under the influence of a depressant drug? A drunken alcohol-like impaired appearance with poor muscle control and impaired balance. Disorientation as to place and time, and impaired memory with periods of blackouts. Drooped eyelids, involuntary jerking of the eyes, and slowed pupil response to light, Higher doses lead to medical emergencies resulting from low pulse rate, low blood pressure, and depressed respiration, with stupor developing and leading to coma and death, All but the minor tranquilizers produce both physical and psychological addiction.
	What are depressant drugs? First discovered in 1864 by Adolf von Bayer, depressant drugs are generally used as a hypnotic sedative, tranquilizer, or anti-convulsive/anti-anxiety medicine. One of the first depressant drugs marketed in America was Barbital in 1903. Today over 2,500 different named depressant drugs exist including: Barbiturates—a broad family of prescription sedative drugs including Amytal, Seconal and Nembutal Methaqualone—illegal world-wide, it is still illegally manufactured and is 10 times more powerful than barbiturates Diazepine tranquilizers—the most prescribed impairing drugs in America, include Valium, Librium and Equanil Soma—a prescription muscle relaxant/tranquilizer widely abused by college students as a cheap high Rohypnol—an illegal "date-rape" drug, produced in Mexico, is 10 times more potent than valium GHB—popular dance club drug banned in 1990 and also used as a "date rape" drug GBL and 1,4 BD—popular chemical relatives of GHB that do not show up on standard urine screens Alcohol—the most abused depressant drug in America and dangerous when mixed with any other depressant drug.
	How can drug recognition training help? Although the casual observer can easily recognize impairment from a depressant drug in a recreational user, the long-term addict will fool the untrained. The human brain will quickly develop compensation techniques to adjust of the deleterious effects of depressant drugs. Although no tolerance develops, the brain's compensation ability allows the long term user to become intoxicated on large doses of depressant drugs and show little or no outward symptoms such as swaying or slurred speech. Even police officers are sometimes surprised by a grossly intoxicated driver who shows few common symptoms of impairment. Drug recognition training uses non-body invasive eye clues to alert on the possibility of drug impairment and to identify what broad class of drugs may be causing the impairment. All recreational drugs taken at abusive levels effect the user's eyes. Knowing these eye clues gives the observer important information as to the potential for drug impaired safety concerns. Depressant drugs, taken at an abusive dose, will produce drooped eye lids, a slowed pupilary response to light, and involuntary jerking of the eyes. Effective training for recognizing the effects of depressant drug impairment should include video displays of actual depressant drug impaired subjects and classroom lead training.