Guest Speaker Notes

9th grade Academy of Health and Medical Sciences

Semester 2 Project Guest Speaker Series

“From Sugar to Heroin: Preventing Substance Use In Our Community ”

Guest Speaker #1

Minding Your Mind - Connection between mental health & substance use

• Substance use can trigger feelings of loneliness, sadness, and hopelessness often associated with depression

• People who have experienced trauma and adverse childhood experiences are at greater risk for substance use disorders

• The greater substance use is in the community the higher the health care costs

• The greater substance use is in the community the greater increase in crime rates

• Stress can have a significant impact on their long-term physical and mental well-being for adolescents

• There is a stress hormone in the brain that is called cortisol

• Cortisol can cause increase in heart rate and blood pressure

• Negative stress relievers include rage/acting out, substance use, eating too much/too little, isolation, self-injury, and sleep issues

• Physical symptoms of anxiety include dizziness, sweating, racing heart, sleeping difficulties

• Physical symptoms of depression include loss of energy, bodily heaviness, sudden weight loss or gain, decrease in physical movement, difficulty sleeping

Guest Speaker #2

DEA Rx Misuse & the Connection Between Use & Co-occurring Disorders

• Dopamine is in charge of thinking, decision making, and judgment

• When you take a drug again, you don’t get as “high” as the first time you used the drug

• When you get addicted to a drug, your body starts to rely on that drug

• In 2021, there was more than 800 Fentanyl deaths

• In 2013, there was only 14 Fentanyl deaths

• 2339% increase of Fentanyl deaths between 2016 - 2021

• Originally opioids were from plants, but are now made in labs

• Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than Heroin

• Opioids stop pain signals from reaching the brain

• As little as 2 mg of Fentanyl can kill you

Guest Speaker #3

Suicide Prevention Council

• Substance use is a significant factor that is linked to a substantial number of suicides and suicide attempts

• Avoid saying “Committed suicide” and “Completed suicide”

• Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US

• In 2019, 47,511 Americans died by suicide

• Men are 4 times more likely to die by suicide. Women are 3 times more likely to attempt suicide

• For every 1 death by suicide, there are approximately 6 immediate relative affected

• 364 people died by suicide in San Diego in 2021

• 13% of Americans reported starting or increasing substance use as a way to cope with stress related to the pandemic

• Increases overdose deaths due to fentanyl and methamphetamine

• Mental Illness: condition that affects a person's thinking, feeling, behavior or mood

• Substance Use Disorder: repeated misuse of alcohol and/or drugs

• Co-Occurring Disorder: combination of mental illness and substance use disorder

• Individuals with substance use disorders are susceptible to suicide and suicide attempts

• Substance misuse increases the risk of suicide as being under the influence lowers inhibitions, impairs judgement, and increases impulsivity

Warning signs for suicide:

• Previous suicide attempt

• Stockpiling medication or obtaining a firearm

• Increased alcohol use or drug use; relapsing

• Unexplained anger, aggression, irritability

• Loss of financial security/job/being fired or laid off

• Loss of a relationship or breakup

• Death of spouse, friend, child, especially if by suicide

• Diagnosis of serious illness

• Fear of becoming a burden to others

• “I want to kill myself.”

• “I won’t be around much longer.”

Warning signs for substance use disorder:

• Fearful, anxious, or paranoid for no reason

• Sudden mood swings

• Periods of unusual increased energy, nervousness, or instability

• Engaging in secretive or sneaky behaviors

• Neglecting responsibilities at home, work, or school

• Unexplained need for money; borrowing or stealing

• Abandoning hobbies/activities to use substances

• Bloodshot eyes, pupils larger or smaller than usual

• Unusual odors on breath, body, clothing

• Sudden weight loss or weight gain

Guest Speaker #4

North Central Teen Recovery Center: Treatment for Youth

• Drugs impact proper function and growth, as brain reaches its full development at age 25

• The abuse of drugs can cause anxiety, hostility and paranoia

• Drugs can permanently change the physiological structure of the brain

• Addiction is a disease that results from the chemical rewiring of the brain

• Smoking and ingestion marijuana can make it harder to remember

• Dopamine is triggered by acts of short term pleasure

• Serotonin is triggered by acts of long term satisfaction

• Serotonin is non-addictive while dopamine is addictive

• Dopamine touches only 5 brain receptors while serotonin touches 14

• 40.3 million people aged 12 or older (or 14.5%) had an SUD (substance use disorder) in the past year

• One in every six people suffer from a Substance Use Disorder

• One person dies every five minutes from a drug overdose

Guest Speaker #5

Introduction to Cannabis education and prevention

• Marijuana is a mixture of the dried flowers from Cannabis sativa or Cannabis Indica

• THC is the part which makes the person high in cannabis

• THC is the psychoactive compound found in marijuana and binds with receptors in the brain to get high

• You need to be 21+ to purchase THC

• CBD is non-psychoactive and does not cause a high

• CBD is not associated with addiction and is used for clinical and medicinal purposes

• THC and CBD are both found in cannabis

• Cannabidiol is a compound found in cannabis or hemp plants

• THC is linked to social anxiety, depression, suicide, and schizophrenia

• THC is harmful to developing brains under age 25

• Short terms effects of THC include difficulty learning, memory loss, impaired movement and judgement, increased heart rate, anxiety, altered perception, and acute psychosis

• Vaping is not safer than smoking

• Like tobacco, smoking or vaping cannabis harms the lungs with same toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke

• One in five 12th grade seniors vaped cannabis (Monitoring the future survey 2019)

• Approximately 3 in 10 people who use have cannabis use disorder

• Cannabis is illegal to consume or possess on federal lands like national parks

• Vaping is NOT safer than smoking

• Smoking or vaping cannabis harms the lungs with the same toxins and carcinogen in tobacco smoke.

Guest Speaker #6

Tobacco Education & Prevention

• There is about 15,500 flavors of vapes

• Flavors target young people to get them hooked on nicotine

• Actors used to pose as doctors on advertisements to advertise cigarettes

• As nicotine levels decrease, receptors revert to an open state causing Hyperexcitability leading to cravings

• The dopamine decrease between cigarettes leads to withdrawal symptoms of irritability and stress

• The smoker carves nicotine to release more dopamine to restore pleasure and calmness

• Vapes were created in 2003 by a chinese pharmacist

• Nicotine rewires your brain to think it needs the nicotine

• Juul pods contain more nicotine than a whole pack of cigarettes

• Menthol, commonly found in tobacco products, changes the way that the brain registers pain and taste

• E-cigarettes were introduced to the US in 2006

• Young people are targeted to get them to start vaping through flavorings, marketing and social norms.

• When you vape water vapor, aerosol and nicotine goes into your lungs

Guest Speaker #7

Synthetic Drugs (fentanyl and opioids)

• Fentanyl can be found in all street drugs

• Fentanyl is powerful narcotic / pain medication

• Fentanyl is used in surgical procedures to induce anesthesia

• Fentanyl is an opioid that is 100 times stronger than morphine

• Fentanyl is 30 to 50 times stronger than heroin

• Fentanyl is increasingly found in illicit drug supply

• Fentanyl is used for severe pain

• Pharmacy and hospital use

• Criminal organizations manufacture fentanyl and smuggle it into the USA

• Majority of fentanyl is smuggled through California, then moved throughout the USA

• As many as 1 in 4 people receiving prescription opioids long term in a primary care setting struggles with addiction

• Youth may be prescribed opioids for sport injuries, dental procedures - wisdom teeth removal, and some surgeries

• It takes as little as 2 mg of fentanyl to cause an overdose and death in most people

• Fentanyl can be found in powders, pills, tablets, liquids & vapes

• Leading cause of death 18-45 in the United States

• 152 fentanyl deaths in San Diego County in 2019

• 462 fentanyl deaths in San Diego County in 2020

• 817 fentanyl deaths in San Diego County in 2021

• Nearly 108,000 drug overdose deaths in U.S. in 2021

• DEA lab testing reveals that 3 out of every 5 pills with fentanyl contain potentially lethal dose

• California had more fentanyl seized than any other state in 2019

• 60% of counterfeit pills tested by DEA, had enough fentanyl to cause an overdose death