Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine

K–M
ketamine An intravenous anesthetic agent used
primarily in veterinary medicine that has euphoric
and hallucinogenic effects when used as a substance
of abuse. Ketamine causes a sense of dissociation
(separation of one’s self from PAIN and
other physical sensations associated with surgery),
amnesia for events that occur while it is effective
in the body, and primarily visual HALLUCINATION
that are often quite vivid. Users sprinkle ketamine
powder on cigarettes or marijuana and smoke it,
snort the powder, or dissolve the powder and
inject it intravenously. Excessive doses result in
anesthesia-like loss of CONSCIOUSNESS. In the United
States ketamine is a schedule 3 drug.
See also ANESTHESIA; CANNABIS; ILLICIT DRUG USE;
NARCOTICS; PHENCYCLIDINE (PCP); SCHEDULED DRUGS.
levo-alpha acetylmethadol (LAAM) An oral DRUG
to treat narcotic ADDICTION, primarily HEROIN addiction.
LAAM is a synthetic product similar in chemical
composition as well as action in the body to
METHADONE, though a single DOSE is effective for up
to 72 hours. In the United States LAAM is a schedule
2 drug. However, a rare but serious SIDE EFFECT
of LAAM is damage to the HEART and BLOOD vessels.
Because of this, doctors use LAAM primarily when
treatment with methadone is not effective.
See also NALTREXONE; SCHEDULED DRUGS; SUB-
STANCE ABUSE TREATMENT.
LSD
marijuana
See HALLUCINOGENS.
See CANNABIS.
methadone A synthetic analgesic (PAIN medication)
originally developed as an oral substitute for
morphine, a narcotic analgesic, during World War
II. Methadone binds with opiate receptors in the
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BRAIN in the same way as does morphine, though
methadone’s chemical structure differs from that
of morphine and methadone’s effects last up to 24
hours.
Methadone has similar risk as OPIATES for
DEPENDENCE and ADDICTION. In the United States
methadone is a schedule 2 DRUG doctors prescribe
primarily to treat HEROIN addiction. It works by
blocking opiate receptors in the brain, which prevents
other opiates such as heroin from doing so.
Though methadone is itself addictive, withdrawal
symptoms are less severe than withdrawal from
heroin. As a drug of abuse methadone has effects
similar to those of heroin. Doctors also occasionally
prescribe methadone as an analgesic, often to
treat CHRONIC PAIN.
See also ANALGESIC MEDICATIONS; DETOXIFICATION;
ILLICIT DRUG USE; SCHEDULED DRUGS; SUBSTANCE ABUSE
TREATMENT; WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME.
methamphetamine A very potent DRUG that is a
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM stimulant. Though one
formulation of methamphetamine is available for
therapeutic use to treat a certain type of NAR-
COLEPSY, in the United States methamphetamine is
primarily illicit and classified as a schedule 2 drug;
its possession and therapeutic uses are extremely
limited. Highly addictive, methamphetamine produces
euphoria and a sense of invincibility. The
drug stays active in the body for an extended time,
making repeated use dangerously toxic; fatal OVER-
DOSE is a significant risk.
Though relatively simple from a chemistry perspective,
which gives rise to proliferate clandestine
“meth labs,” the manufacture of methamphetamine
is also quite toxic. Meth labs require only
rudimentary equipment and supplies. However,
the methamphetamine production process is so