Thursday, April 27, 1995
Ephedrine: The ups and downs
by Jeremy Sloan
Collegian Staff
Next week is finals week. For
those students who have kept up
with their work all along, no
problem. For others, finals week
will mean long hours of
cramming, and days of trying to
get by on a few hours of sleep.
Traditionally, this ritual of
self-abuse has included an ever
full cup of coffee and plenty of
sugar laden snacks. More
recently, in the effort to keep
functioning long enough to get
that last paper written, or that
last chapter read, some students
have been snorting white powder
up the old schnoz as well.
Cocaine?
Nope.
Ephedrine.
Ephedrine is sold over-the
counter in tablet form, as a
bronchial dilator. Ephedrine
works by reducing blood flow to
the bronchial tubes, opening
them. This makes the drug
useful as a treatment for allergies
and for asthma. That's why
ephedrine is sold without a
prescription.
Technically, that is. But
with brand names like "Max-
Alert" and "Bolt," some
pharmaceutical companies also
take advantage of ephedrine's
potential use as a stimulant.
Local convenience stores sell
ephedrine tablets in small
packages and bottles, well marked
by brightly colored packaging and
display boxes. They are often
found in the same displays as
caffeine pills. One ephedrine
tablet usually contains twenty
five milligrams of the active
, 44 ....:.....____ _........
4 1 , ,
„T RAL ID
_QC
QLITZ b% Rich Dahm
and Dan VeUer
Spin Again, or Lose a Turn
DIRECTIONS: Following are the descriptions of 20 games. Name the games—and win!
1. Put hotels on large portions of Atlantic City.
2. Remove plastic organs with tweezers.
Vc.
3. Fit geometric shapes into holes before "plunger" pops up.
4. Roll dice and assemble an insect. ..:744.
5. Satiate water cows craving for marbles.
6. Make way through confectionery landmarks.
7. Get a job, have kids, and drive a car. I
8. Gyrate on a mat with colored dots, but don't fall down.
9. Shout out a letter and a number and hope for a Hit, not a Miss.
10. Press levers to get all your balls on your opponent's side.
tge,
11. Keep the kid from falling into the frozen pond.
12. It's like Tiddly Winks with insects and trousers.
13. Hook together a long string of simians.
14. Do good things and climb up, do bad things and slide down
15. Basis for bad movie with multiple endings.
16. Open the door and hope you don't end up with a geek.
17. Flip small plastic disks into giant rotating orifice.
18. Build a Rube-Goldbergesque contraption to catch a rodent.
19. Throw beanbags at Tic-Tac-Toe board.
20. Land on another person's piece to send them back home, then maniacally press the
"
Pop-O-Matic bubble.
ingredient, enough to act as a
bronchial dilator.
By federal law, the only
approved use of over-the-counter
ephedrine is that noted on its
packaging. Any other use is
illegal. A good deal of ephedrine
use has nothing to do with
asthma or allergies, however.
Some people, especially some
students and truck drivers, use the
drug to stay awake.
Because the use of ephedrine as
a stimulant is illegal, distributors
rely on names which imply
stimulant usage. For the same
reason. these distributors cannot
give accurate information
regarding the use of ephedrine as
a stimulant.
The danger of this marketing
strategy lies in the fact that users
pass information about ephedrine
as a stimulant, by rumor and by
word of mouth, potentially
inviting overdoses or harmful
interaction with other drugs.
Accurate information about the
drug and is often lacking.
Why do some students prefer
ephedrine use to caffeine use? At
the extreme end, one student
described using the substance as a
"booster," in order to extend his
Features
consumption of alcohol and other
drugs. He described using
ephedrine on Saturday morning to
"take the edge off of" his
hangover and to keep him going
Saturday afternoon, through a
hard day of "smoking pot and
getting drunk again."
Another student at Behrend,
who reported less frequent use at
lower dosages, described the
stimulant effects of ephedrine as
"cleaner than caffeine." She went
on to say that ephedrine "doesn't
cause the stomach cramps and
shakes that coffee does."
Q 9 o
oo
Individual experiences vary,
though, and some users do report
caffeine-like side effects.
Both students, though,
considered ephedrine a more
effective stimulant than caffeine.
Ephedrine is used very casually in
some circles, and its users rarely
know much about the drug's
potential side effects.
Taken orally, the stimulant
properties of ephedrine take effect
in about 30-60 minutes and last
for approximately 3-4 hours.
When crushed and inhaled like
cocaine, the drug takes effect
more rapidly.
At the recommended dosage,
En=
ephedrine's side effects - insomnia
and nervousness - are usually
mild. Like any stimulant,
though, ephedrine can be
harmful.
Several Behrend students des
cribed ephedrine use at dosages
significantly higher than its
intended dosage, sometimes as
high as 250mg-300mg, or about
twelve tablets.
This can be very dangerous,
especially if ephedrine use is
combined with the use of over
the-counter allergy, cough or cold
medicines. Tricyclic anti
depressants also react badly with
ephedrine. When combined with
drugs used to treat digitalis or
high blood pressure, ephedrine
may increase or decrease the
effects of these drugs, with
disastrous effects.
Translation: if you're taking
Sudafed for a sinus problem and
you start popping ephedrine
tablets, you might be okay. On
the other hand, you might just
wind up in the hospital. Or in
the morgue.
In rare cases, a normal dose of
ephedrine (one 25mg tablet) has
caused a variety of nasty side
effects, including headaches,
dizziness, and nausea. Some
users have also reported rapid
heartbeat, chest discomfort,
sweating, and painful urination
when using ephedrine at low
doses.
A moderate overdose of ephe
drine may cause the effects limed
directly above, while - a Lai&
overdose will likely cause some
combination of: anxiety,
confusion, delirium, muscle
tremors, and rapid and irregular
pulse.
Because these overdose symp
toms closely resemble feelings
normally experienced by students
Summer
Employment
Opportunities
Telatron Marketing Group
Great Hours, Great Pay
Great Experience
Call Kristi at 866-1900
All majors welcome to apply
Glamour Shots
Millcreek Mall
866-8176
-Senior Portraits -
$5 sitting fee
algnoil 'OZ
gnu 3 V ssui '6l
&annoy.; 111
1 1 2 T 1 OYkl "L
anci taarrApi .9t
2 9.0 'SI
832 PP - 1 Pia say uID 3 , 1
"PM P lanai( 'EI
"Ind aqj ul nuV
a n M il 1 1 1121 il ;u
slummy nriO A301(11 ivvru.
during finals week, they may be
overlooked. All joking aside,
however, even though many
ephedrine users never experience
any negative side effects, the
potential for a bad reaction does
exist, especially when ephedrine
is combined with other drugs.
Medical literature categorizes
ephedrine as non habit-forming.
In fact, the regular use of
ephedrine for more than three or
four days causes a temporary
tolerance to the drug, which
disappears after several days of
non-usage. That is not to say,
though, that ephedrine cannot be
abused. When drug use - legal or
otherwise - replaces rest on a
regular basis, there is a problem.
Using stimulants as a
substitute, , for sleep is never a
Areal idea; and " misusing
ephedrine is illegal. Your best
bet, of course, is to pace your
studying, and to get enough
sleep. But if you feel you do
need something to keep you
awake as you study for finals,
you should probably stick to the
stand-bys, coffee and sugar.
They're mild, and they're
completely legal.
I am not condoning the use of
ephedrine as a stimulant, but if
you feel you must use this drug,
despite the possible con
sequences, you would be well
advised to take a low dosage and
not to mix it with other drugs.
The medical information found
in this article comes from The
Essential Guide to Prescription
Drugs, by James W. Long,
M.D.
douo d!uo 'Ol
il!tis*pleg '6
14161116 i '9
a3!l (0 41118 0 at tl.) * L
Puri APueo '9
soddwißunH •s
apooo
u 9 l 3 7 3 Pad
uoPbado "Z
Modouciini •
Page 5