An alcoholic is identified by severe dependence or addiction and a pattern of behavior associated with drinking.

The incidence of alcoholism among women, children, adolescents, and college students is increasing. Males outnumber female alcoholics by a ratio of 2.5 to 1. It is generally assumed that 67% of American adults drink alcoholic beverages and one in six will experience some problem with alcoholism.

Families of alcoholics tend to have a higher incidence of alcoholism. Genetic or biochemical defects leading to alcoholism are suspected but have not been clearly demonstrated, although a higher incidence of alcoholism has been consistently reported in biological children of alcoholics as compared to adoptive children. Social factors affect patterns of drinking and consequent behavior. Alcoholics frequently have histories of broken homes and disturbed relationships with parents.

Morphine is the preferred drug for relief of pain and is derived from crude opium. Morphine is an odorless, light brown, or white crystalline substance in tablets, capsules, or powder form. It is either injected or taken orally. It acts on the central nervous system as a pain killer (analgesic).

Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring opiate extracted from the seedpod of certain varieties of poppy plants. It is 2–10 times as potent as morphine. It is extremely popular because of the high it produces. The opium poppy has been cultivated for more than 5000 years for a variety of medicinal uses. Heroin was first synthesized from morphine in 1874. From 1898 through to 1910, Bayer, the German pharmaceutical company, marketed it under the trademark name Heroin as a cough suppressant and as a nonaddictive morphine substitute (until it was discovered that it rapidly metabolizes into morphine). One year after beginning sales, Bayer exported heroin to 23 countries.

Heroin is manufactured from opium poppies cultivated in four primary source areas: South America, Southeast and Southwest Asia, and Mexico. Although Afghanistan produces the majority of the world’s heroin, South American heroin has become the most prevalent type available in the United States, particularly in the Northeast, South, and Midwest. A less pure form of heroin from Mexico, known as “black tar”, is more commonly found in the western and southwestern United States. This heroin may be sticky like roofing tar or hard like coal, with its color varying from dark brown to black.

Street heroin is rarely pure and may range from a white to dark brown powder of varying consistency. Such differences typically reflect the impurities remaining from the manufacturing process and/or the presence of additional substances. These “cuts” are often sugar, starch, powdered milk, and occasionally other drugs, which are added to provide filler.

Heroin can be sniffed, smoked, or injected. Mexican black tar heroin, however, is usually injected (once dissolved) or smoked because of its consistency. Like other opiates, heroin is a sedative drug that slows body functioning. People who use it describe a feeling of warmth, relaxation, and detachment, with a lessening sense of anxiety. Due to its analgesic qualities, physical and emotional aches and pains are diminished. These effects appear quickly and can last for several hours, depending on the amount of heroin taken and the route of administration. Initial use can result in nausea and vomiting, but these reactions fade with regular use.

People who use heroin regularly are likely to develop a physical dependence. Withdrawal symptoms (“cold turkey”) may begin within 6–24 h of discontinuation of the drug; however, this timeframe can fluctuate with the degree of tolerance as well as the amount of the last consumed dose. Symptoms may include sweating, anxiety, depression, chills, severe muscle aches, nausea, diarrhea, cramps, and fever.

Injection poses the greatest risk of lethal overdose by enabling large amounts of heroin (and additional contaminants, if any) into the bloodstream at once. Smoking and snorting heroin can also result in overdose, especially if a nontolerant user ingests a large amount of potent heroin and/or combines it with other depressant drugs, such as alcohol. Symptoms of a heroin overdose include slow and shallow breathing, convulsions, coma, and possibly death. To avoid fatal overdose, it is strongly recommended that people who use heroin (and their peers and loved ones) be trained to administer naloxone, an overdose reversal drug that has been approved by the FDA since 1971.

The use of dirty or shared needles when injecting heroin can spread deadly infectious diseases, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and C viruses. Injecting drugs and/or sharing needles can contribute to other diseases and conditions that may be serious or even life threatening, including endocarditis, embolism or blood clots, botulism, tetanus, and flesh-eating bacteria. Finally, injecting may cause abscesses (a painful skin inflammation) that, in turn, may result in blood poisoning.

Codeine is a weak derivative of opium and is most commonly used in cough medicine and milder pain medicine. It is less addictive than morphine or heroin.

Methadone is a synthetic opiate developed during World War II in Germany. It is considered to be more addictive than heroin and is used to block the withdrawal symptoms of heroin. Methadone may be taken orally or injected. Methadone acts as an opiate agonist that has a series of actions similar to those of heroin and other medications derived from the opium poppy. Methadone is used to reduce and even eliminate heroin use by stabilizing people struggling with addiction for as long as is necessary to help them avoid returning to previous patterns of drug use. It prevents the physical cravings for the drug. Methadone maintenance treatment has been documented in hundreds of scientific studies to reduce crime, death, disease, and drug use. Compared to the other major drug treatment modalities—drug-free outpatient treatment, therapeutic communities, and chemical dependency treatment—methadone is the most rigorously studied and has yielded the best results. There are more than 115,000 methadone maintenance patients in the United States, including 40,000 in New York state and 20,000 in California. It is also now being used in the treatment of severe, prolonged pain in cancer patients.

A strong mental dependency can occur, which creates an overpowering compulsion to continue taking the drug. Tolerance develops, so the dosage must be continually increased in order to obtain the initial effect. Physical dependency will occur with increased dosage and continued use.

Tolerance to and physical dependence on the opioids and synthetic narcotics develop rapidly. Therapeutic doses taken regularly over a 2–3 day period can lead to some tolerance and dependence and the user may show symptoms of withdrawal when the drug is discontinued. Opioid drugs induce cross-tolerance. Abusers may substitute one drug for another.

Marijuana use is widespread in the United States and is commonly used in the form of a cigarette. Recently, synthetic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is an active ingredient of marijuana, has become available for research and chemical use. Some controversy exists whether THC is available on the street for drug dealers and users. As of 2014, the sale and possession of marijuana is legal for both medical and nonmedical use in two states, Colorado and Washington. Nineteen other states have laws legalizing marijuana in some form.

Cocaine use and the development of addictive behavior have continued to increase in the United States. The smoking of “freebase” cocaine (crack) has become popular. This requires the conversion of the hydrochloride salt to the more combustible form. A flame is held to the material and the smoke inhaled. The speed of onset is quicker and the intensity of the high is magnified. Because this process uses flammable liquids, there have been serious explosions and burns.

When snorted, procaine produces sensations not unlike cocaine and may even produce a high. Powered procaine is widely used to cut cocaine and is occasionally mixed with mannitol or lactose and sold as cocaine. It is sometimes called “synthetic cocaine”.

Treatment of acute cocaine intoxication is generally unnecessary because of the extremely short action of the drug. If an overdose requires intervention, Schedule IV barbiturates may be used. However, the difficulty in breathing that accompanies cocaine intoxication can be worsened with the use of sedatives. Discontinuing the use of cocaine requires considerable assistance and the depression that may occur requires close supervision and treatment.

Psychic dependence on hallucinogens varies greatly but usually is not intense. There is no evidence of physical dependence when the drugs are abruptly withdrawn. LSD users can develop a high degree of tolerance but it disappears quickly (3 days to a week). Individuals who are tolerant to any one of these drugs are cross-tolerant to the others. The greatest dangers to the user are psychological effects and impaired judgment. Some persons, particularly those who are repeated users of the hallucinogens, especially LSD, may experience drug effects after discontinued use. These effects are commonly referred to as “flashbacks”, which usually consist of visual illusions. Flashbacks can be brought on by use of marijuana, alcohol, or barbiturates; by stress or fatigue; or they may occur without apparent reason. What produces flashbacks is not known, but they tend to decrease in frequency over a period of 6 months to one year.

Prescription drugs are much more readily available than illegal drugs. Everyone probably knows someone who has unused medication in their home. Patients can go from doctor to doctor obtaining prescriptions from each one, and some unscrupulous doctors function as little more than pill dispensers. Prescription drugs can be also be obtained over the internet, sometimes without prescription or identification.

The most commonly abused prescription medications include the following:

Used in the prescribed manner, these drugs are unlikely to cause addiction. However, when they are used incorrectly over an extended period of time, tolerance, dependency, and addiction can develop quickly.

When a tablet is crushed and then swallowed, snorted, or diluted in water and injected, the time-release mechanism is destroyed and the user gets the full effects immediately. For example, some have said the effect of OxyContin used in this way is similar to heroin.

Some over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are also used in large, potentially dangerous doses to produce a high. The most commonly misused OTC drugs are cough and cold remedies containing dextromethorphan.

The role of security in addressing the problem of alcohol and drug abuse in the workplace should remain consistent and similar to other policies and procedures. Security personnel are best suited to provide information, gather intelligence, and conduct observation concerning alcohol and/or drug use on company property. In particular, security officers who are stationed at or near parking lots can provide a significant amount of information concerning:

Additionally, employee informants may often confide in a security officer if they know their identity will remain anonymous. Any information received by a security officer either through his or her own observations or from an informant must be treated confidentially and sensitively. Speculation, rumor, and innuendo are often stated as fact so as to embarrass or discredit an employee or the security officer reporting the information. Security personnel should always document reports of drug or alcohol activity at the workplace and report the same to their supervisor. Security personnel may be asked to serve as a witness for a supervisor who suspects an employee may be engaged in drug or alcohol use on company property.

It should be the responsibility of the security department to properly recover, record, identify, secure, and store the evidence of suspected alcohol or drug activity. Plastic, self-sealing envelopes can often be purchased from a local supplier or law enforcement agency.

Security can provide a valuable service, in conjunction with the human resources department, by providing and/or coordinating the training of all supervisors and security personnel about drug awareness and the procedures that are to be followed when an employee is suspected of drug or alcohol use at work. Local law enforcement agencies are usually an excellent resource in providing some basic training and indoctrination of drug awareness to management personnel. These presentations will often allow the participants to view firsthand what a particular drug looks like and smells like when used. Educating the entire workforce to the problems associated with alcohol and drug abuse is a key role that security can provide for any organization.

Often, to accurately detect whether or not a drug problem exists within an organization, undercover investigators are employed to obtain and gather information. Security officers would normally never be informed that an undercover investigator is being used. Naturally, if a security officer would suspect that a person is an undercover investigator, this suspicion should never be discussed with anyone for fear of endangering the person’s safety.

Security personnel should be primarily concerned with alcohol and drug abuse by employees at the workplace. Security personnel are best suited to provide information, gather intelligence, and conduct observation concerning alcohol and/or drug abuse on company property. Any information received by a security officer concerning possible alcohol or drug-related activity at work should never be discussed with anyone other than the officer’s immediate supervisor.

Advanced Safety Devices (www.safety-devices.com/blood-alcohol-content).