Substance Abuse

2007
• ketamine is the commonest type of psychotropic substance abused by young drug abusers (80.2%)
• follwed by ectasy (21.3%), ice (13.6%), cannabis (11.9%) & cocaine (11.8%)

Commonly abused drugs

Category	Names	Street Names/Slang
Narcotics 麻醉鎮痛劑	Codeine	高甸、咳水
	Dipipanone	囉囉攣、可待因、紅色菲仕通
	Heroin	海洛英、白粉、粉、灰
	- No. 3 heroin	三號仔、砂仔
	- No. 4 heroin	四號仔、四哥、四仔
	- mehadone	美沙酮、老美
	- Physeptone	菲仕通、帆船仔
	- Morphine	嗎啡針
	- Opium	鴉片、福壽膏
Psychedelics 迷幻劑	Cannabis 大麻	grass, pot, joint, bush, weed
	- Marijuana (dried leave)	草
	- Hashish	大麻精
	- Hash oil	大麻油
	Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)	迷幻藥、方糖、郵票、Micropill、黑芝麻
	Phencyclidine (PCP)	天使塵、angel dust, hog, peace pill, horse tranquilizer
Amphetamines 安非他命、大力丸、speed, uppers, Bennies, black beauties, copilots, dexies, eye openers, lid proppers, pep pills wake-ups	Methylamphetamine	冰
	Methylene-dioxy-methylamphetamine (MDMA)	fing 頭、狂喜、派對丸仔、E仔、EVE, ectasy, designer's drug
Cocaine 可卡因、可可精、C, coke, flake, snow, stardust	Crack-cocaine	Crack, 霹靂、可樂
Benzodiazepines	Brotizolam (Lendormin)	屋仔、二拾蚊、13A
	Bromazepam (Lexotan)	寧神定
	Clonazepam	白天使
	Chlordiazepoxide (Librium)	綠豆仔、利眠寧
	Diazepam (Valium)	羅氏二、五、十號
	Estazolam	舒樂安定
	Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol 1mg)	十字架 (細十、縮水)
	Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol 2mg)	十字架 (大十)
	Midazolam (Dormicum)	羅氏藍精靈、大藍
	Nimetazepam	五仔、黃飛鴻
	Nitrazepam (Mogadon)	睡覺幫、笑哈哈、魔鬼黨
	Triazolam (Halcion)	藍瓜子、藍精靈、細藍
	Z drugs
	Zolpiclone	白瓜子、憶夢返
	Zolpidem	唑吡呾、思諾施
Ketamine		K仔
Cough Mixture		MB, 咳水、B仔
Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB)		迷姦水、X水、G水
Dextromethorphan (Romila)		O仔
Organic Solvents		天拿水、打火機油、飛機膠、膠水、gas, glue

Drug Testing

• can be done with urine, blood, hair & other body fluid samples
  • Urine test kits (quick test kits) are available in HK
    • easy, convenient & fast screening test
    • provides qualitative testing with visual colour change
    • the window of detection is 1-3 days
    • price ~$10 per drug tested
    • multiple drug test kit can detect multiple drugs at the same time eg. cocaine, amphetamine, methaphmine, marijuana (THC), etc
    • common tricks used by test subjects
      • adding bleach or soap to the urine sample
      • dilute the specimen with water
      • swap samples with drug-free people
      • releasing drug-free urine from a fluid-filled bulb (placed under the arm with a tube leding to the pelvis near genitalia) into the container
      • concealing a plastic tube filled with drug-free urine in vagina, unscrewing cap, & "urinating" into container
      • puncturing the specimen container with a pin, thus allowing the urine to leak slowly during transportation
  • Blood test
    • most accurate confirmation test
    • most costly (~$2000)
    • the window of detection is within 24 hrs
    • generally accepted in court proceedings
  • Oral fluid & hair samples could also be used for drug testing but they are only available overseas
• Objectives
  • Monitoring & deterrence
    • drug testing as a form of monitoring underlines the need to enquire into the more private areas of a person's life, & in doing so, reduced the likelihood of drug abuse
  • Early intervention
    • helps identifying drug abusers early so that they could be motivated & guided towards early counselling & treatment
  • Preventing drug abuse
    • one can use potential testing as an excuse to refuse drugs when approached by peer
    • helps to create a culture of disapproval towards drugs eg. schools
  • Crime investigation & prevention
  
  
  

  Family Physicians Links 8/2009