Security Guards may encounter individuals under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They need to be aware of the signs of substance abuse as well as the impact of different drugs on human behaviour (e.g. suspect going through withdrawal) in order to deal with these individuals in a manner that will you and the suspect safe.

ADDICTIONS

Addictions are, or can become, mental illness when an addict’s craving for a drug or pleasurable activity is uncontrollable. The necessity to have whatever it is that the addict craves prevents him or her from living a normal life. An addiction often leads to lack of mental balance even when it does not cause any apparent physical damage. Two of the possible types of addictions are singled out for discussion on the following pages.

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

Alcohol is itself a drug, but it is discussed separately because, although addiction to alcohol has some features in common with addiction to other drugs, alcoholism is a particularly common disorder. Abuse of/and addiction to drugs is a growing problem in modern society. There are many dangerous drugs available both legally and illegally in Canada.

Laxatives and weight loss medications

Another issue to note is the prevalence of drugs and their interactions with psychological addictions. People suffering from Bulimia, Anorexia, and other eating disorders may use drugs to assist with purging food from their system or as a method of weight loss. This is especially prevalent among young persons, more specifically young girls of high school and college ages. Security personnel should be knowledgeable of laxative medications and weight loss diet pills, especially in areas young people frequent.

Alcoholism

People who become addicted to alcohol usually begin to drink heavily to relieve personal, business, and/or social stress. Since they generally find the relief they are looking for, even though only temporarily and at the cost of occasional hangovers, they gradually begin to drink whenever they feel tense. The more they drink the less tension they can tolerate without alcohol. You can consider yourself an alcoholic, or in danger of becoming one, if you have reached a point where you need to drink not only to relieve tension but also to make yourself feel normal. The illness and resulting disability are severe and require immediate treatment if uncontrollable drinking has begun to affect your health and interfere with your personal and work life.

Some people can drink more, and more often, than others before reaching this stage. This difference depends in part on your physical tolerance for alcohol. The shift from social drinking to alcoholism can happen almost imperceptibly over many years, or it can occur with dramatic rapidity. Drinking habits, too, vary widely. Some alcoholics are binge drinkers who go on one to several day sprees with dry or non-drinking periods in between. Others drink constantly and are never quite sober. Some drink only wine, or gin, or beer, while others will drink anything alcoholic.

It is virtually impossible to generalize about what causes addiction to alcohol and how alcoholism develops. It is usually true, however, that people in the early stages of alcoholism can tolerate greater amounts of alcohol without showing symptoms of the disorder than they can in the later stages.

Of all problems, probably the most frequent are those where the use of alcohol is involved. Alcoholism is a disease. It requires medical treatment. It is most likely to occur in people who for some reason have not fully developed emotionally.

All over the country, treatment centres for alcoholics have sprung up, and much good is being done by organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.).

How do you as a Security Guard handle such a situation? You can be tough or careless or easy, thoughtful, understanding, polite or careful and conscious of the welfare of the person you are trying to assist.  Obviously, no rules can be laid down which govern every situation, but sensible application often will ensure proper handling of such cases. Learn the facts and make use of mature judgment rather than blind application of the rules. The methods of dealing with intoxicated persons are the same as those for disturbed and depressed people.

Alcohol poisoning

Alcohol and other Ethanol based liquids are Central Nervous System depressants. When an individual consumes too much, their blood pressure becomes too saturated with alcohol that it causes immediate and dangerous effects, the severity of which is determined by factors such as metabolic rate, weight, eating habits, and hydration levels. Serious medical issues or even death can occur through accidents involving coordination problems, asphyxiation through vomiting and also through lack of muscle control.

Drug Addiction

People begin to take drugs for one of two reasons. Either the drugs are prescribed by a physician to treat some physical or mental disorder, or they provide a pleasurable effect such as the warm carefree drowsiness induced by heroin, or even the mild alertness produced by the caffeine in coffee, tea or cola. Whether or not a given drug is addictive varies considerably, not only from drug to drug, but also from person to person. Mildly addictive drugs such as codeine, together with such drugs as cannabis (marijuana) or cocaine are commonly known as “soft” or “hard” drugs.

Anyone who is addicted to a hard drug must take it in gradually increasing doses, both to maintain the pleasurable effects of the drug and to keep from breaking down physically and emotionally. This is called building up tolerance to the drug. If the addict’s need for the drug is not satisfied, unpleasant physical and psychological effects called withdrawal symptoms will result. In some cases the withdrawal symptoms can be harmful, or even fatal, and withdrawal from the drug should be medically supervised.

The laws provide heavy penalties for those convicted of illegal use, possession or sale of drugs. The need for these laws is based on the fact that the use of drugs is likely to lead first to habituation, then to tolerance, and finally to dependence.

It may be well to define these three terms:

(a) Habituation. The tendency to become mentally dependent upon a drug so that a person believes he cannot get along without it. However, no physical symptoms or ill effects result when he/she can no longer have the drug.

(b) Tolerance. The fact that larger and larger amounts of the drug must be taken to produce the desired mental/physical effect.

(c) Dependence. A state when the body has become so dependent upon the drug that when the drug is withdrawn the person suffers agonies and there are symptoms such as vomiting and profuse sweating. When dependence is severe, sudden withdrawal of the drug may even result in death.

The handling of persons under the influence of drugs is similar to that of a disturbed or depressed person. It must be remembered that drug users too, like alcoholics, are mentally and physically sick.

DRUGS AND THEIR EFFECTS

A drug can be defined as any non-nutritional chemical substance that can be absorbed into the body. The word “drug” is commonly used to mean either a medicine or something taken (usually voluntarily by means of inhalation, injection, or absorbed through the skin), to produce a temporary effect. Sometimes, the two categories overlap. Morphine may be prescribed as a medical treatment for relief of pain. Self administered by an otherwise healthy person, it gives a temporary sense of well-being. Some drugs, including morphine and nicotine, are addictive (or more accurately the caffeine that they provide may be addictive) and are also capable of harming some people.

There are essentially three categories of drugs commonly dealt with by security personnel while working: Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Drugs, and Inhalants and Alternative Substances.

Narcotic substances

Narcotic Drugs include several types of illicit substances including substances that have particularly addictive qualities that present a serious risk of abuse. These include, but are not limited to cannabis and its derivatives, cocaine, heroin, methadone, morphine, and opium. This category also includes substances normally used for medical purposes but which may also have addictive properties and likelihood for abuse including codeine, dihydrocodeine and propiram (opoid analgesics).

Psychotropic substances

Psychotropic Substances include those substances which pose a high risk of abuse, posing a particularly serious threat to public health and which are of very little or no therapeutic value. These include dangerous drugs such as LSD, MDMA, mescaline, psilocybine, tetrahydrocannabinol, amphetamines and amphetamine-type stimulants, barbiturates including amobarbital, bupreorphine, tranquillizers, analgesics, and narcotics including allobarbital, diazepam, lorazepam, Phenobarbital, and temazepam. Alcohol can also be considered a psychotropic drug as it has psychoactive effects on the user.

Inhalants and alternative substances

Another category of drugs includes both Psychotropic and Narcotic substances, but the user is obtaining these substances through alternative means. People using Inhalants and other Alternative substances to become intoxicated tend to be people who do not have access to other drugs or alcohol, such as children, teenagers, incarcerated and marginalized individuals. Inhalants are substances that give off poisonous vapors that can be inhaled such as organic solvents (cleaning products, adhesives, nail polish removers), fuels (in many cases these are used for medical purposes, such as a dentist using nitrous oxide on patients requiring surgery). Many common aerosol products contain substances with psychotropic and narcotic effects that can be consumed or altered to provide access to the drugs.  Inhalant users inhale vapor or aerosol propellant gases using plastic bags held over the mouth or by breathing from a solvent-soaked rag or an open container. Effects can include alcohol-like intoxication and hallucinations, and can also result in serious medical problems such as hypoxia, pneumonia, and cardiovascular problems resulting from the substance abuse because the dosage and potency is not designed for human consumption. Other consumables contain substances such as ethanol based liquids and stimulant decongestants that can be ingested to obtain the desired level of intoxication.

The following is a list that outlines some of the more commonly found products that are often associated with intoxication:

• Mouthwash
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Hand Sanitizers
• Cooking Wines
• Paint Thinners
• Aerosol Based Paints
• Industrial Adhesives and Glues
• Dimenhydrinate (Anti-nauseates)
• Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride (Decongestant)

MDMA / Ecstasy

MDMA is taken orally, usually in a tablet or a capsule. When ecstasy is taken by mouth, the effects manifest in about 30-45 minutes. MDMA’s effect last approximately 3 to 6 hours. It can produce a significant increase in heart rate and blood pressure and a sense of alertness like that associated with amphetamine use. The stimulant effects of MDMA may also lead to dehydration, hypertension, and heart or kidney failure. Psychological difficulties due to ecstasy include confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia – during and sometimes weeks after taking MDMA. Physical symptoms due to ecstasy include muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movement, faintness, and chills or sweating.

MDMA can be extremely dangerous in high doses. It can cause a marked increase in body temperature (malignant hyperthermia) leading to the muscle breakdown and kidney and cardiovascular system failure reported in some fatal cases at raves. MDMA use may also lead to heart attacks, strokes, and seizures in some users.  The characteristics and warning signs of an overdose include:

• Feeling hot or unwell
• Becoming confused, not able to talk properly
• Headache
• Vomiting
• Not Sweating
• Racing heart or pulse when resting
• Fainting or collapsing
• Loss of control over body movements
• Tremors
• Problems urinating
• High blood pressure
• Muscle cramping
• Seizures
• Panic attacks
• Loss of consciousness
• Permanent damage to brain
• Death

Cocaine

The symptoms of a cocaine overdose are intense and generally short in nature. Although fairly uncommon, people do die from cocaine overdose. The exact amount of cocaine that causes an overdose varies from person to person and is dependent on a variety of factors including weight, metabolism, and the overall health of the victim. Cocaine is often ‘cut’, meaning it is diluted with another substance such as baby powder or lactose. This increases the risk of overdose, since the purity of cocaine is difficult to determine. An overdose from cocaine can cause a serious increase in blood pressure, which as a result, bleeding in the brain occurs leading to higher possibility of a stroke. A cocaine overdose can also cause heart and respiratory problems resulting in death.

Paraphernalia

Several tools are sometimes required to use drugs in an effective manner. On sites where guards work, there may be items or products that can be used as tools as they can sometimes poison or injure the guard when handling this type of evidence, or potentially cause harm to another person who comes across it. Guards should use caution when conducting surveillance of certain items on sites such as syringes, metal piping, heavy-duty lighters, and tin foil as these products are often used by addicts to further their addiction.

Treatment information

If you are with someone who is overdosing on drugs and/or alcohol, and they start to experience a bad trip or become nervous, anxious and panicky, take them away from the lights and noise and sit with them in a quieter area. Chat to them, calm them down and give them support. If things are getting worse send a friend to get help. First Aid treatment is necessary in the case of an overdose. Follow these steps:

1. Call for Paramedics
2. Call your supervisor for assistance
3. Make sure the area around the victim is clear of people and has adequate ventilation
4. Attempt to determine what drug(s) the victim has consumed, and at what time and quantity they were consumed. Speak with friends and family who may be on site.
5. Attempt to determine if they have any existing medical conditions or allergies to medication.
6. Attempt to obtain contact information for their next of kin or immediate family.

Apply First Aid/CPR as required. Try to stabilize them until paramedics arrive. Assist the paramedics upon their arrival as required.