Ask Pat

These two things are completely different. The "morning after pill" (better called emergency contraception pill) can be used up to 72 hours after an episode of unprotected/underprotected intercourse. They are used as an emergency backup to prevent pregnancy, and they work by preventing fertilization and/or implantation of a fertilized egg. For this reason, emergency contraceptive pills are not considered to be abortion pills. These are offered at Hartshorn Health Service, and the cost is about $25. The "abortion pill" actually involves several medications, exams, and ultrasounds and can be an option for abortion instead of the medical abortion procedure. The cost tends to be far greater for the "pill" abortion than the medical procedure, and it is far more complex in terms of exams, etc. The cost for this type of abortion is about $1000 or more, and the usual procedure is about $400 or so. These are not offered at Hartshorn Health Service

It is in the class of drugs known as benzodiazepenes which include Valium, Halcion, Xanax and versed. It is not approved for prescription use in the United States, although it is approved in Europe and is used in more than 60 countries as a treatment for insomnia, as a sedative, and as a presurgery anesthetic. It (and the others) can be very addictive and habit-forming. The drug can cause profound "anterograde amnesia;" that is, individuals may not remember events they experienced while under the effects of the drug.

An article in the December 2000 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine confirmed that cloves are significantly more toxic than traditional American cigarettes. In this report, one clove produced 3 times as much nicotine and carbon monoxide and 5 times as much tar as a regular cigarette. Areas where cloves have long been smoked have the highest rates of oral cancer in the world. For centuries now, the clove, cheaply made from inferior ingredients, has been the cigarette of choice for those in poverty in India. Called "the poor man's cigarette," the clove is made from the flakes and dust of dark tobacco leaves. Smoking cloves has been independently proven to cause: Cancer of the tongue (International Journal Cancer, 1989; 44(4):617-621) Cancer of the gums (British Journal of Cancer, 1989; 60:638-643) Cancer of the floor of the mouth (International Journal Cancer, 1989; 44(4):617-621) Other squamous cell oral cancers (Indian Journal of Cancer, 1997; 34:49-58) Cancer of the larynx (International Journal of Cancer, 1990;45:879-882) Cancer of the esophagus (International Journal of Cancer ,1991; 49:485-489) Lung cancer (Thorax, 1982; 37:343-347) High blood pressure (Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, 1995; 43:253-258) Coronary heart disease (Indian Heart Journal, 1989; 41:62-65) Each clove cigarette is loaded with cancer-causing, chromosome-damaging, genetic poisons, far more than are found in a regular cigarette. "The safe alternative" also contains two to three times the tar and nicotine of regular cigarettes. In a chilling experiment, smoke from regular cigarettes and cloves was given to Swiss albino mice. Clove smoke reliably caused cancer in doses small enough that the regular cigarette smoke left the mice apparently healthy (Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 1988; 114:647-649). When smoked during adolescence, cloves hasten the closure of the growth plates in the long bones--stopping them from ever reaching their full height. Those who smoke as few as two cloves daily for as little as 2.5 years have been proven to end up significantly shorter than their peers (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1980; 34:295-298). If you have additional information, that I may have overlooked, on cloves I would be glad to post it. Please send me the "new info." and the sources that you received your information from.

The use of any hallucinogen (and too a lesser degree, pot) involves "set," i.e. mind-set, mood, emotional state and "setting," the environment and/ or people with whom one is tripping at the time. The combination of set and setting in conjunction with the effects of the drug produce the kind of trip one has, good or bad. People do experience psychotic breaks from reality in a bad trip and this can be extremely traumatic with long-term and lingering after effects. A good trip can be very euphoric and transcendent in comparison. Which you'll get is again, dependent on set, setting, the drug and certain amount of luck and randomness. Messing with your neurotransmitters at this profound level should not be undertaking lightly, if at all.

The danger with nitrous is not breathing enough oxygen while breathing the gas. Nitrous is an anesthetic gas that can make one unconscious, or at least disoriented so that one loses good judgement. There is an odd complication of prolonged use similar to a vitamin B12 deficiency. Use can also lead to a destruction of nerve fibers. This can include weakness, tingling sensations, or loss of feeling. Tolerance to nitrous can develop and euphoric properties diminish with repeated usage. Test of intellectual function with inhalant abusers show that they have problems with memory, attention, and concentration. Use can also damage heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and blood.

Psilocybin's careful ritual use by native peoples has evolved into college students' recreational mushroom use. This experience is generally viewed as a milder and shorter LSD-like experience. At low doses, psilocybin causes simple feelings of relaxation, physical heaviness or lightness, and some perceptual distortions (especially visual). At higher doses, more physical sensations occur, including lightheadedness, numbness of the tongue, lips, or mouth, shivering, or sweating nausea, and anxiety. There is probably almost as much misinformation about mushrooms as there is about LSD. The most common mushrooms used in the U.S. contain psilocin and psilocybin. Psilocybin is distributed both in dried mushrooms and as white powder. A typical dose is four to ten milligrams, or two to four mushrooms. Hallucinogenic mushrooms present an identification problem. It takes an educated and practiced eye to identify any mushrooms in the field, and this is always a dangerous proposition. Many mushrooms' species contain toxins that are extremely dangerous or lethal. The identity of dried mushrooms can be very difficult to establish.

Addiction depends on so many different things. It is the repetitive, compulsive use of a substance that occurs despite negative consequences to the user. A person can be considered addicted when they've lost control of use when they must continue to pursue whatever pattern of use they have set. For some this might come from injecting heroin, drinking alcohol, snorting cocaine, or drinking enough cough syrup. There isn't one drug that stands alone for its potential to cause addiction. Addiction depends on so many different factors in one's life family history, personality, environment and life experience. Any drug has the potential for addiction.

Drugs can become deadly when combined. Clearly the most dangerous drugs to mix with alcohol are other sedatives, including antihistamines found in some cold medicines. Anti-anxiety medications may cause severe drowsiness with alcohol. In combination with antibiotics they can cause nausea, vomiting, headache, or even convulsions. Also, alcohol increases the sedative effects of some antidepressants, which impairs both physical and mental skills. As for women, oral contraceptives slow down the rate at which alcohol is eliminated from the body. A woman on the pill can therefore expect to feel the sedating effects of alcohol for a longer period than a woman who is not on the pill. As with all medication it is advised that you consult with your provider.

"D" is LSD or PCP, "Smack" is heroin, and "blow" refers to inhaling cocaine or to smoking marijuana. Pat was unable to find "Jugie boogie boy", although "juggle" is to sell drugs to another addict to support a habit and a "juggler" is a teenage street dealer. "Booger" is cocaine (in the Florida keys), "boogered up" is to be high on cocaine, and "boy" is heroin. Hope this helps. The definitions would most likely depend on the context of the play.

This question is hard to answer since most soft drinks are carbonated. There is no evidence that dissolving LSD in a pill form causes a soda to bubble. Usually LSD is packaged on blotter paper or a sugar cube, although it can appear in pill form.

This is sort of like asking if strychnine is worse than arsenic. They're both bad for you, especially in excess but in different ways. Both can have a profound impact on brain function and neurochemistry.

I would suspect the latter, or that you have a particularly low tolerance to, or even mild allergy of alcohol. Clearly your body is saying it doesn't like the aftereffects. Try drinking fewer quantities by interspersing non-alcoholic drinks between alcoholic. Drinking on a full stomach (of food), and drinking some water before going to bed should help too. The only proven remedy to a hangover however is time: it takes about 1 and 1/2 hours to process a single drink.

Depends on the amount drunk, over what span of time, weight, gender and general health. As a general rule it takes about 1 and 1/2 hours to process a single drink so, if one were to drink 10 shots over a 5 hour period, it would still be detectable for at least 10 hours after the person quit drinking. Nothing speeds up this process and it can take longer, especially if being tested through the urine since it takes up to several hours more to collect in the bladder.

Through the kidneys (urine), skin (sweat), lungs (breath) and digestive system (feces) in that order. I'm not sure what the percentages are, but the vast majority would be through the kidneys after the alcohol has been processed and detoxified by the liver. Alcohol is a diuretic which is why people urinate more during and after drinking.

Most people get a little flushed or pinkish from drinking because alcohol causes the skin's capillaries to open up, bringing blood to the surface. This is also why you feel warm or hot when you drink. For some Asian people there is a phenomenon called "flushing" which is a mild to severe allergic reaction to alcohol, caused by an inadequate amount of alcohol dehydrogenase, the enzyme produced by the liver that breaks down alcohol. People who experience flushing are more impacted by a given amount of alcohol than the norm and are at greater risk for alcohol-induced problems.