The Classification of

Drugs
Vinz Reginald O. Pangilinan, R. Crim, MSCJ (In Progress)
4th Placer, December 2017 Criminologist Licensure Exam
Instructor, SPCF-College of Criminology
• Herbal
• Over-the-Counter
• Prescription
• Unrecognized
• Illicit Drugs
• Tobacco
• Alcohol

General Categories of
Drugs
• Is the use of plants to prevent and
treat an illness, or to achieve good
health, as well as the drugs and
tinctures that are used.
• It is the oldest and still the most
widely used system in the world
today.

Herbal Drugs
•

Herbal Drugs
• Are drugs that are sold directly to a
consumer without a prescription from
a healthcare professional.

Over the Counter Drugs

Over-the-Counter Drugs
• Is a type of drug that legally requires a
medical prescription to be dispensed.
• The reason for such is the potential
scope of misuse from drug abuse and
to those who use the drug without
sufficient medication.

Prescription Drugs
• Refers to any variety of substance
which are prohibited by certain laws
whether locally or international.
• Substances are deemed illicit mostly
because they are addictive or
associated with dangerous side effects
as well as its negative implication to
the society.

Illicit Drugs
•

Illicit Drugs
• Are commercial products that have
psychoactive effects but are not usually
considered drugs.
• These substances are not generally
regulated by law except insofar as
standards of sanitation and purity are
required.
• Some examples include coffee, tea, soft
drinks, energy drinks etc.

Unrecognized Drugs
Unrecognized Drugs
• A beverage which consists of a mixture of ethyl
alcohol and water with a small amount of congeners
which is responsible for its peculiar taste, odor and
psychoactive effect.
• The traditional method of creating alcoholic
beverages is through the process called
“fermentation”. In this process the ingredients for the
beverage combined with sugar is left out to decay in
a container for a period of time thereby creating yeast
cells which cause the decay of the sugar molecules,
these yeast cells are responsible for the formation of
alcohol.

Alcohol
• In other varieties of alcoholic beverages like
liquors, the process of manufacturing is in the
form of distillation. This process involves the
heating of a container with raw materials until it
reaches boiling temperature, the vapor is then
transferred to a special apparatus, cooled until it
condenses to liquid form thus creating the
alcoholic beverage.
• A 0.10% alcoholic content in the blood of the
person renders the latter intoxicated.

Alcohol
Alcohol
• Is a product that is processed from the
tobacco plant. It contains nicotine which
acts as a powerful stimulant of the central
nervous system.
• A drop of pure nicotine when injected
would easily kill a person, its usual effects
include increased salvation, heart rate,
blood pressure and respiration

Tobacco
Tobacco
MAJOR CLASSIFICATION OF
DRUGS
Grouping different drugs according to their
effects and mechanisms
• These are drugs that affect the nervous
system causing it to relax.
• These drugs suppresses vital body
functions and impairs judgment.
• These drugs are used to relieve
emotional instability and anxiety.

Depressants (Downers)
• Narcotics
• Barbiturates
• Tranquilizers
• Solvents/Inhalants
• Alcohol

Depressants (Downers)
• Refers to any drug which produces
insensibility, stupor, melancholy or
dullness of mind with delusion and which
may be habit forming.

Narcotics
• Drugs that affect the central
nervous system causing sleep.

Barbiturates
• Volatile liquids that give off vapor, which
is inhaled producing short-term excitement
and euphoric, followed by a period of
disorientation.
• Its effects include nausea, sneezing,
coughing, nosebleeds, fatigue, and lack of
coordination and loss of appetite.

Solvents/Inhalants
• Fermented or distilled liquids or drug
containing ethanol and intoxicating
substances.

Alcohol
• A group of chemical substances that generally
speed up central nervous system function,
resulting in alertness and excitability.
• These are drugs which tend to arouse the
central nervous system, curbing hunger and
making the user awake. Its immediate effects
include elevated blood pressure, increase in
heartbeat and body temperature and dilated
pupils of the eye.

Stimulants
• Cocaine
• Methamphetamine/Amphetamine
• Caffeine
• Nicotine

Stimulants
• A natural stimulant derived from
the plant Erythroxylon Coca.

Cocaine
 • A man-made drug which imitates the
nature and effects of Cocaine.

Methamphetamine/Amphetamine
• An addictive substance usually
obtained from cigarette
smoking.

Nicotine
• Sometimes known as “all arounders” and
“mind expanders”. These drugs affect a
person’s perception, awareness and emotions
and can also cause hallucinations as well as
illusions.
• The effect of hallucinogens varies, but a sense
of distance and estrangement is common to
users. Loss of perception of time, muscular
coordination worsens, speech becomes
incoherent and blocked.

Hallucinogen/Psychedelics
• Marijuana
• Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
• Ecstasy
• PCP, Psilocybin mushroom and
Peyote

Common types of
Hallucinogens
MOST COMMONLY ABUSED
DRUGS
NARCOTICS
• Obtained from a female poppy plant known as
“Papaver Somniferum” which was known to be
first cultivated in Mesopotamia in 3400 B.C
• An analgesic and euphoriant drug acquired from
the dried juice of the opium poppy.
• The widespread use of Opium as a medicine
began in 2nd Century A.D when Claudius Galen a
Greek physician and surgeon used the boiled
poppy juice as a treatment for painful joints, a
surgery anesthetic, inflammations to the womb
and some varieties of respiratory diseases.

Opium
• The practice of smoking Opium was introduced to
Europe and Asia in 17th and 18th Centuries. By this
time, Opium had become widespread across much of
the world.
• Largely outlawed, the production of Opium has
significantly decreased around the world, despite an
increasing demand. Opium is still being produced in
Afghanistan which is currently the largest producer
of such drug, while smaller percentage of the
manufacturers come from Pakistan, the Golden
Triangle, Colombia and Mexico.

Opium
• In the cultivation of Opium, the skin of the
ripening pods of a particular type of poppy are
slashed by a sharp blade. The slashed poppy
exude a white, milky latex which dries to a stick
brown resin that is scraped off the pods as raw
Opium.
• When administered, the opiods affect the
receptors in the brain, spinal cord, stomach and
intestine. The user is in the state of euphoria or a
false sense of well-being followed by drowsiness,
nausea and vomiting.

Opium
Opium
• In 1813 Friedrich Wilhelm Serturner first isolated a
yellowish white substance in a raw opium that turned out
to be its primary active ingredient.
• In the scientific community, morphine was recognized as
a major medical drug and is used by the soldiers during
the American Civil War. After the civil war, morphine
dependence as so wide among veterans and the condition
was called “soldier’s disease”
• Morphine is used primarily as an anesthetic in performing
surgeries.
• An overdose of this drug may result to shallow and slow
breathing, convulsion, coma and death mostly due to
cardiac arrythmaia

Morphine
Morphine
• An Opium derivative which was introduced into
the market in 1898 and used as a pain killer,
cough suppressant and to relieve respiratory
ailments like pneumonia and tuberculosis.
• Its effect is five times more powerful than
morphine, it brings the user in a state of
drowsiness, euphoria and delirium.
• Its long term effects include bradycardia, shallow
breathing and respiratory depression.
• It is consumed by snorting, injection and
inhalation.

Heroin
Heroin
• A derivative of opium which is used to
treat coughing
• Common adverse effects associated with
the use of codeine include drowsiness and
constipation. Less common are itching,
nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, urinary
retention, euphoria, and coughing.

Codeine
Codeine
STIMULANTS
• Derived from small leaves of the shrub of the Coca Plant.
• An extremely potent and dependence-producing stimulant
drug, derived from the coca leaf.
• It is grown in the high-altitude rain forests and fields that
run along the slopes of the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes
in South America.
• Ancient Inca records indicate that coca chewing for
giving increased strength and stamina to workers who
labored in this harsh mountainous environment.
• The most profound effect of cocaine is a powerful burst
of energy. Users experience a general sense of well-being,
although in some instances the drug may precipitate a
panic attack.

Cocaine
• In addition to the powerful bursts of energy, heart rate is
increased, while appetite is diminished. Blood vessels
constrict. These powerful effects could lead to a cerebral
hemorrhage or cardiac arrest.
• When administered trans-dermally, cocaine has the ability
to block the transmission of nerve impulses on the area of
application, thus providing a legitimate application in
medicine.
• Chronic effects of Cocaine may directly damage the brain
including hallucinations, paranoia and disordered
thinking.

Cocaine
Cocaine
 • This family of stimulant drugs is based from a synthetic
chemical named ephedrine.
• This type of stimulant is used to treat asthma and serves as an
appetite suppressor.
• Blue collar laborers use this drug to stay awake and energetic
during long periods of time.
• When administered, users are unable to sleep and may develop
high fever which may result to dehydration.
• Chronic abuse of the drug may lead to periodic hallucinations,
dry mouth and ulcers.
• Overdose of this drug will bring about cerebral excitation, in
worst cases it would lead to respiratory paralysis, coma and
eventually death.

Amphetamine/Methamphetamine
Amphetamine/Methamphetamine
• Was discovered in Japan in 1919. this crystalline powder is
soluble in water making it an ideal drug for injection, in fact it
was as stimulants for soldiers during World War 2.
• It was introduced in the Philippines in the mid 1980s and has
gained popularity not only in urban subcultures but as well as
propagating the rural communities with devastating impact.
• It is usually consumed by injection, snorting and inhalation.
• Its acute effects include alertness and amplified euphoria.
Chronic effects include severe weight loss, fatal lung and
kidney disorders, aggressive behavior and long lasting
psychological problems manifested by paranoia and
hallucinations.

Shabu
Shabu
HALLUCINOGENS
• A mind altering substance produced from Cannabis Sativa
Linne.
• The primary biologically active chemical compound in
cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly referred to as
THC. It has psychoactive and physiological effects when
consumed, usually by smoking, injection or sniffing.
• As the user administers the drug, there is sharpness of senses
as well as diminished sense of focus, hallucinations, increased
heart rate, risk of stroke, decrease in sexual function and
decrease in immune system.
• Its chronic effects include decrease in memory function,
respiratory problems and schizophrenia.

Marijuana
• Ganja- The leaves and flowering tops of female plants.
• Hashish or Charas: a concentrated resin composed of glandular
trichomes and vegetative debris has been physically extracted,
usually by rubbing, sifting or with ice.
• Kief- the chopped flowering tops of female cannabis plants often
mixed with tobacco; sifted cannabis trichomes consisting of only the
glandular “heads”.
• Bhang: A beverage prepared by grinding cannabis leaves in milk and
boiling with spices and other ingredients
• Hash oil: an oily mixture resulting from chemical extraction or
distillation of the THC rich parts of the plant.
• Budder: Hash oil whipped to incorporate air, making it more like
butter.

Several Forms of Marijuana

Marijuana
• It was first synthesized in Germany in 1912 as an appetite
depressant by the pharmaceutical company named Merck.
• During the 1970s psychiatrists and psychologists used the drug
as treatment for emotional and psychological disorders.
• In its purest form, it is in the form of crystalline white powder
with mustic odor.
• It is commonly in tablet for capsule or powder. Its effects
include increase in energy levels, a state of euphoria, distorted
perception of time, increased levels of sexuality and sexual
arousal, elevated alertness and increased energy and focus
• Those who use the drug may experience depression, loss of
appetite, dilated pupils, loss of concentration, tension and
trembling of eyes, headaches, leg and back pains, lack of
initiative and motivation, exhaustion, grinding of the teeth,
anxiety of confusion, reckless behavior and hallucinations. For
chronic use of the drug, it may lead to brain damage and death
by cardiac arrest.

Ecstasy (MDMA)
Ecstasy (MDMA)
• Was introduced in the United States in 1949 as an
experimental drug to treat a variety of psychological
illnesses, but later on concluded that it has no medical
value.
• Its effects include visual hallucinations, amplification of
sounds and smells, distorted sense of time and
depersonalization.
• LSD is 1000 times more powerful than marijuana as
supply, large enough for a trip can be taken from the glue
on the flab of an envelope, from the face of a postage
stamp or from the hidden area inside one’s clothes.

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

Lysergic Acid
Diethylamide