INFORMATION ON ALCOHOL AND CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES FMCSA (11)

ALCOHOL’S EFFECTS ON THE BODY Brain: Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination. Heart: Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including: Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of heart muscle Arrhythmias – Irregular heart beat Stroke High blood pressure

Liver: Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including: Steatosis, or fatty liver Alcoholic hepatitis Fibrosis Cirrhosis Pancreas: Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion.

Cancer: Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing certain cancers, including cancers of the: Mouth Esophagus Throat Liver Breast Immune System: Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much.

MARIJUANA Often called pot, grass, reefer, weed, herb, Mary Jane, or MJ—is a greenish- gray mixture of the dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of Cannabis sativa—the hemp plant.

COCAINE Cocaine is a purified extract from the leaves of the Erythroxylum coca bush. This plant grows in the Andes region of South America. Different chemical processes produce the two main forms of cocaine: Powdered cocaine Crack cocaine

OPIATES In simple language the term opiates refers to drugs such as heroin, codeine and morphine, derived from the opium poppy. These drugs do have medicinal benefits, however, many people have abused them resulting in an international epidemic. codeinemorphine There are two different types: synthetic and naturally made

AMPHETAMINES Amphetamine type stimulants encompass some of the most common, well known and used drugs including Ecstasy, Speed and Base, Ice and Methamphetamine. They are synthetic drugs meaning they are not natural and created by processing chemical ingredients.

PHENCYCLIDINE (PCP’s) Phencyclidine (a complex clip of the chemical name 1- (1- phenylcyclohexyl)piperidi ne), commonly initialized as PCP and known as angel dust, KJ (kristal joint), illy, or wet, is a recreational dissociative drug. Formerly used as an anesthetic agent, PCP exhibits hallucinogenic effects. [1]complex clipinitialized dissociative druganesthetichallucinogenic [1]