ABSTRACT
Many drugs and chemicals have potentially harmful/fatal effects if taken in sufficient quantity. The drugs which cause most ill health are nicotine (and the hundreds of other toxins in cigarettes) and alcohol (Fogarty & LingfordHughes, 2004). However, these are relatively socially acceptable drugs, and usually cause insidious rather than sudden changes in health. Deliberate overdoses are usually impulsive, so use easily accessed drugs such as mild analgesics (e.g. aspirin, paracetamol and co-proxamol). This chapter focuses on drugs that more often precipitate crises:
■ tricyclic antidepressants ■ paracetamol ■ cocaine ■ ‘Ecstasy’ (MDMA).
