20 The Encyclopedia of Addictive Drugs
For information about specific depressants not listed among the following
classes, see alphabetical listings for:alcohol,chloral hydrate,ethchlorvynol,
GHB, glutethimide, ketamine, mandrake, meprobamate, methaqualone,
PCP,pentazocine,zaleplon, andzolpidem.Barbiturate Class
Barbiturates were introduced into medical practice during the early 1900s,
for combating insomnia, anxiety, and seizures. Despite occasional flurries of
concern, not until the 1960s did much alarm grow about barbiturates in the
United States. Members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee began portraying the
drug class as a menace in the 1970s, and afterward stricter controls were put
on use.
Barbiturates and alcohol have similar effects. If someone intoxicated by al-
cohol takes barbiturates, the drunkenness will deepen as if more alcohol had
been swallowed. Pharmaceutical effects of alcohol alone can kill a person who
overdoses, and adding barbiturates can transform a session of social drinking
into a fatal one. More than one person has died by taking barbiturate sleeping
pills with alcohol instead of water.
The similarity of alcohol and barbiturates is also shown by the appearance
of a serious withdrawal syndrome called delirium tremens in alcohol and
barbiturate abusers who are cut off from their drug. Lesser withdrawal symp-
toms for both drugs may include perspiring and vomiting. Barbiturate with-
drawal may involve dizziness, tremors, fidgety behavior, edgy feelings, and
insomnia. Even with strict medical supervision, withdrawal can be fatal. Tol-
erance can develop. More details can be found in alphabetical entries for spe-
cific barbiturates.
A person using barbiturates should take the same precautions as a person
using alcohol, for example, using care about running dangerous machinery
such as automobiles.
Barbiturates can cause reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the arm, a disease
in which a hand loses bone density and becomes painful and difficult to move.
This class of drugs may also cause a syndrome that produces pain in the
shoulder and hand, interfering with their movement. Extended dosage with
barbiturates may cause rickets, a disease in which bones soften. One of the
most dangerous effects of barbiturate overdose is temporary stoppage of elec-
trical activity in the brain, which could lead to premature declaration of a
patient’s death, particularly if the patient is being treated for some injury
without caregivers knowing about the person’s barbiturate usage.
This class of substances may interfere with blood thinner medicine, with
birth control pills, and with other female hormone medications. Barbiturates
may extend the time that an MAOI dose lasts.
In animal experiments barbiturates have encouraged the development of
cancer.
When used by pregnant women, barbiturates can cause birth defects rang-
ing from internal organ deformities to malformations of the face. If a pregnant
woman uses barbiturates regularly, her offspring may be born resonant with