Drugs: What You Should Know


These days, drugs can be found everywhere, and it may seem like
everyone's doing them. Lots of people are tempted by the excitement or
escape that drugs seem to offer.

But learning the facts about drugs can help you see the risks of
chasing this excitement or escape. Here's what you need to know.

The Deal on Substances



Thanks to medical and drug research, there are thousands of drugs
that help people. Antibiotics and vaccines have revolutionized the
treatment of infections. Medicines can lower blood pressure, treat diabetes,
and reduce the body's rejection of new organs. Medicines can cure,
slow, or prevent disease, helping us to lead healthier and happier
lives. But there are also lots of illegal, harmful drugs that people
take to help them feel good or have a good time.



How do drugs work? Drugs are chemicals or substances that change the
way our bodies work. When you put them into your body (often by
swallowing, inhaling, or injecting them), drugs find their way into your
bloodstream and are transported to parts of your body, such as your
brain. In the brain, drugs may either intensify or dull your senses,
alter your sense of alertness, and sometimes decrease physical pain.

A drug may be helpful or harmful. The effects of drugs can vary
depending upon the kind of drug taken, how much is taken, how often it
is used, how quickly it gets to the brain, and what other drugs, food,
or substances are taken at the same time. Effects can also vary based on
the differences in body size, shape, and chemistry.

Although substances can feel good at first, they can ultimately do a
lot of harm to the body and brain. Drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco,
taking illegal drugs, and sniffing glue can all cause serious damage to
the human body. Some drugs severely impair a person's ability to make
healthy choices and decisions. Teens who drink, for example, are more
likely to get involved in dangerous situations, such as driving under
the influence or having unprotected sex.Why People Take Drugs



And just as there are many kinds of drugs available, there are as
many reasons for trying them or starting to use them regularly. People
take drugs just for the pleasure they believe they can bring. Often it's
because someone tried to convince them that drugs would make them feel
good or that they'd have a better time if they took them.

Some teens believe drugs will help them think better, be more
popular, stay more active, or become better athletes. Others are simply
curious and figure one try won't hurt. Others want to fit in. A few use
drugs to gain attention from their parents.

Many teens use drugs because they're depressed
or think drugs will help them escape their problems. The truth is,
drugs don't solve problems — they simply hide feelings and problems.
When a drug wears off, the feelings and problems remain, or become
worse. Drugs can ruin every aspect of a person's life.

Here are the facts on some of the more common drugs.

Alcohol



The oldest and most widely used drug in the world, alcohol is a depressant that alters perceptions, emotions, and senses.

How It's Used: Alcohol is a liquid that is drunk.

Effects & Dangers:

• Alcohol first acts as a stimulant, and then it makes people feel relaxed and a bit sleepy.
  
• High doses of alcohol seriously affect judgment and coordination.
  Drinkers may have slurred speech, confusion, depression, short-term
  memory loss, and slow reaction times.
  
• Large volumes of alcohol drunk in a short period of time may cause alcohol poisoning.
  

Addictiveness: Teens who use alcohol can become psychologically dependent upon it to feel good, deal with life, or handle stress.
In addition, their bodies may demand more and more to achieve the same
kind of high experienced in the beginning. Some teens are also at risk
of becoming physically addicted to alcohol. Withdrawal from alcohol can
be painful and even life threatening. Symptoms range from shaking,
sweating, nausea, anxiety, and depression to hallucinations, fever, and
convulsions.Amphetamines



Amphetamines are stimulants that accelerate functions in the brain
and body. They come in pills or tablets. Prescription diet pills also
fall into this category of drugs.

Street Names: speed, uppers, dexies, bennies

How They're Used: Amphetamines are swallowed, inhaled, or injected.

Effects & Dangers:

• Swallowed or snorted, these drugs hit users with a fast high, making them feel powerful, alert, and energized.
  
• Uppers pump up heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure, and they
  can also cause sweating, shaking, headaches, sleeplessness, and blurred
  vision.
  
• Prolonged use may cause hallucinations and intense paranoia.
  

Addictiveness: Amphetamines are psychologically
addictive. Users who stop report that they experience various mood
problems such as aggression, anxiety, and intense cravings for the drugs.Cocaine and Crack



Cocaine is a white crystalline powder made from the dried leaves of
the coca plant. Crack, named for its crackle when heated, is made from
cocaine. It looks like white or tan pellets.

Street Names for Cocaine: coke, snow, blow, nose candy, white, big C

Street Names for Crack: freebase, rock

How They're Used: Cocaine is inhaled through the nose or injected. Crack is smoked.

Effects & Dangers:

• Cocaine is a stimulant that rocks the central nervous system, giving
  users a quick, intense feeling of power and energy. Snorting highs last
  between 15 and 30 minutes; smoking highs last between 5 and 10 minutes.
  
• Cocaine also elevates heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and body temperature.
  
• Injecting cocaine can give you hepatitis or AIDS if you share needles with other users. Snorting can also put a hole inside the lining of your nose.
  
• First-time users — even teens — of both cocaine and crack can stop
  breathing or have fatal heart attacks. Using either of these drugs even
  one time can kill you.
  

Addictiveness: These drugs are highly addictive, and
as a result, the drug, not the user, calls the shots. Even after one
use, cocaine and crack can create both physical and psychological
cravings that make it very, very difficult for users to stop.Cough and Cold Medicines (DXM)



Several over-the-counter cough and cold medicines contain the
ingredient dextromethorphan (also called DXM). If taken in large
quantities, these over-the-counter medicines can cause hallucinations,
loss of motor control, and "out-of-body" (or disassociative) sensations.

Street Names: triple C, candy, C-C-C, dex, DM, drex, red devils, robo, rojo, skittles, tussin, velvet, vitamin D

How They're Used: Cough and cold medicines, which
come in tablets, capsules, gel caps, and lozenges as well as syrups, are
swallowed. DXM is often extracted from cough and cold medicines, put
into powder form, and snorted.

Effects & Dangers:

• Small doses help suppress coughing, but larger doses can cause
  fever, confusion, impaired judgment, blurred vision, dizziness,
  paranoia, excessive sweating, slurred speech, nausea, vomiting,
  abdominal pain, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, headache,
  lethargy, numbness of fingers and toes, redness of face, dry and itchy
  skin, loss of consciousness, seizures, brain damage, and even death.
  
• Sometimes users mistakenly take cough syrups that contain other
  medications in addition to dextromethorphan. High doses of these other
  medications can cause serious injury or death.
  

Addictiveness: People who use cough and cold
medicines and DXM regularly to get high can become psychologically
dependent upon them (meaning they like the feeling so much they can't
stop, even though they aren't physically addicted)

Depressants



Depressants, such as tranquilizers and barbiturates, calm nerves and
relax muscles. Many are legally available by prescription (such as
Valium and Xanax) and are bright-colored capsules or tablets.

Street Names: downers, goof balls, barbs, ludes

How They're Used: Depressants are swallowed.

Effects & Dangers:

• When used as prescribed by a doctor and taken at the correct dosage,
  depressants can help people feel calm and reduce angry feelings.
  
• Larger doses can cause confusion, slurred speech, lack of coordination, and tremors.
  
• Very large doses can cause a person to stop breathing and result in death.
  
• Depressants and alcohol should never be mixed — this combination greatly increases the risk of overdose and death.
  

Addictiveness: Depressants can cause both psychological and physical dependence.Ecstasy (MDMA)



This is a designer drug created by underground chemists. It comes in
powder, tablet, or capsule form. Ecstasy is a popular club drug among
teens because it is widely available at raves, dance clubs, and
concerts.

Street Names: XTC, X, Adam, E, Roll

How It's Used: Ecstasy is swallowed or sometimes snorted.

Effects & Dangers:

• This drug combines a hallucinogenic with a stimulant effect, making all emotions, both negative and positive, much more intense.
  
• Users feel a tingly skin sensation and an increased heart rate.
  
• Ecstasy can also cause dry mouth, cramps, blurred vision, chills, sweating, and nausea.
  
• Sometimes users clench their jaws while using. They may chew on something (like a pacifier) to relieve this symptom.
  
• Many users also experience depression, paranoia, anxiety, and
  confusion. There is some concern that these effects on the brain and
  emotion can become permanent with chronic use of ecstasy.
  
• Ecstasy also raises the temperature of the body. This increase can sometimes cause organ damage or even death.
  

Addictiveness: Although the physical addictiveness
of Ecstasy is unknown, teens who use it can become psychologically
dependent upon it to feel good, deal with life, or handle stress
GHB



GHB, which stands for gamma hydroxybutyrate, is often made in home
basement labs, usually in the form of a liquid with no odor or color. It
has gained popularity at dance clubs and raves and is a popular
alternative to Ecstasy for some teens and young adults. The number of
people brought to emergency departments because of GHB side effects is
quickly rising in the United States. And according to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA), since 1995 GHB has killed more users than
Ecstasy.

Street Names: Liquid Ecstasy, G, Georgia Home Boy

How It's Used: When in liquid or powder form (mixed in water), GHB is drunk; in tablet form it is swallowed.

Effects & Dangers:

• GHB is a depressant drug that can cause both euphoric (high) and hallucinogenic effects.
  
• The drug has several dangerous side effects, including severe nausea, breathing problems, decreased heart rate, and seizures.
  
• GHB has been used for date rape because it is colorless and odorless and easy to slip into drinks.
  
• At high doses, users can lose consciousness within minutes. It's
  also easy to overdose: There is only a small difference between the dose
  used to get high and the amount that can cause an overdose.
  
• Overdosing GHB requires emergency care in a hospital right away.
  Within an hour GHB overdose can cause coma and stop someone's breathing,
  resulting in death.
  
• GHB (even at lower doses) mixed with alcohol is very dangerous — using it even once can kill you.
  

Addictiveness: When users come off GHB they may have
withdrawal symptoms such as insomnia and anxiety. Teens may also become
dependent upon it to feel good, deal with life, or handle stress.Heroin



Heroin comes from the dried milk of the opium poppy, which is also
used to create the class of painkillers called narcotics — medicines
like codeine and morphine. Heroin can range from a white to dark brown
powder to a sticky, tar-like substance.

Street Names: horse, smack, Big H, junk

How It's Used: Heroin is injected, smoked, or inhaled (if it is pure).

Effects & Dangers:

• Heroin gives you a burst of euphoric (high) feelings, especially if
  it's injected. This high is often followed by drowsiness, nausea,
  stomach cramps, and vomiting.
  
• Users feel the need to take more heroin as soon as possible just to feel good again.
  
• With long-term use, heroin ravages the body. It is associated with
  chronic constipation, dry skin, scarred veins, and breathing problems.
  
• Users who inject heroin often have collapsed veins and put
  themselves at risk of getting deadly infections such as HIV, hepatitis B
  or C, and bacterial endocarditis (inflammation of the lining of the
  heart) if they share needles with other users.
  

Addictiveness: Heroin is extremely addictive and
easy to overdose on (which can cause death). Withdrawal is intense and
symptoms include insomnia, vomiting, and muscle pain.Inhalants



Inhalants are substances that are sniffed or "huffed" to give the
user an immediate rush or high. They include household products like
glues, paint thinners, dry cleaning fluids, gasoline, felt-tip marker
fluid, correction fluid, hair spray, aerosol deodorants, and spray
paint.

How It's Used: Inhalants are breathed in directly
from the original container (sniffing or snorting), from a plastic bag
(bagging), or by holding an inhalant-soaked rag in the mouth (huffing).

Effects & Dangers:

• Inhalants make you feel giddy and confused, as if you were drunk. Long-time users get headaches, nosebleeds, and may suffer loss of hearing and sense of smell.
  
• Inhalants are the most likely of abused substances to cause severe
  toxic reaction and death. Using inhalants, even one time, can kill you.
  

Addictiveness: Inhalants can be very addictive.
Teens who use inhalants can become psychologically dependent upon them
to feel good, deal with life, or handle stress.

Ketamine



Ketamine hydrochloride is a quick-acting anesthetic that is legally
used in both humans (as a sedative for minor surgery) and animals (as a
tranquilizer). At high doses, it causes intoxication and hallucinations
similar to LSD.

Street Names: K, Special K, vitamin K, bump, cat Valium

How It's Used: Ketamine usually comes in powder that
users snort. Users often do it along with other drugs such as Ecstasy
(called kitty flipping) or cocaine or sprinkle it on marijuana blunts.

Effects & Dangers:

• Users may become delirious, hallucinate, and lose their sense of
  time and reality. The trip — also called K-hole — that results from
  ketamine use lasts up to 2 hours.
  
• Users may become nauseated or vomit, become delirious, and have problems with thinking or memory.
  
• At higher doses, ketamine causes movement problems, body numbness, and slowed breathing.
  
• Overdosing on ketamine can stop you from breathing — and kill you.
  

Addictiveness: Teens who use it can become psychologically dependent upon it to feel good, deal with life, or handle stress.LSD



LSD (which stands for lysergic acid diethylamide) is a lab-brewed
hallucinogen and mood-changing chemical. LSD is odorless, colorless, and
tasteless.

Street Names: acid, blotter, doses, microdots

How It's Used: LSD is licked or sucked off small
squares of blotting paper. Capsules and liquid forms are swallowed.
Paper squares containing acid may be decorated with cute cartoon
characters or colorful designs.

Effects & Dangers:

• Hallucinations occur within 30 to 90 minutes of dropping acid.
  People say their senses are intensified and distorted — they see colors
  or hear sounds with other delusions such as melting walls and a loss of
  any sense of time. But effects are unpredictable, depending on how much
  LSD is taken and the user.
  
• Once you go on an acid trip, you can't get off until the drug is
  finished with you — at times up to about 12 hours or even longer!
  
• Bad trips may cause panic attacks, confusion, depression, and frightening delusions.
  
• Physical risks include sleeplessness, mangled speech, convulsions, increased heart rate, and coma.
  
• Users often have flashbacks in which they feel some of the effects of LSD at a later time without having used the drug again.
  

Addictiveness: Teens who use it can become psychologically dependent upon it to feel good, deal with life, or handle stress.Marijuana



The most widely used illegal drug in the United States, marijuana
resembles green, brown, or gray dried parsley with stems or seeds. A
stronger form of marijuana called hashish (hash) looks like brown or
black cakes or balls. Marijuana is often called a gateway drug because
frequent use can lead to the use of stronger drugs.

Street Names: pot, weed, blunts, chronic, grass, reefer, herb, ganja

How It's Used: Marijuana is usually smoked — rolled
in papers like a cigarette (joints), or in hollowed-out cigars (blunts),
pipes (bowls), or water pipes (bongs). Some people mix it into foods or
brew it as a tea.

Effects & Dangers:

• Marijuana can affect mood and coordination. Users may experience
  mood swings that range from stimulated or happy to drowsy or depressed.
  
• Marijuana also elevates heart rate and blood pressure. Some people
  get red eyes and feel very sleepy or hungry. The drug can also make some
  people paranoid or cause them to hallucinate.
  
• Marijuana is as tough on the lungs as cigarettes — steady smokers suffer coughs, wheezing, and frequent colds.
  

Addictiveness: Teens who use marijuana can become
psychologically dependent upon it to feel good, deal with life, or
handle stress. In addition, their bodies may demand more and more
marijuana to achieve the same kind of high experienced in the beginning.Methamphetamine



Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant.

Street Names: crank, meth, speed, crystal, chalk, fire, glass, crypto, ice

How It's Used: It can be swallowed, snorted, injected, or smoked.

Effects & Dangers:

• Users feel a euphoric rush from methamphetamine, particularly if it
  is smoked or shot up. But they can develop tolerance quickly — and will
  use more meth for longer periods of time, resulting in sleeplessness,
  paranoia, and hallucinations.
  
• Users sometimes have intense delusions such as believing that there are insects crawling under their skin.
  
• Prolonged use may result in violent, aggressive behavior, psychosis, and brain damage.
  
• The chemicals used to make methamphetamine can also be dangerous to both people and the environment.
  

Addictiveness: Methamphetamine is highly addictive.Nicotine



Nicotine is a highly addictive stimulant found in tobacco. This drug is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream when smoked.

How It's Used: Nicotine is typically smoked in cigarettes or cigars. Some people put a pinch of tobacco (called chewing or smokeless tobacco) into their mouths and absorb nicotine through the lining of their mouths.

Effects & Dangers:

• Physical effects include rapid heartbeat, increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, and a greater likelihood of colds and flu.
  
• Nicotine users have an increased risk for lung and heart disease and stroke. Smokers also have bad breath and yellowed teeth. Chewing tobacco users may suffer from cancers of the mouth and neck.
  
• Withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, anger, restlessness, and insomnia.
  

Addictiveness: Nicotine is as addictive as heroin or
cocaine, which makes it extremely difficult to quit. Those who start
smoking before the age of 21 have the hardest time breaking the habit.Rohypnol



Rohypnol (pronounced: ro-hip-nol) is a low-cost,
increasingly popular drug. Because it often comes in presealed bubble
packs, many teens think that the drug is safe.

Street Names: roofies, roach, forget-me pill, date rape drug

How It's Used: This drug is swallowed, sometimes with alcohol or other drugs.

Effects & Dangers:

• Rohypnol is a prescription antianxiety medication that is 10 times more powerful than Valium.
  
• It can cause the blood pressure to drop, as well as cause memory loss, drowsiness, dizziness, and an upset stomach.
  
• Though it's part of the depressant family of drugs, it causes some people to be overly excited or aggressive.
  
• Rohypnol has received a lot of attention because of its association
  with date rape. Many teen girls and women report having been raped after
  having rohypnol slipped into their drinks. The drug also causes
  "anterograde amnesia." This means it's hard to remember what happened
  while on the drug, like a blackout. Because of this it can be hard to
  give important details if a young woman wants to report the rape.
  

Addictiveness: Users can become physically addicted to rohypnol, so it can cause extreme withdrawal symptoms when users stop.

Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: July 2008
Originally reviewed by: Michele Van Vranken, MD