Other Illegal Drugs

Ecstasy

What is Ecstasy?

Ecstasy is a hallucinogenic amphetamine, it is a recreational drug that's widely used in many countered. Ecstasy is popular as a companion at parties and nightclubs because it produces a combination of heightened arousal, mellowing effects, and enhanced self- and group-consciousness. The drug is illegal. It has been associated with a rise in body temperature usually resulting in acute dehydration. This is important since dancing for hours without enough breaks and water is pretty common while on ecstasy.

Studies have shown that ecstasy uses serotonin, a chemical in the brain that affects your moods, so that after the initial high,one may feel tired, depressed, or moody. The human body will eventually produce more serotonin, but it may take some time to get it back to normal level. So, after a weekend of heavy partying, one may have trouble getting out of bed.

Heavy use has been linked to speed-like symptoms of paranoia, and in some cases, liver damage and heart attacks. Heavy administration of the drug has produced neurological damage in rats and monkeys.

Cocaine

What is Cocaine?

Cocaine is a stimulant drug and a naturally occurring anesthetic. When the drug interrupts the neurotransmitter balance in the central nervous system the effect of cocaine become present. The initial effects of cocaine are pleasant and include increased confidence, a willingness to work, greater motivation, increased libido, and a euphoric rush or high. At the same time cocaine raises blood pressure, increases heart rate, causes rapid breathing, tenses muscles, and causes the jitter. Overtime, people may get paranoid, anxious, and confused, and may hallucinate, become insomniac, agitated, and depressed.

The physical effects of coke are the same as any other stimulant drug – except that the first rush is more intense. The problems with cocaine come from doing too much, its mixture with other drugs and the crash after binge use. Usually after a night of snorting cocaine the user crashes, sleeping all day long, trying to put energy back into the body.

Cocaine use can easily slide into abuse. This can occur shortly after one's first cocaine experience. The brain's pleasure center that cocaine short-circuits makes it use a mighty hard habit to quit, even with the side effects of chronic nasal irritation, nosebleeds, paranoia, and bank account depletion.

Heroin

What is heroin?

Heroin is a narcotic derivative of morphine, a common painkilling sedative. Heroin is potent and fast-acting, producing a pleasant sick feeling and indifference to pain. For many heroin users, pleasure seeking and pain reduction can become an all-consuming way of life, and the reason to live. Addiction to herone is not cheap to overcome, and is extremely difficult to break.

Effects of heroin are nausea and constipation. The nausea will hit before the high. To relieve constipation, users often rely on laxatives as well.

"Managing" heroin use can become impossible as a constant craving for this very powerful drug become stronger and more difficult to resist.

GHB

What is GHB?

GHB (Gamma hydroxybutyrate), street-named "Grievous Bodily Harm," was developed to be used as a surgical anesthetic. The sometimes unpredictable effects of GHB vary from one person to the next, along with is potential to cause memory loss, vertigo, reduced heart rate, seizeures, respiratory failure, and even coma. GHB seems to be particularly dangerous when mixed with alcohol.