Drug abuse is a very common problem in most countries so it seemed
like a good topic for a list. This is a list of ten of the most abused
drugs and the effects they have on people.
1. Heroin
Heroin is an opiate processed directly from the extracts of the opium
poppy. It was originally created to help cure people of addiction to
morphine. Upon crossing the blood-brain barrier, which occurs soon
after introduction of the drug into the bloodstream, heroin is converted
into morphine, which mimics the action of endorphins, creating a sense
of well-being; the characteristic euphoria has been described as an
“orgasm” centered in the gut. One of the most common methods of heroin
use is via intravenous injection.
For the last 4 months, my partner and I have been
recreationally using heroin. H became our weekend ritual. Lighting
candles, playing music, brie and wine and grapes, reading tarot and
finally fucking… for hours on end, the most intense beautiful
technicolor sex. Each time we did it we got closer to each other. And
each time we did it, we wanted to do it again, and again. We tried
saying we’d only do it once every two weeks, but that lasted 6 days. We
have rules about how much we do in one night, how late we stay up and so
on. So far the rules have kept us safe from addiction. Unless you
consider the nagging i-don’t-wanna-go-a-weekend-or-have-sex-without-it
feelings. We’ve never run out, although, once we were down to our last
little bit and I left the vial open on the night stand. I was reaching
for the lube when I heard the most sickening sound, the vial falling
over. Turns out, I was mistaken, I had remembered to put the cap back
on. But in those few seconds of uncertainty, my girl and I shot each
other a look we had never seen before.. Fear.
2. Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the
leaves of the coca plant. It is both a stimulant of the central nervous
system and an appetite suppressant, giving rise to what has been
described as a euphoric sense of happiness and increased energy. It is
most often used recreationally for this effect. Cocaine is a potent
central nervous system stimulant. Its effects can last from 20 minutes
to several hours, depending upon the dosage of cocaine taken, purity,
and method of administration. The initial signs of stimulation are
hyperactivity, restlessness, increased blood pressure, increased heart
rate and euphoria. The euphoria is sometimes followed by feelings of
discomfort and depression and a craving to experience the drug again.
Sexual interest and pleasure can be amplified. Side effects can include
twitching, paranoia, and impotence, which usually increases with
frequent usage.
The cocaine arrived and we agreed to use it at a time
that translated to three and a half hours after I arrived. It cost $60
for what I was told was an eighth of a gram. This seemed rather
expensive, but I was assured that it was ‘high quality product.’ I took
the line up my left nostril. After about ninety seconds, I felt my
heartbeat increase. It was definitely kicking in. I began to worry a
bit, as I could feel my heart pounding and my pulse increasing. I
finally felt as if it had reached a plateau. My heartbeat became level,
albeit still very high. Many people say that one feels euphoria – being
invincible and/or the desire to clean the house. I did not feel either
of these (and I did remember to think about these things). For me, the
positive effects of cocaine came directly from knowing that I had
reached a plateau and I was going to be fine. I felt invigorated, yet
also very comfortable.
One of the best
treatment for drug addiction is to consult with cocaine rehab centers for recovery.
3. Methamphetamine
Methamphetamime, popularly shortened to meth or ice, is a
psychostimulant and sympathomimetic drug. Methamphetamine enters the
brain and triggers a cascading release of norepinephrine, dopamine and
serotonin. Since it stimulates the mesolimbic reward pathway, causing
euphoria and excitement, it is prone to abuse and addiction. Users may
become obsessed or perform repetitive tasks such as cleaning,
hand-washing, or assembling and disassembling objects. Withdrawal is
characterized by excessive sleeping, eating and depression-like
symptoms, often accompanied by anxiety and drug-craving.
We first smoked meth on New Year’s Eve because we heard
it was great for sex. I had to work the next day and so saved some to
smoke before work in the morning. When I got home another g was waiting
for me and I smoked every day but one until I finally quit
three months later. For three weeks we smoked meth with little
consequence, then my skin became fragile and in addition to breaking
out, started to swell. I was really worried because I was constantly
thirsty and drinking water, but I rarely urinated. Then my kidneys
started hurting. I had lost twenty pounds in two months and my husband
had lost thirty, and we’d read somewhere that rapid weight loss can
cause kidney failure. I slept every three or four days for an hour or
so and woke feeling rested. I was an hour late for work everyday. My
husband wrecked the truck three times. One day I forgot to feed my son.
Everything was either the highest of highs or the lowest of lows, no in
between existed anymore. We were banned from the sauna at our apartment
complex because no one else could use it. Our sweat smelled so strongly
of ammonia it burned the eyes, it was caustic, and it burned our skin
too. My husband and I haven’t done any drugs at all for four weeks, and
things are slowly going back to normal. But I still want it. I can’t
sleep tonight because I want it. I wrote this in all honesty mostly to
help myself, to remind myself why I don’t want it. And still I want it.
4. Crack Cocaine
Crack cocaine, often nicknamed “crack”, is believed to have been
created and made popular during the early 1980s . Because of the dangers
for manufacturers of using ether to produce pure freebase cocaine,
producers began to omit the step of removing the freebase precipitate
from the ammonia mixture. Typically, filtration processes are also
omitted. Baking soda is now most often used as a base rather than
ammonia for reasons of lowered odor and toxicity; however, any weak base
can be used to make crack cocaine. When commonly “cooked” the ratio is
1:1 to 2:3 parts cocaine/bicarbonate.
As I held the smoke in for a ten count and exhaled, I
thought I felt nothing except a little excitement that was neither bad
nor pleasurable. The complete rush some writers have called a
‘whole-body orgasm’ hit me shortly after and I distinctly remember
demanding ‘more’ as soon as the realization of heaven-on-earth came.
Some people say that the effects of smoking crack lasts 10-15 minutes.
For me, it was just a shortest instant of gratification. Everything
afterwards was just a great increase in energy and confidence geared
towards obtaining more of the drug.
5. LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, LSD-25, or acid, is a semisynthetic
psychedelic drug of the tryptamine family. Arguably the most regarded of
all psychedelics, it is considered mainly as a recreational drug, an
entheogen, and a tool in use to supplement various types of exercises
for transcendence including in meditation, psychonautics, and illegal
psychedelic psychotherapy whether self administered or not. LSD’s
psychological effects (colloquially called a “trip”) vary greatly from
person to person, depending on factors such as previous experiences,
state of mind and environment, as well as dose strength. They also vary
from one trip to another, and even as time passes during a single trip.
An LSD trip can have long term psychoemotional effects; some users cite
the LSD experience as causing significant changes in their personality
and life perspective. Widely different effects emerge based on what
Leary called set and setting; the “set” being the general mindset of the
user, and the “setting” being the physical and social environment in
which the drug’s effects are experienced.
About ten years ago I bought my third trip from a guy in
my home town Norwich (UK) It was a ‘Strawberry’ and I was told it had
been double dipped. The guy had a reputation for selling good acid so I
happily gave him my cash. I took the single LSD tab in the late morning
in a positive state of mind with no worries or anxieties. I began to
come up on the acid towards the lunch time. It was to be the first and
last time I’d ever trip alone. Outside it was a glorious sunny day but I
was happy enough in my temporary sanctuary to even think about going
outside. The LSD rush started blazing up my spine and racing through my
guts, I felt a little uneasy with it but had enough mind to allow myself
to just go with it and wait until the rush plateaued. I was having a
wonderful time, watching floral Escher type patterns breathing over my
skin. I vaguely recall deciding to go downstairs again for some reason
then the next thing I recall was awakening on the floor of the dining
room alone. The first thing I noticed was that there were blowflies
buzzing around a bowl of catfood on the kitchen floor. I remember
feeling perplexed as to why both flies had two bright neon after images
in red and blue. Somehow I navigated myself through Norwich during the
busy lunchtime shoppers and begun to head in the direction of the city’s
central park ‘Chapelfield gardens’. If you could imagine for a moment
being surrounded by people in a busy place where their heads had been
removed and replaced by Squids and Octopus you might begin to accurately
picture the scene confronting me in the park. Everyone had tentacles
smothering their faces and dangling down their necks like fleshy snake
beards, even the women and children were not exempt from this
disfiguration. In retrospect, it was the worst day of my entire life, It
was the closest I can imagine to having full blown psycosis
6-Ecstasy
Ecstasy (MDMA) is a semisynthetic psychedelic entactogen of the
phenethylamine family that is much less visual with more stimulant like
effects than most all other common “trip” producing psychedelics. It is
considered mainly a recreational drug that’s often used with sex and
associated with club drugs, as an entheogen, and a tool in use to
supplement various types of practices for transcendence including in
meditation, psychonautics, and illicit psychedelic psychotherapy whether
self administered or not. The primary effects of MDMA include an
increased awareness of the senses, feelings of openness, euphoria,
empathy, love,happiness, heightened self-awareness, feeling of mental
clarity and an increased appreciation of music and movement. Tactile
sensations are enhanced for some users, making physical contact with
others more pleasurable. Other side effects, such as jaw clenching and
elevated pulse, are common.
Sitting comfortably in our cosy living room, Café del Mar
and similar CDs playing in the background, we began at 8 pm. I
swallowed one white tablet with water. Over the next hour nothing much
happened except that I found myself talking quite openly and confidently
with the others, moving very easily into interesting conversations.
This was a little unusual for me as I am normally quite shy and overly
self-conscious in social situations and it takes me a while to loosen
up. The next thing I experienced was a striking shift in my visual
perception. I don’t mean a hallucination or a distortion, but a
wonderful step up in the aesthetic quality. For a moment it was like
being in one of those nostalgic TV ads where the world looks all gold
and sepia. ‘Everything’s gone amber!’ I blurted. But then I found that
my vision was becoming beautifully enhanced. It made my normal visual
experience seem like cheap, fuzzy CCTV footage in comparison. Now I was
seeing the world anew in sharp, lush, top-quality Technicolor! I also
began to move in time to the music. The music! Oh, the music! Wow! It
sounded so good, so organic! The uplifted state stayed with me and took a
long time to fade — at least a couple of weeks. It had unleashed in me a
rush of joy that was still accessible when I focused on it weeks later.
7. Opium
Opium is a resinous narcotic formed from the latex released by
lacerating (or “scoring”) the immature seed pods of opium poppies
(Papaver somniferum). It contains up to 16% morphine, an opiate
alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce
heroin for the illegal drug trade. Opium has gradually been superseded
by a variety of purified, semi-synthetic, and synthetic opioids with
progressively stronger effect, and by other general anesthesia. This
process began in 1817, when Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner reported
the isolation of pure morphine from opium after at least thirteen years
of research and a nearly disastrous trial on himself and three boys.
I remember that what I smoked was much easier to smoke
than marijuana. There was no burning in my throat nor in my lungs. I
took a very large, smooth hit. Smoking it like marijuana, I held it in
for about 10 or 15 seconds and let it out. It didn’t taste like
marijuana, I remember the taste being rather faint. It actually tasted
and smelled like incense. I was very surprised to suddenly find myself
on the floor, in the dark, with a crowd of people surrounding me.
Apparently I had fainted and fallen to the ground, but I hadn’t noticed.
The high itself is rather hard to describe. It was much more intense
than marijuana. It felt heavy, like my whole body was being impacted…
but it also felt very clear and refined at the same time. As I made my
way towards the bathroom the drug began to kick in again. My steps kind
of faded away and it felt like I was just floating over to the bathroom.
The scary thing was though, that I was having trouble seeing. My vision
was fading. Distinct figures melted into shadows and everything had a
sparkle to it. All of a sudden, everything felt really good. I
couldn’t stop smiling. Everything was profound in a very positive way,
especially the music since it resonated everywhere. It was a very
abstruse experience. I imagine that I was coming down at this point, an
hour had surely past by because the band was building a climax to end
their first set. I went along with the crowd and made my way outside.
The fresh air was wonderful. The cool air seemed to wrap around my body.
A slight breeze on the back of my neck sent chills that rapidly
multiplied throughout my body.
8. Marijuana
Cannabis, known as marijuana in its herbal form, is a psychoactive
product of the plant Cannabis sativa. Humans have been consuming
cannabis since prehistory, although in the 20th century there was a rise
in its use for recreational, religious or spiritual, and medicinal
purposes. It is estimated that about four percent of the world’s adult
population use cannabis annually. It has psychoactive and physiological
effects when consumed, usually by smoking or ingestion. The minimum
amount of THC required to have a perceptible psychoactive effect is
about 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. The state of
intoxication due to cannabis consumption is colloquially known as a
“high”; it is the state where mental and physical facilities are
noticeably altered due to the consumption of cannabis. Each user
experiences a different high, and the nature of it may vary upon factors
such as potency, dose, chemical composition, method of consumption and
set and setting.
After taking that first hit, and not feeling the effects
within a minute (holding it in for a minute, and then waiting a little
bit after exhaling) I decided, well I better hit this again, harder if I
can. I took just as large of a hit, and again held it in for longer
than a minute. I let my brother know I was really starting to feel
something now and I don’t think I liked it all. It snuck up on me really
bad, and I still had no idea what to expect. I wanted him to be quiet.
Laying down was not helping, so I got back up. I went back to the garage
and tried to explain to everyone ‘I am totally fucked up. This is
scary!’ I was rationalizing everything tremendously, but it was SO
intense! And it was only getting more intense faster! I didn’t know what
to expect, I was sinking within myself, accelerating downward like into
the depths of my own oblivion. I was a novice, I had no idea what to
expect, and the world had become out of synch, the talking of my
brothers, his friend, all ridiculous and extremely annoying. I became
amazingly irritable and wanted them to leave me alone or not talk in my
presence. They did not understand or appreciate my fear, and they began
to get loud again. I ran upstairs to my parents bed and laid down with
some wistful hope that I could wait out this storm.
9. Psilocybin Mushrooms
Psilocybin mushrooms (also called psilocybian mushrooms) are fungi
that contain the psychedelic substances psilocybin and psilocin, and
occasionally other psychoactive tryptamines. There are multiple
colloquial terms for psilocybin mushrooms, the most common being magic
mushrooms or ‘shrooms. When psilocybin is ingested, it is broken down
to produce psilocin, which is responsible for the hallucinogenic
effects. The intoxicating effects of psilocybin-containing mushrooms
typically last anywhere from 3 to 7 hours depending on dosage,
preparation method and personal metabolism. The experience is typically
inwardly oriented, with strong visual and auditory components. Visions
and revelations may be experienced, and the effect can range from
exhilarating to distressing. There can be also a total absence of
effects, even with large doses.
I had acquired about 8 grams of dried mushrooms and some
liquid psilocybin equivalent to another 5 grams of powdered mushrooms. I
swallowed the liquid first, on an empty stomach of course. I could feel
a slight sensation after about 10-15 minutes. Then I added the powder
to some water in a mug and swallowed that also. I then sat by the camp
fire, listening to the wind in the trees while I contemplated what was
about to happen. After about 45-50 minutes I heard a ‘voice’ calling to
me. It wasn’t audible in the normal sense – it came from inside my own
mind! Then I was gone – out of this world. I escaped into what
I perceived to be the outer boundaries of my mind or my imagination.
This placed presented itself as a natural forest with low light. Here I
met the owner of the aforementioned voice – the Mushroom Goddess. She
took the form of a white, strapless, ankle-length dress, standing
side-on from me. For about the next two hours I dialoged with her,
becoming totally bewitched by her charm, her wit, her intelligence, her
knowledge, her unconditional affection for me and her seemingly infinite
perspective. I have come to think of her as my other-worldly
girlfriend.
10. PCP
PCP (Phencyclidine) is a dissociative drug formerly used as an
anesthetic agent, exhibiting hallucinogenic and neurotoxic effects. It
is commonly known as Angel Dust, but is also known as Wet, Sherm,
Sherman Hemsley, Rocket Fuel, Ashy Larry, Shermans Tank, Wack, Halk
Hogan, Ozone, HannaH, Hog, Manitoba Shlimbo, and Embalming Fluid, among
other names. Although the primary psychoactive effects of the drug only
last hours, total elimination from the body is prolonged, typically
extending over weeks. PCP is consumed in a recreational manner by drug
users, mainly in the United States, where the demand is met by illegal
production. It comes in both powder and liquid forms (PCP base dissolved
most often in ether), but typically it is sprayed onto leafy material
such as marijuana, mint, oregano, parsley or Ginger Leaves, and smoked.
PCP has potent effects on the nervous system altering perceptual
functions (hallucinations, delusional ideas, delirium or confused
thinking), motor functions (unsteady gait, loss of coordination, and
disrupted eye movement or nystagmus), and autonomic nervous system
regulation (rapid heart rate, altered temperature regulation). The drug
has been known to alter mood states in an unpredictable fashion causing
some individuals to become detached and others to become animated.
When I was taking the drug, I used very small amounts.
The effect was incredibly pleasant and social, so much so that me and my
friends all used it instead of booze for almost a year. I couldn’t
dance for shit on the stuff (I’d get stumbly and actually fell on my ass
on the dancefloor once) but the physical sensations and mental pictures
were really fun. It is quite different from any psychedelic visuals or
even Ketamine visuals…more like rolling through old film footage. To be
honest, I liked it more than my experiences on Ketamine. PCP can make
one nearly impervious to pain at high doses. Because of this, PCP can
make things seem like a good idea that otherwise wouldn’t (leading to
the stories of people leaping out of windows, etc.) I experienced very
confusing physical reality when really high on it, like being unable to
discern the difference between walking up stairs and down them, or
standing still and walking. This could lead to very unusual behaviour.
Sources: Wikipedia. All experiences are quoted from Erowid.
