­Drugs of abuse (narcotics) - variants, symptoms and effects after consumption

Drugs of abuse are a problem which takes effect on bigger and bigger number of people. Unfortunately, there are also kids in this group who are yet more susceptible to the illegal substances. What are then the kinds of drugs and how to recognize whether somebody, especially kids, is under drugs' influence?

What is a drug of abuse?

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  Drug of abuse

  A drug of abuse is a psychoactive substance which affects on the central nervous system. Drugs can be consumed in many ways, e.g., orally, by inhalation (smoking or vaporizing), by sniffing or intravenously by injection. The goal of drugs is to affect upon the functioning of our body physically or/and psychically. There are legal drugs available on the market as alcohol, snuff, cigarettes (they are also dangerous to our health and they have addictive influence), but there are also these worse and illegal ones, as marijuana, ecstasy, heroin, etc.

Classes of drugs

Multitude of illegal substances and their influence upon a human being made the drugs to have been classified into three main groups:

Stimulants

Drugs of this type, as suggested by their name, stimulate our brain and central nervous system. They usually induce psychoactivity, what manifests in every human individually in a bit different way. Some people having taken such drugs can be very aggressive while others just feel superhappy. Young people take them mostly during the parties to get more energy and power to have a good time and dance throughout a night.

Depressants

In contrast to the stimulants, the depressants slow down the brain and nervous system activity. The most popular legal drug of this category is alcohol, while heroin the illegal one. Abuse of depressants may cause hallucinations.

Hallucinogens

Hallucinogens take effect upon the nervous system and severely interfere with the perception of reality. One can hear and see some things which actually don't exist.

Kinds of narcotics

There are really a lot of psycho active substances all over the world, but let's concentrate on the most popular ones. Marijuana, cocaine or heroin are just few of drugs of abuse available on British black market.

Marijuana

Well, this is something like a greenish or brownish tobacco, produced from the dried leaves and flowers of cannabis. There are many variants of marijuana, but generally all are consumed by smoking. The most popular are crashed dried leaves, hashish (small brown flakes or cubes) and, less popular, hashish oil. After consuming a dose of the drug one can relaxed and enjoy one's sharp senses. Overdosing can cause hallucinations. Persons not addicted to marijuana after occasional consumption can feel increased heartbeat, they can also be hungry. People who take this drug very often can suffer both from the impaired intellectual, and even physical performance.

How marijuana works?

The persons smoking usually have bloodshot eyes, increased appetite, often for the sweeties. Other symptoms can be observed as logorrhea, outfits of laughter, a dominant feeling of deeper understanding of the reality. With time, at home there will appear rolling papers (rizla), glass pipes and water pipes, etc.

Cocaine

Cocaine is a white or almost white powder, which is a very strong stimulant. In its pure form it's collected from the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca). The street dealers often mix it with other substances, what adds to the amount for sale and rise in profit as the pure cocaine is usually very expensive. Cocaine is usually consumed by sniffing, but can be taken intravenously.

How cocaine works?

A person, who consumed cocaine, feels euphoria and gets very excited. The people who take it for the first time or rarely can experience increased breath and heartbeat rate, as well as an increase in body temperature. Overdosing or excessive consumption may cause spasms of body, heart attack or stroke.

Not everybody knows that some part of human population is genetically sensitive to cocaine and its consumption may result in a decease. The drug brings about disorders of consciousness and delusions, it may also give rise to arteriosclerosis or a stroke. Continued regular consumption of the drug results in creating a strong psychical dependence. As the bad symptoms fade away the bad mood appears, so the people fondly recall the memory of nice experiences after consumption and often they take the next dose and backslide.

Ecstasy

It belongs to a group of psychoactive stimulants. Most often met in a form of tablets, but also may appear as a powder or encapsulated. Tablets can be met in many assorted shapes and dimensions. Many young people consider ecstasy a safe drug, while, actually, it is not. It can be consumed orally, sometimes intravenously.

How ecstasy works?

The short-term effects after consumption of ecstasy can be neglected as the signals of danger, as they are usually dehydration, dizziness and fatigue. The drug can also interfere with a mechanisms of body-temperature regulation. Ecstasy is able to make severe harm to the body internal organs like liver or kedneys, or cause seizures and heart failure.

An ultimately addicting drug. The pure heroin is a white powder, however, in the forms offered on the streets is usually brownish, as it is mixed with other substances. It's most often taken intravenously, but it is also consumed by inhalating or by sniffing. After consuming people can feel relaxed and happy. Moreover, people can feel detached from their physical or psychical suffering.

The short-term symptoms of heroin consumption are constricted pupils, nausea, vomiting, inability to concentrate one's attention. The long-term effects of the drug consumption provides a serious reflection on one's health. They include loss of weight, damage to the veins or liver. Heroin can also cause irregularities in women's periods or chronic apathy. A sudden withdrawal of the drug in case of an addicted person results in cramping, diarrhea, chills and cold sweat, and even panic attacks.

Hallucinogens

There are a lot of drugs inducing delusional effects all over the world. Most popular are LSD, PCP or psilocibes. Let's focus on the first one.

LSD is a semi-synthetic drug produced of lysergic acid. It's also the strongest drug within a group of hallucinogens. LSD is sold most often in a form of blotters - thin papers saturated with acid, consumed orally by placing beneath a tongue. Sometimes it can be met in a form of tablets or capsules (softgels), or even as a liquid. LSD consumption leads to very strong changes in reasoning and mood. All effects will be different and dependant on a general psychical state of an individual person and its surroundings at the time of consumption.

The short-time effects after LSD consumption include mainly a changed perception of reality, a feeling of depth and time extra-perception. Hearing and touch become more intense. Some people may experience the crazy and frightening thoughts. Physical effects are weaker if compared to psychical ones. Prevailing symptoms include dilated pupils, quicker heartbeat rate , loss of appetite, insomnia, dry mouth.

Methamphetamine

It's a synthetic drug most often produced in the illegal laboratories. It can be offered in a form of powder, tablets or crystals - co called crystal meth. It's consumed usually orally, but also it can be inhalated, taken intravenously, or smoked. Methamphetamine increases a psychical and physical wellbeing, adds to euphoria and joy. People may experience a momentary tide of energy, or don't be hungry or tired. Other short-term effects include an elimination of appetite or faster breathing. Also a heartbeat rate can be increased, as well as blood pressure and body temperature. The long-term consumption results in loss of weight and psychical disorders. Moreover, the abrupt withdrawal may cause an irresistible sleepiness or depression.

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  ­ TESTS FOR THE PRESENCE OF DRUGS OF ABUSETest your child.

DRUGS OF ABUSE AND KIDS

The kids are usually credulous and subject to pressure from their surroundings. Far worse, the dealers are unscrupulous and offer their stuff also to the youngest. Young people don't realize what problems can occur after taking a drug, so they take designer drugs and "legal highs", drink alcohol, or even seek for hard drugs. What are signs and symptoms which can suggest taking drugs? What are you pay attention to?

Physical and health factors:

• pupils larger or smaller than usual, the eyes are bloodshot
• frequent nosebleeds
• change of appetite and sleeping pattern
• sudden increase or loss of weight
• epilepsy seizures
• injuries, bruises that kids cannot explain
• atypical smell from a mouth, body or from clothes
• spasms, seizures, slurred speech, impaired movement coordination

Behavioral factors:

• problems at school
• loss of interest in afterschool activities
• complaints from teachers
• lack of money or personal items of value, stealing or borrowing money
• conflicts in family
• sudden change in relations with friends
• getting into troubles
• use of air fresheners or incenses to hide odour of drugs
• use of eye drops to hide the bloodshot eyes

Psychological factors:

• unexplained changes of personality
• swings of mood - irritability, fits of temper, outbursts of laughter
• hyperactivity
• lack of motivation and concentration
• seclusion
• appearance of anxiety and paranoia

Every parent should pay their attention to the above-mention factors and react accordingly when they appear. Some symptoms are natural - specially those appearing singly - and aren't related to abuse of drugs, so every change in kids' behavior should be treated individually.

You mustn't be afraid to talk to your kid about difficult topics. It's not easy, of course, but sometimes just a normal conversation can save kid's health or even life. The best solution is to check whether our kid takes drugs. In our offer we have the home drug tests for detection of heroin, marijuana, cocaine etc. In case a kid doesn't want to undergo such an examination, you will have to firmly insist on it or just get your own way. During such confrontations you may hear from your kid that you don't trust or love him/her as he/she would be to prove he/she's "clean". However, abuse of drugs is a very serious problem and therefore we ask you not to accept pressure from your kid and just check.

Another important advice for parents is to eliminate a sheer willingness for taking drugs as early as possible. It's worth to prevent and educate your loved ones about the drugs of abuse. Sometimes it would be even advisable to show the photos of people ruined by drugs.