Drugs – what you need to know

An estimated 208-million people worldwide consume illegal drugs.

In South Africa, results from the 2006 World Drug Report showed that 4.3-million South Africans, or 10.3 percent of the population aged 16 or older, used illegal drugs in the year prior to the report.

The most commonly used and abused drug in South Africa is alcohol.

Six out of 10 road deaths are alcohol related.

Marijuana, or dagga, is the most commonly used illegal drug and according to the United Nations 2008 World Drug Report, about 3.9 percent of the world’s population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse dagga.

The South African Bureau of Justice reports that 85 percent of teens know where to get dagga and 55 percent know where to get amphetamines.

29 percent of pupils said someone has offered, sold or given them an illegal drug on school property.

Dagga

Street names: weed, blunt, grass, pot, boom, Mary Jane, skunk, dope, spilff.

Dagga is usually rolled up into a cigarette called a joint.

It can also be brewed as a tea, mixed with food or smoked through a water pipe called a bong.

Dagga is often more potent than it used to be.

Growing techniques and selective use of seeds have produced a more powerful drug and as a result, there has been an increase in the number of emergency room visits by young pot smokers.

As the tolerance levels of a dagga smoker increases, it can lead to the user seeking out stronger drugs to achieve the same high.

Short term effects include loss of coordination and distortions in sense of time, vision and hearing, sleepiness, increased appetite and relaxed muscles.

The user’s heart rate can speed up and in the first hour after smoking dagga, a user’s risk of a heart attack could increase five-fold.

Long term effects include psychotic symptoms. It can also damage the lungs and heart of the user.

It may reduce the body’s ability to fight lung infections and illness.

Ecstasy

Street names: E, XTC, X , Adam, MDMA, candy, smarties, lover’s speed and love drug.

Ecstasy is usually taken orally in pill, tablet or capsule form.

Taking more than one at a time is called “bumping”.

Ecstasy is a synthetic drug made in a laboratory.

Those who produce Ecstasy add anything they choose to the mixture, including caffeine, amphetamines and even cocaine.

The drug is illegal and has effects similar to hallucinogens and stimulants.

Pills come in different colours and are sometimes marked with cartoon-like images.

The simulative effects of drugs such as Ecstasy enable users to dance for long periods and when combined with hot crowded conditions, can lead to extreme dehydration and heart or kidney failure.

Short term effects include; impaired judgement, false sense of affection, confusion, depression, paranoia, muscle tension and blurred vision.

Prolonged use causes long-lasting and perhaps permanent damage to the brain.

Cocaine and crack cocaine

Street names: coke, crack, flake, rocks, snow, Charlie and sniff.

Cocaine and crack cocaine can be taken orally, snorted, injected or in the case of crack cocaine, can be inhaled.

Terms used to describe ingestion of cocaine or crack cocaine include chewing, snorting, mainlining and smoking.

The word cocaine refers to the drug in its powder form. In its crystal form, it is known as crack.

It is produced from the coca plant and next to methamphetamine, creates the greatest psychological dependence of any drug.

Short term effects of the drug include a short-lived, intense high that is immediately followed by the opposite intense feelings of depression and edginess.

People who use cocaine often do not eat or sleep properly.

They can experience greatly increased heart rate, muscle spasms and convulsions. The drug can make people feel paranoid, angry, hostile and anxious, even when they are not high.

Long term effects include addiction to the effects caused. Cocaine can cause irritability, mood disturbances, restlessness, paranoia and auditory hallucinations. Tolerance to the drug develops so that more is needed to produce the same high.

Coming down from cocaine causes severe depression, which becomes deeper and deeper after each use.

Crystal Meth and Methamphetamine

Street names: speed, meth, crystal, crank, tweak, go-fast, ice, glass, kryptonite and kat.

Crystal meth and meth are inhaled, smoked or injected.

Crystal meth is a form of methamphetamine that resembles small fragments of glass or shiny blue-white rocks.

On the street, it is known as ice, crystal or glass.

It is a highly powerful and addictive man-made stimulant that causes aggression and violent or psychotic behaviour.

Many users report addiction from the first time they use it and is one of the hardest drugs to treat.

Short term effects include disturbed sleep patterns, hyperactivity, nausea, delusions of power, increased aggressiveness and irritability.

The drug can cause decreased hunger and bring on weight loss.

It can cause convulsions leading to death.

Long term effects include increased heart rate and blood pressure, damage to blood vessels in the brain, leading to strokes or irregular heart beat and cardiovascular collapse and death.

Meth can cause liver, kidney and lung damage and users may suffer brain damage, including memory impairment and an increasing inability to grasp abstract thoughts.

Inhalants

Street names: poppers, whippets, laughing gas and rush.

Inhalants include chemicals found in household products such as aerosol sprays, cleaning fluids, glue, paint, paint thinner, nail polish remover and lighter fuel.

They are sniffed or huffed.

Inhalants affect the brain and when substances or fumes are inhaled through the nose or mouth, they can cause permanent physical and mental damage.

They starve the body of oxygen and force the heart to beat irregularly and more rapidly.

Those who use inhalants can lose their sense of smell, suffer nausea and nosebleeds and may develop liver, lung and kidney problems.

Continued use can lead to reduced muscle mass, tone and strength.

Short term effects include suffocation as the inhaled fumes take the place of oxygen in the lungs and central nervous system. Someone on inhalants may also suddenly react with extreme violence.

Long term effects include muscle loss and reduced strength.

Heroin

Street names: horse, smack, H, skag, junk, brown sugar and spike.

Heroin is usually injected, snorted or smoked and is highly addictive.

Heroin enters the brain rapidly but makes people think and react slowly, impairing their decision-making ability.

Injecting the drug can create a risk of AIDS, hepatitis and other diseases caused by infected needles. These health problems can be passed on to sexual partners and new-born children.

Heroin is one of the three drugs most frequently involved in drug abuse deaths.

Short term effects include clouded mental functioning, nausea and vomiting.

Awareness of pain may be suppressed.

Long term effects include scarred or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels, heart valves, abscesses and other soft-tissue infections and liver or kidney disease.

LSD

Street names: acid, cid, blotter, heavenly blue, microdot, purple heart, California sunshine, tab and dots.

LSD is sold in tablets, capsules or in liquid form and is commonly added to absorbent paper and divided into small decorated squares. Each square is a dose.

LSD is still one of the most potent mood-changing chemicals and is derived from the extremely poisonous ergot fungus, a mould which grows on rye and other grains.

Its effects are unpredictable.

A tiny amount can produce 12 hours or more of effects.

Short term effects include dilated pupils, higher body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth and tremors. People can experience severe, terrifying thoughts and feelings, fear of losing control, fear of insanity and death and feelings of despair.

Long term effects include flashbacks or recurrences. The trip itself usually begins to clear up after about 12 hours but some users manifest long-lasting psychoses.

•  Complied with the assistance of the Edenvale SAPS.