Drugs
Drugs are a problem in our society. And they have been for many years. But, what exactly are drugs?
What are drugs?
Drugs can be put into multiple categories. However, for the purpose of simplicity, we will stick to the two most prevalent categorized drugs: Legal and illegal. Legal drugs are drugs not scheduled by the DEA. These legal drugs can be bought over the counter. To name a few, these include Alcohol, coffee, caffeine, aspirin, and nicotine.
Types of drugs
Classified by their affects, drugs create experiences based on their chemical properties. They are categorized as follows: stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens and narcotics.
- Stimulants: Stimulants basically increase and elevate your mood, produce euphoria, and make you feel extreme happiness. Drugs in these class include cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, and amphetamines (Like meth).
- Depressants: Depressants are the drugs that slow the down the process of the central nervous system. Making the person less responsive to external stimuli, depressants can be deadly. Alcohol is the major drug in this class. Others include solvents such as glue, benzos, GHB, and lean.
- Hallucinogens: These drugs ordinarily cause hallucinations. Making people experience things that are not actually real, hallucinations cause a person to see delusions. For example, someone on a hallucinogen may see someone that’s not actually there. These hallucinations can be auditory, visual, or tactile. Hallucinogens are divided into classic hallucinogens and dissociative drugs. Both drugs cause hallucinations. Classic hallucinogens include LSD, psilocybin, peyote, and DMT. Other types are PCP and Special K.
- Narcotics: These are the drugs that produce pain relief, narcosis, and threaten addiction. This class involves opiates and opioids (morphine and heroin).
Weed is a lone wolf in the categorizing process. Pot, the most commonly used drug across the world, has depressant, hallucinogenic and stimulant properties. Marijuana does not fit into one category by itself.
Effects of drugs
Drugs create serious effects on those that take them. Whether it’s a short term effect, like a heart attack, or a long term effect, like brain damage, drugs are dangerous. To understand the effects of drugs, we must begin at the responses they illicit in our body.
Short term effects
The short term can be the scariest. Unfortunately, tolerance and sensitivity play a huge role in many overdoses and death. Basic short term effects:
Euphoria: Drugs obviously illicit a pleasurable response, or people would not use them. However, this is followed by a “coming down” process. And dependency.
Irritability: Cocaine, alcohol, meth, heroin, and painkillers will create irritability. Especially when you are addicted and experiencing withdrawals.
Withdrawal: Withdrawals to drugs are awful. It is the response of the body to the lack of substances developed by consistent use. Withdrawals can be deadly in substances like alcohol and xanax.
Overdose: Heroin, painkillers, alcohol, and benzos (xanax) cause serious potentials of overdosing (Which can cause death).
Heart attack: Stimulants, like amphetamines (meth, addedrawal:ral, cocaine), can cause the heart to beat so fast that it basically explodes.
Stomach: Alcohol, cocaine, heroin, pain pills, and meth can make you get sick and vomit.
Long term effects
Long term effects of drugs can be seen as follows:
Depression: Dependency breeds depression. The constant using of a substance will create a level of misery in the mind that is difficult to overcome.
Liver: Alcoholism can cause serious liver problems. So can inhalants and pain medication.
Stroke/Seizures: Substances used consistently can create terrible neurological effects. Xanax, for example, is a notorious substance that causes seizures during withdrawals.
HIV/AIDS: Sharing needles can contract HIV/AIDS or other serious blood diseases.
Social effects
Socially, drugs can ruin lives. Between losing loved ones, jobs, friends, and self respect, drugs can take everything. Below are some social effects of using drugs:
- Loss of friends/family
- Dropping grades
- Missed appointments
- Driving under the influence
- Legal issues
- Personality issues
Getting help for drugs
Those that have SUD (substance use disorder) will show many signs of addiction. But, once you are clear you have a problem, what do you do next? Usually, the best first step is reaching out for help. Finding a good drug rehab program would be the following action. Getting treatment will only limit the possibility of experiencing the negative effects of drugs.