Drugs of Abuse - the Facts

What is drug abuse?
People have taken psychoactive drugs for curative, religious and recreational purposes for hundreds of years. At the end of the last century, however, due to advances in the field of chemistry and pharmacology, stronger and highly addictive substances such as cocaine and heroin were synthesized. In addition, the invention of hypodermic syringes enabled people to inject these drugs, making their effects more powerful and the risk of addiction more serious.

Substances of abuse
A psychoactive substance is any substance that people take to change either the way they feel, think, or behave. This includes alcohol and tobacco as well as natural and manufactured drugs. In the past, most drugs were made from plants, such as the coca bush for cocaine, opium poppies for heroin and cannabis for hashish or marijuana. Now drugs such as Ecstasy or LSD are produced by synthesizing various chemicals.

Drugs of abuse fall into three categories:
Depressants (e.g. heroin, barbiturates),
Stimulants (e.g. cocaine, crack, amphetamines) and
Hallucinogens (e.g. marijuana, Ecstasy, LSD), and are either ingested, inhaled, smoked, injected or snorted.

Stimulants are agents that activate, enhance, or increase activity of the central nervous system. They include amphetamines and synthetic appetite suppressants such as phenmetrazine or methylphenidate. Stimulants can give rise to symptoms suggestive of intoxication, including tachycardia, pupillary dilation, elevated blood pressure and nausea or vomiting. They can also cause violent and aggressive behaviour, agitation and impaired judgement. A full-blown delusional psychosis may occur.

Hallucinogens are chemically diverse and produce profound mental changes such as euphoria, anxiety, sensory distortion, vivid hallucinations, delusion, paranoia and depression. They include mescaline and LSD.

Effects
Drugs can be harmful in a number of ways, both through immediate effects and through damage to health over time. Even occasional use of marijuana affects cognitive development and short-term memory. In addition, the effects of marijuana on perception, reaction and coordination of movements can result in accidents.

Hallucinogens (such as LSD) distort perceptions, alter heart-rate and blood pressure and, in the long term, cause neurological disorders, depressions, anxiety, visual hallucinations and flashbacks.

Cocaine and amphetamines cause tremors, headaches, hypertension and increased heart-rate. Long-term effects include nausea, insomnia, loss of weight, convulsions and depression.

Heroin use initially results in nausea, slow respiration, dry skin, itching, slow speech and reflexes. Over a long period of time there is a serious risk of developing physical and psychological dependence, which can result in acute overdose and even death due to respiratory depression.

There is a tendency to present some drugs (such as cannabis and Ecstasy) as less harmful than they actually are, without taking into consideration their long-term consequences and the effects they have on adolescent development, particularly on the development of certain critical functions (cognitive ability and capacity to memorize). Ecstasy has been presented as having little or no side effects, but studies show that its use alters, perhaps permanently, certain brain functions and also damages the liver and other body organs.

Although not regarded as illicit, inhalants are widely abused, especially by disadvantaged youth. Some of these volatile substances, which are present in many products such as glue, paint, gasoline and cleaning fluids, are directly toxic to the liver, kidney or heart, and some produce progressive brain degeneration.

 The major problem with psychoactive drugs is that when people take them, they focus on the desired mental and emotional effects and ignore the potentially damaging physical and mental side effects that can occur. No illicit drug can be considered “safe”. In one way or another, the use of psychoactive substances alters the normal functioning of the human body, and in the long run they can cause serious damage.