Different Types of Drugs Antidepressants Barbiturates Cannabis
Different types of Drugs
Antidepressants
Antidepressants are a prescription medication used to treat depression and mood disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and other anxiety problems. The problem is that some antidepressant drugs can actually carry serious side effects and when used in combination with alcohol or other depressant drugs, can actually make you more depressed. Likewise, discontinuing use suddenly can cause mild withdrawal symptoms. Learn more...
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Barbiturates
There are many different types of barbiturates out there, many of which are prescription, and work by depressing the central nervous system. This can cause sedation and anesthesia. While used to treat seizure disorders, insomnia and other problems, they can be abused. Users often build up a tolerance to them, requiring larger doses to achieve the same effects. Overdosing occurs often in those abusing "downers." Learn more...
From Ambien to Quaaludes and other tranquilizers, discuss barbiturates in our forum.
Cannabis
Cannabis is also known as marijuana and has psychoactive effects. It is taken into the body in the form of smoke or vapor and can even be consumed and mixed into food or steeped in a tea. While the jury's still out on whether or not marijuana is addictive, it is often believed to act as the "gateway" to other more serious substances. Learn more...
Find discussions started by community members in the Marijuana forum and Cannabis discussion board.
Depressants
Depressants are a type of drug that works by reducing the function of the central nervous system. Drugs often included in this category are barbiturates and benzodiazepines. Learn more...
Reach out to other members to talk about alcohol, GHB, Valium, Xanax, and other depressants in our forum.
Hallucinogens
While hallucinogens have been around for years in ceremonies and rituals, they play a role in modern society as well. They work by producing sensory hallucinations in users involving any of the five senses. Common substances that fall within this category include LSD, PCP and Peyote. Learn more... Our hallucinogens addiction and recovery discussion board has questions and answers from visitors just like you.
Inhalants
As their name would suggest, inhalants refer to a group of drugs that are inhaled in the form of a gas or solvent. Potential inhalants can be found just about anywhere and include common products like nail polish remover, gasoline, glue and aerosol cans. Learn more...
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Narcotics
While the term "narcotics" is often used to refer to any illicit substance, it technically means a substance derived from opium (opiates) or its synthetic replacements. Examples of narcotics include cocaine, morphine and heroin, all of which are highly addictive. Learn more...
Got a question? Head over to the narcotics bulletin board to talk with other members.
Steroids
Anabolic steroids are not the same as the kind used in medicine for the reduction of inflammation. Rather, these substances are used to build muscle mass and strength. They typically consist of male sex hormones and can be very damaging when used without a prescription.
The steroids forum contains questions and answers about steroid abuse and treatment for addiction.
Stimulants
Stimulants are a class of drugs that boost alertness and increase the activity of the central nervous system. Examples of this type of drug include amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine and nicotine, all of which are highly addictive.
Have a question about using stimulants? Our members discuss stimulant use and abuse daily.
Tobacco
Tobacco is often smoked in the form of cigarettes or cigars or chewed and contains nicotine, which is a stimulant. It's a highly addictive substance and has been known to cause cancer and other diseases. Learn more about tobacco addiction symptoms to recognize the signs of dependency. Talk about cigarettes and smoking w/ other members who have kicked the habit in our forum
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.
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.
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 oneuntil 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.
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.
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 psychosis.