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Drugs that temporarily increase a
person’s energy, alertness
 Includes:
▪ Inhalants
▪ Ecstasy
▪ Cocaine (aka coke, crack, snow, crack
cocaine)
▪ Methamphetamine (aka meth, crystal, ice)
▪ Amphetamines
Drugs that cause relaxation, sleepiness
 Includes:
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 Marijuana
 Rohypnol (aka roofies, date rape drug)
 DXM (legal ingredient in cough syrup)
 Tranquilizers
 Ketamine (aka Special K, “Kit Kat”,
“Special K”)
Drugs that distort perceptions and
cause a person to see or hear things
that are not there
 Users may experience “flashbacks”
months or years later
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 Includes:
▪ LSD (Acid)
▪ Psilocybin (Mushrooms)
▪ PCP (Phencyclidine, aka Angel Dust)
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All opiates come from the poppy plant.
HIGHLY addictive
Used as pain relievers, anesthetics, and
sedatives
In the medical field, highly valued for pain relief
 Includes:
▪ Heroin
▪ Opium
▪ Morphine
▪ Codeine
Cocaine is a stimulant giving users a quick,
intense feeling of power and energy.
 Cocaine elevates heart rate, breathing
rate, blood pressure, and body
temperature.
 Injecting cocaine can give you hepatitis or
AIDS if you share needles. Snorting can
put a hole inside the lining of your nose.
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First-time users — even teens — of both cocaine
and crack can stop breathing or have fatal
heart attacks. Using either of these drugs even
one time can kill you (overdose).
Addictiveness: HIGHLY addictive
Even after one use, cocaine and crack can
create both physical and psychological cravings
(dependency) that make it very difficult for
users to stop.
Designer drug created by underground
chemists.
 This drug is hallucinogenic with a stimulant
effect
 Ecstasy can also cause increased heart rate,
dry mouth, cramps, blurred vision, chills,
sweating, and nausea.
 Sometimes users clench their jaws while
using. They may chew on something (like a
pacifier) to relieve this symptom.
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Many users also experience depression, paranoia,
anxiety, and confusion. There is some concern
that these effects on the brain and emotion can
become permanent with chronic use of ecstasy.
 Ecstasy also raises the temperature of the body.
This increase can sometimes cause organ damage
or even death.
 Addictiveness: Physical addictiveness of Ecstasy
is unknown, teens can become psychologically
dependent upon it to feel good, deal with life, or
handle stress.
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Heroin gives a burst of euphoric feelings. This
high is often followed by drowsiness, nausea,
stomach cramps, and vomiting.
Users feel the need to take more heroin as
soon as possible just to feel good again (the
“high” doesn’t last long- never as good as the
first)
With long-term use, heroin ravages the body.
It is associated with chronic constipation, dry
skin, scarred veins, and breathing problems.
Users who inject heroin often have collapsed
veins and put themselves at risk of HIV, hepatitis
B or C, and bacterial endocarditis (inflammation
of the lining of the heart) if they share needles
with other users.
Addictiveness: Heroin is extremely addictive and
easy to overdose on (which can cause death).
Withdrawal is intense and symptoms include
insomnia, vomiting, and muscle pain.
Substances that are sniffed or
"huffed" to give the user an
immediate rush or high.
Include household products like
glues, paint thinners, gasoline,
sharpie pens, white-out, hair spray,
aerosol deodorants, and spray paint.
Inhalants make users feel giddy and confused.
Long-time users get headaches, nosebleeds, and
may suffer loss of hearing and sense of smell.
Inhalants cause severe toxic reaction and death.
Using inhalants, even one time, can kill you.
Addictiveness: Inhalants can be very addictive.
Teens who use inhalants can become
psychologically dependent upon them to feel
good, deal with life, or handle stress.
Most
widely used illegal drug in the U.S.
Affects
mood and coordination. Users may
experience mood swings that range from
stimulated or happy to drowsy or depressed.
Elevates
heart rate and blood pressure. Some
people get red eyes and feel very sleepy or
hungry. The drug can make people paranoid or
cause them to hallucinate. Causes slowed
thinking ability, loss of short-term memory,
anxiety, loss of balance and coordination.
Causes
Gynecomastia in males (growth of breast
tissue)
Marijuana is as tough on the lungs as
cigarettes — steady smokers suffer coughs,
wheezing, and frequent colds. Causes lung
cancer.
Addictiveness: Teens who use marijuana can
become psychologically dependent upon it to feel
good, deal with life, or handle stress. Their bodies
may demand more and more marijuana (build
tolerance) to achieve the same kind of high
experienced in the beginning.
Main ingredient: Psuedoephedrine
Other ingredients: Battery acid, gasoline,
drain cleaner, paint thinner, car brake
cleaner, etc.
 Powerful stimulant: Users feel a euphoric
rush from methamphetamine.
 Tolerance develops quickly — users will
use more meth for longer periods of time,
resulting in sleeplessness, paranoia, and
hallucinations.
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Users sometimes have intense
delusions such as believing that there
are insects crawling under their skin.
 Prolonged use may result in violent,
aggressive behavior, psychosis, and
brain damage.
 Addictiveness: Methamphetamine is
highly addictive.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT9sUA82KHc
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Effects are not predictable- can differ each time
Effects include: increased energy, altered sight,
smell, taste, sound, touch
Causes confusion, panic, anxiety, huge emotional
swings
Users may vomit, become dizzy, have strange or
frightening thoughts
Flashbacks occur days, weeks, months, or years
after
If the wrong mushroom is taken, users can
experience stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or
even death
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Synthetic versions of testosterone
Using illegally can cause:
Males: stunted growth, paranoia,
liver cancer, heart disease, severe
acne, going bald, shrinking of
testicles, reduced sperm count,
infertility
Females: severe acne,
deeper voice, increased
facial hair, going bald, disrupted
menstrual cycle, rapid weight gain,
infertility
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You don’t have to give up on friends in order to
stay drug free
Use refusal skills when offered
Let your friends know ahead of time that
you’re not interested
Think fully about your decision to try drugs:
 Is there a chance to get addicted?
 What happens after the high is over? What if you
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feel sick?
What is the benefit of the drug?
What are the legal consequences? Jail? Prison?
What would your family think?
How can this affect your future?
 1. Admit there is a problem
 2. Tell a trusted adult
 3. If you have a friend that
uses, stage an
intervention: confront
them about their problem.
Get family and friends to
help.
4. Detoxification: Medical treatment to
help control the severe side effects as
well as intense cravings of the
withdrawal process
 5. Rehabilitation: treatment for
dependency or addiction of drugs
 6. Recovering: the process to learn to
live without drugs; begins in rehab,
continues throughout life
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