Definition
Effects
Stimulants
Depressants Hallucinogens
Some drugs have a 'stimulant' effect which make you feel more awake and alert . They increase your heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure. Stimulants may make you feel agitated, keep you awake, decrease your appetite and dilate your pupils.
Some drugs have a 'depressant' effect and slow down your reaction to things.
Taken in small amounts they may make you feel more relaxed. Taken in large amounts they may cause you to pass out as they slow down your breathing and heart rate or may cause nausea, vomiting and even death.
Mixing depressant drugs may be dangerous and increases the likelihood of overdose.
Hallucinogens may change people's perceptions of reality. During this time, people may experience visual or auditory hallucinations.
It is impossible to predict whether your hallucinations are likely to be positive or unpleasant. It is not uncommon to experience anxiety, panic or paranoia during an hallucination.
If you take a large amount of a stimulant drug you can become anxious, paranoid, aggressive and get stomach cramps.
The effect of the depressant you are taking may also be influenced by the amount you take. Taken in large amounts cannabis may cause hallucinations.
It is also difficult to predict the length and frequency of the hallucinations.
You may still be having them for up to
24 hours or for periods after this time.
Losing contact with reality and perception changes may cause people to have accidents and take risks they wouldn't normally take.
Some people may develop a druginduced psychosis as a result of taking hallucinogenic drugs.
People who also use amphetamines regularly may be putting themselves at risk of acute paranoid psychosis.

Examples
Stimulants Depressants Hallucinogens
 tobacco

 caffeine amphetamines (eg speed or methamphetamine, ICE)
 ephedrine (Sudafed)

 cocaine ecstasy (MDMA).

 alcohol
GHB (Gamma hydroxybutyrate)
 opiates and opioids, including drugs like heroin, opium, morphine, codeine and
 methadone cannabis (marijuana, hashish, hash oil)
 sedatives and hypnotics
(including valium and rohypnol)
 barbiturates
 some solvents and inhalants, like petrol, glue, lighter fluids and paint thinners.
 LSD (acid, trips)


 magic mushrooms mescaline cannabis may have hallucinogenic effects as well as depressant effects.

A drug is any substance—solid, liquid or gas—that brings about physical and/or psychological changes in the body.
Psychoactive drugs affect the central nervous system (CNS). They act on the brain and can change the way a person thinks, feels or behaves.
Some drugs, such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and various prescribed and over-the-counter medications, are legal. Most legal drugs are restricted and their availability, quality and price strictly controlled.
Other drugs, such as cannabis, methamphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin, are illegal. They are not subject to quality or price controls. This means that a person can never be sure of the drug's strength or what is in it. Different batches of an illegally manufactured drug may have different concentrations of the drug and other additives. Sometimes, the additives can be poisonous. Even the drug itself could be poisonous.
People use drugs to relax, to have fun, to be part of a group, out of curiosity or to escape from physical and/or psychological pain.
Drug use can be influenced by a number of factors. Most people use drugs because they want to feel better or different. They use drugs for the benefits (perceived and/or experienced), not for the potential harm. This applies to both legal and illegal drugs.
There are five main types of drug use and most people who use drugs fit into the first two categories:
Experimental use : a person tries a drug once or twice out of curiosity.
Recreational use : a person chooses to use a drug for enjoyment, particularly to enhance a mood or social occasion.
Situational use : a drug is used to cope with the demands of particular situations. For example, people may use amphetamines to maintain alertness and to gain energy.
Intensive use (also known as "bingeing") : a person consumes a large amount of drugs over a short period of time, and/or use is continuous over a number of days or weeks.
Dependent use : a person becomes dependent on a drug after prolonged or heavy use over time. They feel a need to take the drug consistently in order to feel normal, or to avoid uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.
It is not uncommon for people to move between categories, and one stage does not inevitably lead to the next. Harms associated with drug use can occur at all levels of use.

Victorian secondary school students' use of licit and illict substances in 2005: results from the 2005
Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug Survey
White V, Szabo E, Hayman J, Webster B, Hain A & Fairthorne A 2006 Melbourne: Victorian
Government Department of Human Services:
In 2005, less than 10% of Victorian secondary school students aged between 12 and 17 years were reported to have ever used an illicit substance other than cannabis, in their lifetime. Compared to students’ rates of licit substance use, this figure was low and suggests that experimentation with illicit substances other than cannabis is confined to a small percentage of young people in Victorian secondary schools. When cannabis was included as one of the illicit substances, the percentage of students in 2005 reporting to have used at least one illicit substance in their lifetime was 18%.
The much lower percentage of students who had used an illicit substance other than cannabis
(8%) indicates that cannabis remains the illicit substance most commonly used by Victorian secondary school students.
Intro to lesson:
At 15 Anna Wood went to a party and took an ecstasy tablet. Three days later she was dead. Anna was a schoolgirl from Sydney, Australia who died after taking an ecstasy tablet at a dance party. On
21 October 1995, Anna with a group of school friends attended a dance party in Ultimo, Sydney.
Anna and her friends had bought ecstasy tablets outside the club prior to entering. At approximately
5am on the 22nd, Anna began feeling unwell inside the club and was seen rushing to the toilets, where she was found vomiting.
[2] Her friends drove her back to one of their homes where she was put to bed. Her symptoms not improving, at 10 am Anna's parents were informed who called for an ambulance and had Anna taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital. Anna remained in a coma throughout the period and did not regain consciousness; she eventually died on the following
Tuesday, the 24th.