Stimulants

Stimulants speed up the body’s action. A user becomes alert and excitable. Cocaine is a white powder that is made from the cocoa bush which grows in South America. For centuries the natives of Peru and Bolivia have chewed on cocoa leaves to ease the pangs of hunger. Medically, solutions of cocaine can be used to numb areas of the body during surgery, but other drugs like procaine are now used more often. The only legal use of cocaine today is as a local anesthetic. A user who becomes ‘Cocaine high’ becomes over alert, talkative and sometimes aggressive. Younger people run a special risk to drugs like cocaine because it is easy to become psychologically dependent on it. Since its effects wear off quickly, users tend to take the drug to keep from ‘Crashing’.

Until recently, cocaine was always snorted, that is, inhaled by sniffing through the nose. Continually snorting cocaine can seriously injure the nose. Cocaine can also be injected into the veins or smoked. These methods of taking cocaine increase the danger of serious side effects. Some users smoke a substance called ‘Free base’ which is the most toxic form of the drug. Smoking cocaine increases the chances that users will experience anxiety, extreme agitation, loss of weight, sleeplessness, and feeling, hearing and seeing things that are not there. One of these imaginary experience is that bugs or snakes are crawling under the skin. An overdose of cocaine can cause death. Some times doses large enough to kill a person are injected or swallowed. Like many other drugs, habitual use of cocaine by young people can interfere with normal physical and mental growth.

There is a difference between the Kola nut tree, the cocoa tree and the coca bush. Kola that goes into many soft drinks comes from the nut of the Kola nut tree. Chocolate and cocoa comes from the seed kernels of the cocoa tree. These are not related to the coca bush which grows in South America and whose leaves are used to make cocaine. Caffeine is a stimulant that also comes from a plant, but it has a much milder stimulant effect.

Amphetamines (pep pills) and metamphetamine (speed) are the most common stimulants produced in the laboratory. Most amphetamines (dexedrine, methedrine ) are obtained and used illicitly. Many people take amphetamines to push themselves beyond their normal limits. Users include athletes trying to run faster, broadcast and business personalities trying to brighten up, and long distance truck drivers trying to stay awake. Amphetamines can cause a strong psychological dependence. Infrequent or use on ‘Special occasions’ does not usually lead to dependence, but it can do so.

A person who takes an amphetamine feels as if he or she could go on and on without any rest. But the body cannot stand up to this. So when the ‘Up’ feeling begins to fade, the body reacts through extreme tiredness. Often the user becomes depressed. To prevent ‘Crashing’ (coming down from the effects of the drug) the person takes more amphetamines and tolerance can build up as the user needs an even larger dose to get the same effect. This kind of use can lead to psychological dependence. Metamphetamine (speed) produces great rushes of high feeling when it is taken intravenously. When tolerance to ‘Speed’ develops, the user must inject a dose every few hours. This kind of use can be fatal.

Users' Comments