Drugs are substances that bring about physical and psychological changes. Drugs can be solid ('khat'), liquid (alcohol), or gaseous (inhalants).
Depressant Drugs
A type of drug that slows down the body's functions, including messages to and from the brain. Depressant drugs include alcohol, cannabis, and benzodiazepines (minor tranquilizers).
Drug Dependence
When a person becomes dependent on drugs after long-term and heavy use of drugs. The person needs to use the drug to feel normal or to not have the unpleasant symptoms of withdrawal. Dependence can be physical, psychological, or both.
Drug Prevention
Programs and projects designed to prevent or delay the taking and use of drugs, to protect against their dangers, and to prevent the harms caused by drug use.
Damage Reduction
Damage reduction is related to the rules and programs aimed at reducing the damages caused by drugs and improving the health, social, and economic conditions for the community and the individual. Since 1983, the regulation of damage reduction has focused on reducing the supply and demand for drugs, as well as towards the damages caused by drug use.
Psychedelic Drugs
A type of drug that alters a person's perceptions. Individuals who take psychedelics may see or hear things that do not exist, or might see things in a distorted way. Ketamine, ‘LSD’, ‘magic mushrooms’, and cannabis are all psychedelic drugs.
Narcotics
Substances that have the power to induce sleep in a person or make them dazed, alleviate pain, dull the senses, or cause loss of consciousness.
Overdose
Occurs when an excessive amount of drugs is taken and the body is unable to consume it.
Psychoactive drugs
Drugs that affect the central nervous system (CNS). They impact the brain and consequently the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves.
Stimulant Drugs
A type of drug that speeds up body functions, including messages to/from the brain. Stimulants make the user feel awake, alert, or self-confident. Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, and ecstasy are examples of stimulant drugs.
Tolerance
The body's ability to consume the drug.
Withdrawal Crisis
If a person who takes drugs stops or reduces the amount they take, then they may experience physical symptoms, because the body begins to adapt to functioning without the drug. Symptoms of withdrawal are varied, depending on the type of drug and the type of user, but generally include depression, irritability, cramps, nausea, sweating, and insomnia.
Which drugs are concerning?
For the community, the most concerning drugs are psychoactive drugs because they act on the brain and change the way an individual thinks, behaves, and feels. There are three main types of drugs: depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
Depressants
Depressant drugs do not always cause depression in the user. On the contrary, they affect concentration and coordination and slow down the ability to respond to unexpected situations. When taken in small amounts, depressants can cause relaxation. In large amounts, they can cause loss of consciousness, vomiting, and death.
Stimulants
Mild Stimulants
Strong Stimulants
Stimulant drugs speed up brain activity. As a result, the person taking the stimulant feels more alive, attentive, and self-confident. They increase heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure. Stimulants reduce appetite, enlarge the pupils, cause insomnia, and make the user talk incessantly or be a bit nervous.
Taking large amounts of stimulants causes anxiety, panic, crises, headaches, stomach pain, aggression, and paranoia.
Strong stimulants can mask some of the effects of depressants, such as those of alcohol.
Hallucinogens
Hallucinogenic drugs alter the way a person sees or imagines their surroundings. Individuals who take hallucinogens might see or hear things that don't exist, or might see distorted things.
Other effects of hallucinogens include dilated pupils, loss of appetite, increased movement, excessive talking and laughter, emotional and psychological euphoria, increased feelings of well-being, jaw clenching, sweating, panic, paranoia, loss of contact with reality, strange and irrational behavior, stomach pain, and nausea.
Since the effects of hallucinogens can vary, it is impossible to predict how they might affect one person or another at any given time.
Without any specific reason, most people use drugs to change the way they feel, because they want to feel better or simply different.
They use drugs because they believe in their utility. People use drugs to relax, to have fun, to become part of society, out of curiosity, or to escape physical and psychological pain. Young people use drugs for the same reasons adults do.
The effects of a certain drug depend on a number of factors.
The type of drug being taken
All drugs affect different people in different ways.
The amount of the drug being taken and the frequency of use
Generally, the greater the amount of the drug being taken, the greater its effect. A person may suffer from an overdose if the amount taken is more than what the body can consume.
The method of drug intake
Drugs taken by injection or inhalation act faster, and their effect is more intense. Snorting is the second fastest in terms of action, followed by drugs taken orally or by chewing, which act a bit more slowly.
The physical characteristics of the user
The effect of the drug is also influenced by the height, weight, and gender of the user. The intensity and duration of the drug's action also depend on the amount of fat in the body, metabolic level, and the phase of the female menstrual cycle.
The mood and environment of the user
The effect of the drug is significantly influenced by how the user feels and in which environment the drug is taken. The person is more likely to enjoy the drug in a calm social setting, rather than a bad atmosphere.
The types of other drugs being used simultaneously
When drugs are mixed, their effects can change, and these effects cannot be predicted.