Ecstasy
The drug known as Ecstasy, X, or Adam has become a relatively common drug among adolescents today. Ecstasy is known as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA for short. It is a synthetic drug that can act as both a stimulant and hallucinogenic drug that enhances sensory processing, increases sexual sensations, and creates euphoric mood elevations in the user. MDMA is known to cause major changes the level of neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, which control our mood and behaviors.
Serotonin (5-Hydroxytrptanamine, 5HT) and dopamine are chemical mediators that are released in synaptic gaps of neurons. These neurotransmitters excite the post-synaptic membranes of neurons allow for the millions of neurons in the central nervous system to communicate with one another. Serotonin is a central neurotransmitter that is released from the mid-brain region, where the cerebral hemispheres and thalamus-hypothalamus are bridged to the spinal cord. Serotonin receptors are present mostly in the smooth muscle and central nervous system. The role of serot...
Sildenafil Citrate, more commonly known by the brand name Viagra, has become one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in America. Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction, also known as impotence. Erectile Dysfunction is best defined as the inability to maintain an erection necessary for sexual satisfaction. Sildenafil has been shown to be effective for a "broad range ED patients, including those with a history of mellitus, depression, … hypertension, diabetes, …and spinal chord injury" (Sildenafil Citrate, par. 29).
Animals are beloved creatures among the human race, and are deeply cared for. As caretakers of pets, those caretakers have a responsibility to these animals. One of those responsibilities includes making sure all animals are properly taken care of and are placed in a loving home. Many of these poor animals, mostly cats and dogs, are cast unwanted onto the streets to fend for themselves. Once they are cast out, where are they to end up? The ones that survive being discarded by neglectful owners are usually found and taken to a nearby animal shelter. These shelters are set up and designed for stray animals to be taken care of until a new owner can be found. Shelters also graciously accept pets from owners who choose to surrender their animals, and are re-homed by the shelter. Some of these shelters have what is known as a no-kill policy, which states that any animal fit to be adopted out, will be. Other shelters do not have this policy, and will euthanize a healthy animal for a variety of reasons. The most common reason for euthanizing a healthy animal is space. Most shelters are not well funded, and cannot afford to take care of a large number of animals; unfortunately, more animals are being discarded than are taken in by local shelters. Though most people would claim that killing animals to make space is wrong, there are actually many practical reasons for it; in most cases shelters that lack a no-kill policy are better for the animals in the long run.
LSD stands for Iysergic acid diethylamide. LSD is a hallucinate know to be the most powerful drug of this kind. LSD is commonly known as acid. This drug changes a person’s mental state by distorting the perception of reality to the point where at high doses hallucination occurs. Acid is derived from a fungus that grows on rye and other grains. It is semi-synthetic. It’s manufactured chemically in illicit laboratories, except for a small percent, which is produced legally for research.
In the brainstem, the most primitive part of the brain, lie clusters of serotonin neurons. The nerve fiber terminals of the serotonergic neurons extend all throughout the central nervous system from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord. This neurotransmitter is responsible for controlling fundamental physiological aspects of the body. In the central nervous system (CNS), serotonin has widespread and often profound implications, including a role in sleep, appetite, memory, learning, temperature regulation, mood, sexual behavior, cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, and endocrine regulation. Not only does this bioamine control physiological aspects of the body, but it also has an involvement in behaviors like eating, sleeping and aggression. Serotonin has been noted to produce an inhibitory effect on the nervous system that calms, soothes and generates feelings of general contentment and satiation.
What Ecstasy does is simple. It combines two opposite effects, stimulation and relaxation, but in also provides a small quality of empathy. Psychotherapist RD Laing took MDMA in Esalen, California, in 1984 when it was still legal. He said, "It made me feel how all of us would like to feel we are anyway . . . smooth and open hearted, not soggy, sentimental or stupid.” Another psychologist described it as providing a "brief, fleeting moment of sanity". Most people describe the feeling like being in love. The most common feelings experienced are empathy, openness, peace and caring. However, there have been cases in which the user has a decrease in defensiveness, fear or paranoia, sense of separation from others, aggression, and obsessive behavior.
Ecstasy is Methylene Dioxymethamphetamine, often abbreviated as MDMA. This drug is a member of the same family of drugs that include amphetamine and LSD. I once believed that ecstasy was a mixture of methamphetamine and LSD, but as I researched, I found out that it has its own chemical structure. Ecstasy is not a mixture of other drugs; it is something all its own.
Methylenedioxymethamhetamine, the compound used in the drug Ecstasy, was developed in Germany in 1914 as an intermediary substance to pave the way to alternative therapeutic medicines. Presently, MDMA is used for a subculture in America and all over the world of "ravers" who spend their weekends taking this unique drug because of its seemingly mind- expanding properties. The truth about this drug is that it fools the body's senses by releasing too much serotonin and possibly permanently damaging important nerve cells in the process.
Many times when reading a novel, the reader connects with one of the characters and begins to sympathize with them. This could be because the reader understands what the character is going through or because we get to see things from the character’s perspective and their emotions and that in return allows a bond to form for the reader. The character that is the most intriguing for me and the one I found comparing to every book that I read during school was Stacey from the book “Ravensong” Lee Maracle. The character Stacey goes through a lot of internal battle with herself and it’s on her path to discovery that she begins to understand herself and what she’s capable of. Throughout the novel, Stacey has a few issues she tries to work through. This is emphasized through her village and in her school that is located across the bridge in white town. Stacey begins dealing with the loss of Nora, and elder in her town. And this in return begins the chain of events that Stacey begins on the path of self-discovery not only on herself but everyone around her. She begins to see things differently and clearly. Stacey is a very complex and confused character, and she begins to work through these complexities through her thoughts, statements and actions.
Vaccarino, A. H. (2008). Symptoms of anxiety in depression: assessment of item performance of the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale in patients with depression. Depression & Anxiety (1091-4269), 25(12), 1006-1013.
Countless lives locked away in cages and forgotten about have overwhelmed our society, it has left blood stains on our history as a species and if history has taught us anything, it’s that we have a choice to change our ways of adjusting to situations. A war which was fought in pursuit of ending such criminal means, yet we as human beings do little to nothing to end the horrific crimes of animal deaths in shelters. It is no secret that this world has become infused with problems that have extended from one side of the globe to the other. Amongst these problems lies a terrible truth: nearly every year, sums of almost eight million cats and dogs have been placed in shelters around the world. Out of these vast numbers, half will be euthanized; that equals to one animal being put down every 8 seconds. Animals that are not adopted are kept in shelters until they find a home. Most of these shelters do not have enough space or resources to care for the animal. Only 15% of dogs and 2% of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners. The majority of pets are obtained from acquaintances and family members. Twenty-six percent of dogs are purchased from breeders, 20 to 30 percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues, and 2 to 10 percent are purchased from pet shops. In addition, only 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. The 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered, while 78 percent of dogs and 88 percent of cats are not spayed or neutered, in 2009 Statistics from animal shelters in 55 counties in WV (West Virginia) shows that nearly 54% of all animals entering shelters are euthanized, The euthanasia rates ranged from the lowest at 5% to the highe...
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 7.6 million companion pets enter animal shelters across the United States each year, nearly evenly disrupted between dogs and cats . These animals are abandoned for reasons including families no longer being able to care for them (sickness/death of an owner), to families not wanting them (the novelty wearing of the animal wearing off), to the animals being born into puppy mills to finally animals that are loved being lost from their owners. These animals do not understand what is happening to them and rely on the kindness of humans to provide for them in shelters until their forever home can be found.
Overpopulation of unwanted pets has become a major issue in the United States. According to Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society, there are 70 million stray cats and dogs in the United Stated. 6 to 8 million of those enter shelters each year. An estimated 3 to 4 million are euthanized in shelters
For many people the drug of choice would be marijuana, but in recent years that trend has been changing. The drug of choice for today’s young adults is MDMA or ecstasy. Unlike marijuana which has long term affects, ecstasy can kill a person with one hit. It is a very dangerous drug, and is spreading like wildfire in the United States. Most teenagers take the drug without knowing the side affects such as depression and brain damage (theantidrug.com). With more people trying the drug everyday, it is becoming harder for law enforcement to keep up with them. Law enforcement, parents and kids need to do something about this rising drug problem before it is too late. There are numerous solutions that can curb the use of this drug, and other solutions that can put the drug to good use.
In every community in the U.S., there are animals sitting in shelters waiting for homes. Millions of domestic pets, every year, millions are put down at animal shelters across the country. Although a problem with aggressive pet behavior is the main reason animals are put into shelters, stray pets are the result of breeding by roaming, unaltered pets. The more pets that are spayed or neutered, the fewer pets that will be put down. Delaware Humane Association does not put down animals; however, hundreds of pets are turned away each year because there is simply not enough room at the shelter to fix all the unwanted animals ("Myths and Facts About Spaying and Neutering: The Humane Society of the United States, lines
Never Let Me Go is a mysterious story to the reader at first, but as they begin to get more in-depth, find out it’s more than one could think. Kazuo Ishiguro’s vivid imagination reflects well into his book Never Let Me Go, as the book explores one’s own morality into real life as they read it. Kazuo Ishiguro reflects the ideas of Post-Modernism and his own life and imagination through Never Let Me Go, which explores the morality of humans and their fate.