Have you ever wondered what the real effects of drugs are? There are many types of drugs in our society that are both legal and illegal. Drugs can be classified into many different categories or groups. The main groups of drugs are stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens. These groups of drugs are classified by the effects they have both on the body and on the mind. After reading this, you will know what the real affects stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens have on your body.
Stimulants are a class of drug that elevate mood, increase feeling of well being and increase energy and alertness. There are many different kinds of stimulants such as cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA (better known as ecstasy,) caffeine, and nicotine. Cocaine comes in a powder form made from the leaf of a coca plant. Crack is a smoking form of cocaine that is processed with ammonia and water, and then heated to remove hydrochloride. Meth is an extremely dangerous drug. It comes in a crystal or powder form. Meth can be made in houses in the United States by the use of common household items. Ecstasy is also known as the “club drug” because that is where it is often used. Ecstasy makes the user feel like everyone is their friend. It’s usually taken in pill form. These pills come in different colors, shapes, and sizes. The pills also usually have some type of object or letter imprinted into them. Caffeine and nicotine are both legal stimulants. Caffeine is found in almost all the leading brands of pop. Coffee also contains a large dose of caffeine. There is three times more caffeine in one cup of coffee than in one can of pop. Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant. Caffeine can be addictive if used on a daily basis. Nic...
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...r to concentrate on a task. Depending on the amount of THC the users heart rate may increase anywhere from 20 to 50 beats more per minute. It may be hard to believe, but less than one percent of people who use marijuana become addicted to it. Most people do not know this, but marijuana can’t cause any permanent mental illness.
Now you know a little bit about each of these three classes of drugs. Stimulants speed up the central nervous system, affecting the heart rate and blood pressure. Caffeine is the most used stimulant in our society. Depressants slow down most of the body functions, like breathing, heart rate, and coordination. Alcohol is the most used depressant. Hallucinogens distort senses, causing you to see and hear things that aren’t really there. Hopefully now users will take a second to think about what they are really doing to their body.
Psychoactive drugs are classified into five different groups depending on how they affect the brain. In this essay I will be looking at three of these groups: stimulants, depressants and hallucinogens and how they exert influence on neural processing.
According to the document Substance abuse by World of Health, the social effects of substance abuse may include dropping out of school, losing a series of jobs, engaging in fighting and violence in relationships, and legal problems. Drugs and alcohol are a go to when one is on the street because they help them fight the agonizing pain of having nothing. However, Drugs and alcohol have their side effects that lead to the human body destroying itself which results in the inability to contribute to society. A few examples according to World of Health state, “Opioid drug users may move slowly, lose weight, have mood swings, and have small pupils. Benzodiazepine and barbiturate users may appear sleepy and slowed, with slurred speech, small pupils, and occasional confusion. Amphetamine users may have excessively high energy, sleep problems, weight loss, rapid pulse, high blood pressure, occasional psychotic behavior and enlarged pupils. Marijuana users may be sluggish and slow to react, exhibiting mood swings and red eyes with dilated pupils. Cocaine users may have wide variations in their energy level, severe mood disturbances, and a constantly runny nose. Crack cocaine may cause aggressive or violent behavior. Hallucinogenic drug users may display bizarre behavior due to hallucinations and dilated pupils. LSD can cause flashbacks” in Substance
Amphetamines produce feelings of euphoria, relieve fatigue, improve performance, increase activity, and suppress appetite. Euphoric effects associated with the use of amphetamines, increase potential for abuse. Consequently, prolonged use of amphetamines may lead to drug dependence and tolerance. Desired effects are only achieved by increasing to higher doses of amphetamine, which can result in an acute overdose. Seizures, hypertension, tachycardia, hyperthermia, psychosis, hallucinations, stroke, or death can be experienced. Additional reports revealed that those who abuse amphetamines were significantly more likely to report using a greater number of illicit substances including nicotine, marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, and opiates.
This article connects with other articles because it also highlights how some college students fail to realize the adverse side effects of taking and selling prescription stimulants due to the fact that it is a common practice in their environment, and there is little negative stigma attached to taking pills. The article from the Society for Prevention Research because found that when it comes to college students and drugs, there is a prevalent misuse of prescription stimulants due to dangerous misconceptions of the risks posed by misusing prescription stimulants. This article also gives an example of a study conducted by Amelia Arria in “2006 found that students who perceive prescription stimulants as relatively harmless are ten times more likely to use them than those who think that the drugs are extremely harmful”(Society for Prevention Research, 2008). This relates to the article from the University of South Carolina because they both thoroughly explain how the common misconceptions of prescription stimulants influence the prevalence of college students who misuse them. The article by Christian Teter, Sean McCabe, Kristy LaGrange, James Cranford, and Carol Boyd gives an overview of various reasons why some
Drug abuse refers to the sale, possession or the manufacture of an illicit drug. Bartol and Bartol classify dominant psychoactive drugs into four categories namely; stimulants, hallucinogens, sedative-hypnotics and opiate narcotics (2011). A psychoactive drug is a chemical substance that influences an individual’s perception, decision-making, behavior and mood (Bartol & Bartol, 2011). Methamphetamine or popularly known on the streets as meth, glass, crystal (pure form) or speed is a drug that traces its origin from the West Coast in the 1970s and has swept across the United States.
First of all, some people feel smoking marijuana can get hyper, which providing them the emotion of happiness, and helping them to see the world from a different perspective. However, marijuana will cause a lot of healthy problems to human’s body. Marijuana has many physical effects on human such as rapid heart rate, red eyes and dry mouth. Because the chemical THC will enter into the body when people are smoking it, THC will enter through the bloodstream to the brain. The chemical affects them to feel ecstasy and unreality; therefore, THC will make them feel more confused if people smoke marijuana for a long time. According to, “ Treat marijuana abuse like a health problem” (McMillan, 2007, July 17), it shows using marijuana can cause more serious health issues on human’s body such as bronchitis, emphysema, and cancer. In addition, using marijuana has also been linked to lung damage and affects the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. For example, if marijuana ...
In the history of mankind, the hallucinogens have probably been the most important of the narcotics. Their fantastic effects made the...
Drugs are chemical substances that make your mind, mood, and body feel and act out of the ordinary. There are different types of drugs, some being legal and some being illegal. Some drugs, such as medication for colds and aches, can help ill people get well. Many of these drugs can be bought at the corner drug store and are safe if they are used appropriately. Other drugs that are more powerful are prescribed by a doctor. These include antibiotics, antipsychotics drugs and antidepressants. Some of the most dangerous and addictive drugs are illegal. The most commonly abused drugs include heroin, crack, cocaine, LSD, and ecstasy, and alcohol. Although it is legal for adults over the age of twenty-one, alcohol is the most abused drug in the world (Bancroft 16). There are five major drug and alcohol categories that are divided on how they affect the users’ bo...
Drugs affect your brain and in turn can alter your moods and behavior. Drugs are chemicals that tap into our brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells receive, send and process information. Drugs interfere with the exchange of information in the brain producing changes that promote repeated drug use. Drugs can imitate the brain’s natural chemical messengers, or they over stimulate the reward circuit of our brain.
Controversies over drugs and the effects they have physically, mentally, and emotionally have been around for centuries. Some argue the fact that smoking marijuana has no health effects on the body. Some also say that other drugs have no long term mental consequences to suffer. Now, thanks to technology and hours of studies, answers have came to show the true long term health effects of drugs on the human body and mind.
The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.
With the use of drugs being such a controversial issue in today’s society we felt as a group it was important to further explore this issue. As we possess a high interest in how drugs affect a number of social groups. These groups of course range from young teens to high-class older individuals who will have different reasons and different acceptable standards of behaviour.
Drugs are chemicals that change the way a person's body or mind works. Drugs are not good for health as they have many side effects and damage our brain, heart and other important organs. Drug is a depressant that slows down the functions of the central nervous system and makes us less aware of the events around us. I...
4. Some short-term effects of marijuana include distorted perception, increased heart rate, and a loss of motor coordination.
From cocaine to marijuana, drugs come with different names and different symptoms. Cocaine for instance has symptoms of increased body temperature, increased heart rate, and increased blood pressure. Methamphetamine (meth) on the other hand includes symptoms of a wired feeling, extreme weight loss, shaking, anxiety, and hallucination. Another drug is marijuana which includes side effects such as compulsive eating, bloodshot eyes, occasional paranoia, and hallucinations. Lastly and one of the most addictive is heroin which includes symptoms of euphoria, entering into a dreamlike state, or heroin could even act as a stimulant. All these drugs are different in their own way but some are connected because of their classification. Classifications of drugs include stimulants, cannabis, hallucinogens, antidepressants, depressants, narcotics, and inhalants.