Illegal drugs
The health risks of using specific illegal drugs are:
Cannabis
- Short-term effects include:
- dizziness and sickness,
- dry mouth, lips and tongue,
- panic and paranoia (when you are suspicious of people and
situations),
- feeling hungry, and
- loss of coordination.
If you use cannabis on a regular basis, long-term effects can
include:
- lung disease and lung cancer,
- respiratory problems such as bronchitis and asthma,
- high blood pressure, and
- infertility.
There is some evidence that cannabis can also cause some mental
health conditions such as depression and schizophrenia. About 10%
of people who smoke cannabis become addicted to it.
Amphetamines (speed)
Amphetamine use can lead to:
- short-term dizziness,
- hallucinations,
- burst blood vessels which can, in very rare cases, lead to
paralysis and may even be fatal,
- insomnia, and
- depression.
As your body becomes more tolerant to the drug, you need to take
larger amounts to produce the desired effect. This increases both
health risks and the likelihood of dependence or addiction. Some
people may also have a toxic or allergic reaction to
amphetamines.
Ecstasy (MDMA)
Very few ecstasy tablets are pure. Most have been mixed with
other contents such as talcum powder and even dog-worming tablets.
Most dangerously, anaesthetics and tranquillisers such as ketamine
may also be added to ecstasy tablets.
Another big risk with ecstasy is dehydration. Ecstasy raises
your body's temperature and the amphetamine contained in each
tablet encourages you to behave energetically for long periods of
time, for example dancing in a club all night. If your fluid levels
drop dramatically, dehydration can cause unconsciousness, coma and
even death. There have been over 200 ecstasy-related deaths in the
UK since 1996.
If you take large amounts of ecstasy, you can experience
feelings of anxiety, panic and confusion, so it's difficult for
other people to calm you down. Other unpleasant side effects
include:
- dry mouth,
- nausea,
- raised blood pressure, and
- depression.
Some users say that their body tends to stiffen after taking
ecstasy, often causing them to clench their jaw and grind their
teeth. The feeling that the heart is hammering or pounding in the
chest is another common symptom.
Cocaine and crack
Cocaine raises blood pressure, causes the heart to beat
irregularly and increases body temperature. As well as causing
heart failure when taken in large doses, long-term use of cocaine
can lead to:
- extreme paranoia,
- depression,
- insomnia,
- extreme weight loss and malnutrition, and
- impotence in men.
Because cocaine is so addictive, users experience withdrawal
symptoms such as intense irritability and restlessness if they go
for longer than usual without taking it. This period of time
becomes shorter and shorter as the body becomes more tolerant to
the drug and requires larger quantities to experience a high. As
the effects of the drug wear off, users will get symptoms such as
exhaustion and depression.
Women who use cocaine while they are pregnant risk the health of
their babies, as the drug can cause low birth weight and birth
defects. Their baby may also be born addicted to it.
People who are addicted to cocaine or crack often lose more than
just their physical health, as the addiction encourages anti-social
behaviour such as moodiness, unpredictability and crime in order to
fund their habit.
LSD (acid)
Taking acid is risky because each tab can contain very different
amounts of acid. Research shows that a single tab can have as
little as 25 micrograms of acid in it, or as much as 250 micrograms
- this is enough to cause serious side effects.
Psychological health problems are the most common side effect of
taking acid. A bad trip can feel like being trapped in a nightmare,
often played over and over. A trip is the name given to the
hallucinatory effects caused by some drugs. Flashbacks can occur at
any time after taking acid, sometimes even after many years. A
flashback is a sudden, vivid memory of a bad trip and can be very
frightening, and can sometimes cause mental health problems. There
is no way to prevent flashbacks occurring.
When a person has taken acid they will experience hallucinations
and delusions. This is dangerous as they may behave irrationally,
believing, for example, that they can fly. Acid users who have a
bad trip often try to physically run away from the experience. If
this happens, they could put themselves in a dangerous situation by
running into a busy road for example.
Heroin
Most heroin bought on the street is only 10-60 % pure. It is
usually mixed with other products to increase the quantity and
therefore make more profit from it. It is often the substances used
to bulk up heroin that prove most harmful and cause allergic or
toxic reactions. Users can never be sure that the heroin they buy
has not been added to with dangerous substances.
Because it is impossible to say how pure heroin is, it is easy
for the user to overdose. Overdosing on heroin can cause heart
failure, unconsciousness and coma. There is also a risk of the user
choking on their own vomit if they are sick whilst unconscious.
Injecting heroin presents another set of risks. Sharing needles
increases the risk of contracting serious diseases such as
hepatitis and HIV. Long-term injecting may cause collapsed veins,
appetite loss and severe constipation.
Heroin is probably the most addictive drug available in this
country. Users become so dependent on it that they will do almost
anything to fund their addiction. This is why heroin use is often
associated with anti-social and criminal behaviour such as child
neglect and burglary.
Additional information can be found on the
NHS UK website