Drug Abuse

What are drugs?

Drugs are substances that change the way your brain and body works. Drugs can be swallowed, inhaled, smoked, or injected. They can come from plants, like tobacco or marijuana, or they can be manufactured in a lab, like ecstasy. Sometimes, everyday items like glue or paint are used like drugs. Items like these are called inhalants, and using them this way can kill you instantly. Whichever way drugs are taken, they end up in your bloodstream. Blood supplies your entire body with oxygen and nutrients. When your blood contains drugs, the drugs go to all parts of your body. Here are the effects from just some types of drugs:

• Marijuana memory loss and problems with learning, thinking and problem solving. Loss of coordination and distorted perception, anxiety and paranoia. Loss of interest in sports, activities, schoolwork, friends, and family. If you are high you can forget to have safe sex and put yourself at risk for STDs and HIV. In the long-term, it can cause cancer, problems with breathing, and damage your immune system.

• Stimulants, like methamphetamine ("speed, meth, chalk") damage to your brain cells and blood vessels and possible stroke. At lower doses, you suffer decreased appetite, increased respiration, irritability, inability to sleep, confusion, tremors, anxiety, paranoia, and aggressiveness. You also could have convulsions or a dangerously high body temperature that can lead to death.

• Hallucinogens, like ecstasy (MDMA, "E," "X," "The love drug") gives you dry mouth, faintness, chills, dehydration, sweating, nausea, cramps, tremors, blurred vision, anxiety, depression, paranoia, confusion, and an increased heart rate. Everyone reacts differently, but you could have a heart attack, kidney failure, stroke, seizure, and increase in body temperature. You may clench and grind your teeth, wearing off the enamel that protects them from rotting. If you use it regularly, you can become psychologically dependent on it to feel good as a person. It also can damage your brain permanently.

What are some other facts about drugs?

• Drugs may make you feel good for a short time, but in the end, they make you feel worse, especially when they are wearing off.

• Drugs wear off, but your problems won't.

• Drugs wear off, but their effects on your health can last a lifetime.

• Many drugs are addictive, which means they can seem impossible to quit.

• If you inject drugs, you put yourself at a high risk for getting and transmitting dangerous and life-threatening diseases, like HIV.

What can you do if you have a problem with drugs?

How do you know if you or a friend has a problem with drugs? A person who has a drug problem might show some of these signs:

• thinks drugs are the solution to all problems

• spends all free time figuring out how to do drugs again, how to get money to do drugs, and is anxious, depressed, and irritable

• has dropped out of regular school activities or social activities and has a new group of drug-using friends

• can't get to work or school on time, grades have dropped, sleep habits have changed, and he seems to have gained or lost a lot of weight

• looks sick, tired, or even messy

• seems to be taking more and more of the drug to get the same effect

If you or someone you know shows some of these signs, you can get help! The only way out of drug addiction is to recognize that there is a problem and that you can get help from others. Talk to your parents, doctor, nurse, teacher, counselor, or any adult you trust. Although it won't be easy, you or your friend can stop using drugs. Don't be ashamed. Everyone needs help at some point in life. Asking for help could be the best decision you ever made.

Last Updated: November 2003

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