Drug Facts

Cocaine is an intense, euphoria-producing stimulant drug with strong addictive potential.

Coca, Coke, Crack, Flake, Snow, and Soda Cot

Cocaine is usually distributed as a white, crystalline powder. In contrast, cocaine base (crack) looks like small, irregularly shaped chunks (or “rocks”) of a whitish solid.

Powdered cocaine can be snorted or injected into the veins after dissolving in water. Cocaine base (crack) is smoked, either alone or on marijuana or tobacco. Cocaine is also abused in combination with an opiate, like heroin, a practice known as “speedballing.” Although injecting into veins or muscles, snorting, and smoking are the common ways of using cocaine, all mucous membranes readily absorb cocaine.

The intensity of cocaine’s euphoric effects depends on how quickly the drug reaches the brain, which depends on the dose and method of abuse. Following smoking or intravenous injection, cocaine reaches the brain in seconds, with a rapid buildup in levels. This results in a rapid-onset, intense euphoric effect known as a “rush.”

By contrast, the euphoria caused by snorting cocaine is less intense and does not happen as quickly due to the slower build-up of the drug in the brain. Other effects include increased alertness and excitation, as well as restlessness, irritability, and anxiety.

Tolerance to cocaine’s effects develops rapidly, causing users to take higher and higher doses. Taking high doses of cocaine or prolonged use, such as binging, usually causes paranoia. The crash that follows euphoria is characterized by mental and physical exhaustion, sleep, and depression lasting several days. Following the crash, users experience a craving to use cocaine again.

MDMA acts as both a stimulant and psychedelic, producing an energizing effect, distortions in time and perception, and enhanced enjoyment of tactile experiences. Adolescents and young adults use it to reduce inhibitions and to promote: Euphoria, feelings of closeness, empathy, and sexuality.

Adam, Beans, Clarity, Disco Biscuit, E, Ecstasy, Eve, Go, Hug Drug, Lover’s Speed, MDMA, Peace, STP, X, and XTC

MDMA is mainly distributed in tablet form. MDMA tablets are sold with logos, creating brand names for users to seek out. MDMA is also distributed in capsules, powder, and liquid forms.

MDMA use mainly involves swallowing tablets (50-150 mg), which are sometimes crushed and snorted, occasionally smoked but rarely injected. MDMA is also available as a powder.

Clinical studies suggest that MDMA may increase the risk of long-term, perhaps permanent, problems with memory and learning. MDMA causes changes in perception, including euphoria and increased sensitivity to touch, energy, sensual and sexual arousal, need to be touched, and need for stimulation. Some unwanted psychological effects include: Confusion, anxiety, depression, paranoia, sleep problems, and drug craving. All these effects usually occur within 30 to 45 minutes of swallowing the drug and usually last 4 to 6 hours, but they may occur or last weeks after ingestion.

Users of MDMA experience many of the same effects and face many of the same risks as users of other stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines. These include increased motor activity, alertness, heart rate, and blood pressure.

In high doses, MDMA can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate temperature. On occasions, this can lead to a sharp increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), resulting in liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure, and death. Because MDMA can interfere with its own metabolism (that is, its break down within the body), potentially harmful levels can be reached by repeated drug use within short intervals.

Heroin is a highly addictive drug and the most rapidly acting of the opiates.

Big H, Black Tar, Chiva, Hell Dust, Horse, Negra, Smack, and Thunder.

Heroin is typically sold as a white or brownish powder, or as the black sticky substance known on the streets as “black tar heroin.”

Heroin can be injected, smoked, or sniffed/snorted. High purity heroin is usually snorted or smoked.

Because it enters the brain so rapidly, heroin is particularly addictive, both psychologically and physically. Heroin abusers report feeling a surge of euphoria or “rush,” followed by a twilight state of sleep and wakefulness.

Drowsiness, respiratory depression, constricted pupils, nausea, a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Effects of a heroin overdose are: Slow and shallow breathing, blue lips and fingernails, clammy skin, convulsions, coma, and possible death.

Marijuana is a mind-altering (psychoactive) drug, produced by the Cannabis sativa plant. Marijuana contains over 480 constituents. THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is believed to be the main ingredient that produces the psychoactive effect.

Aunt Mary, BC Bud, Blunts, Boom, Chronic, Dope, Gangster, Ganja, Grass, Hash, Herb, Hydro, Indo, Joint, Kif, Mary Jane, Mota, Pot, Reefer, Sinsemilla, Skunk, Smoke, Weed, and Yerba.

Marijuana is a dry, shredded green/brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves from the Cannabis sativa plant. The mixture typically is green, brown, or gray in color and may resemble tobacco.

Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint) or in a pipe or bong. It is also smoked in blunts, which are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana, sometimes in combination with another drug. Marijuana is also mixed with foods or brewed as a tea.

When marijuana is smoked, the THC passes from the lungs and into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to the organs throughout the body, including the brain. In the brain, the THC connects to specific sites called cannabinoid receptors. Many of these receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.

The short-term effects of marijuana include: Problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem-solving, and loss of coordination. The effect of marijuana on perception and coordination are responsible for serious impairments in learning, associative processes, and psychomotor behavior (driving abilities). Long term, regular use can lead to physical dependence and withdrawal following discontinuation, as well as psychic addiction or dependence.

Short-term physical effects from marijuana use may include: Sedation, blood shot eyes, increased heart rate, coughing from lung irritation, increased appetite, and decreased blood pressure.

Withdrawal from chronic use of high doses of marijuana causes physical signs including headache, shakiness, sweating, and stomach pains and nausea.Withdrawal symptoms also include behavioral signs such as: Restlessness, irritability, sleep difficulties, and decreased appetite.

A marijuana concentrate is a highly potent THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) concentrated mass that is most similar in appearance to either honey or butter.

Honey Oil, Budder.

Marijuana concentrates are similar in appearance to honey or butter and are either brown or gold in color.

One form of abuse occurs orally by infusing marijuana concentrates in various food or drink products; however, smoking remains the most popular form of ingestion by use of water or oil pipes. A disturbing aspect of this emerging threat is the ingestion of concentrates via electronic cigarettes (also known as e-cigarettes) or vaporizers. Many abusers of marijuana concentrates prefer the e-cigarette/vaporizer because it’s smokeless, odorless and easy to hide or conceal. The user takes a small amount of marijuana concentrate, referred to as a “dab,” then heats the substance using the e-cigarette/vaporizer producing vapors that ensures an instant “high” effect upon the user. Using an e-cigarette/vaporizer to ingest marijuana concentrates is commonly referred to as “dabbing” or “vaping.”

Being a highly concentrated form of marijuana, the effects upon the may be more psychologically and physically intense than plant marijuana use. To date, long term effects of marijuana concentrate use are not yet fully known; but, we do know the effects of plant marijuana use. These effects include paranoia, anxiety, panic attacks, and hallucinations. Additionally, the use of plant marijuana increases one’s heart rate and blood pressure.

Methamphetamine (meth) is a stimulant.

Batu, Bikers Coffee, Black Beauties, Chalk, Chicken Feed, Crank, Crystal, Glass, Go-Fast, Hiropon, Ice, Meth, Methlies Quick, Poor Man’s Cocaine, Shabu, Shards, Speed, Stove Top, Tina, Trash, Tweak, Uppers, Ventana, Vidrio, Yaba, and Yellow Bam.

Regular meth is a pill or powder. Crystal meth resembles glass fragments or shiny blue-white “rocks” of various sizes.

Meth is swallowed, snorted, injected, or smoked. To intensify the effects, users may take higher doses of the drug, take it more frequently, or change their method of intake.

Meth is a highly addictive drug with potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant properties. Those who smoke or inject it report a brief, intense sensation, or rush. Oral ingestion or snorting produces a long-lasting high instead of a rush, which reportedly can continue for as long as half a day. Long-term meth use results in many damaging effects, including addiction.

Chronic meth abusers can exhibit violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, and psychotic features including paranoia, aggression, visual and auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions — such as the sensation of insects creeping on or under the skin. Such paranoia can result in homicidal or suicidal thoughts.

Taking even small amounts of meth can result in increased wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite, rapid breathing and heart rate, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, and hyperthermia (overheating).

High doses can elevate body temperature to dangerous, sometimes lethal, levels, and cause convulsions and even cardiovascular collapse and death. Meth abuse may also cause extreme anorexia, memory loss, and severe dental problems.

High doses may result in death from stroke, heart attack, or multiple organ problems caused by overheating.

Salvia Divinorum is a perennial herb in the mint family that is abused for its hallucinogenic effects.

Maria Pastora, Sally-D, and Salvia.

The plant has spade-shaped variegated green leaves that look similar to mint. The plants themselves grow to more than three feet high, have large green leaves, hollow square stems, and white flowers with purple calyces.

Salvia can be chewed, smoked, or vaporized.

Psychic effects include perceptions of bright lights, vivid colors, shapes, and body movement, as well as body or object distortions. Salvia divinorum may also cause fear and panic, uncontrollable laughter, a sense of overlapping realities, and hallucinations.

Adverse physical effects may include: Loss of coordination, dizziness, and slurred speech.

K2 and Spice are just two of the many trade names or brands for synthetic designer drugs that are intended to mimic THC, the main active ingredient of marijuana. These designer synthetic drugs are from the synthetic cannabinoid class of drugs that are often marketed and sold under the guise of “herbal incense” or “potpourri.” These products are labeled “not for human consumption” in an attempt to shield the manufacturers, distributors and retail sellers from criminal prosecution. Synthetic cannabinoids are not organic, but are chemical compounds created in a laboratory.

Spice, K2, Blaze, RedX Dawn, Paradise, Demon, Black Magic, Spike, Mr. Nice Guy, Ninja, Zohai, Dream, Genie, Sence, Smoke, Skunk, Serenity, Yucatan, Fire, and Crazy Clown.

These chemical compounds are generally found in bulk powder form, and then dissolved in solvents, such as acetone, before being applied to dry plant material to make the “herbal incense” products. After local distributors apply the drug to the dry plant material, they package it for retail distribution.

Spraying or mixing the synthetic cannabinoids on plant material provides a vehicle for the most common route of administration: smoking (using a pipe, a water pipe, or rolling the drug-laced plant material in cigarette papers). In addition to the cannabinoids laced on plant material and sold as potpourri and incense, liquid cannabinoids have been designed to be vaporized through both disposable and reusable electronic cigarettes.

Acute psychotic episodes, dependence and withdrawal are associated with use of these synthetic cannabinoids. Some individuals have suffered from intense hallucinations. Other effects include severe agitation, disorganized thoughts, paranoid delusions, and violence after smoking products laced with these substances.

Adverse effects included tachycardia (elevated heart rate), elevated blood pressure, unconsciousness, tremors, seizures, vomiting, hallucinations, agitation, anxiety, pallor, numbness and tingling. This is in addition to the numerous public health and poison centers which have similarly issued warnings regarding the abuse of these synthetic cannabinoids.

Overdose deaths have been attributed to the abuse of synthetic cannabinoids, including death by heart attack. Acute kidney injury requiring hospitalization and dialysis in several patients reportedly having smoked synthetic cannabinoids has also been reported by the Center for Disease Control.