Drugs

What Are Drugs?

Over-the-Counter

Many different drugs, including painkillers such as paracetemol, can be bought over the counter in chemists, supermarkets and other stores. 

It is important to stick to the recommended dose and heed warnings given on the packaging. Some can be dangerous or even fatal if used incorrectly or mixed with other drugs such as alcohol.

Prescribed Drugs

Prescribed drugs should be safe to use if taken according to your doctor's advice. It is dangerous to take drugs that have not been prescribed for you. Some prescribed durgs are misused and can be bought illegally.

If you possess or supply any of these drugs without a prescription, you could face criminal charges.

Legal Drugs

Some drugs such as alcohol, caffeine & nicotine are not medicines at all, but they are legal and socially acceptable to use.

This does not mean that they are also safe to use.

Regular or excessive use of any drug can prove hazardous to health and well-being!

Illegal Drugs

Some drugs are thought to be so harmful to health they have been outlawed and their possession is a criminal offence.

Some people still take them anyway, because for them the benefits outweigh the costs. These drugs include heroin, cannabis, ecstasy and magic mushrooms.

Unlike medicines, there is no quality control with these drugs and users can never be entirely sure what they are taking.

Volatile Substances (solvents)

Some household products such as glues, aerosols and lighter fuel contain volatile substances that can have drug-like effects when 'sniffed'.

Anabolic Steroids

Product names include: Sustanon 250, Deca-Durabolin, Dianabol, Anavar, Stanozolol and are sometimes called "roids" or "stegs" by users.

They come in tablets which are swallowed or liquids which are injected into the muscle (never the vein).

Effects: Steroids are used by some bodybuilders and athletes to increase muscle mass and performance as well as recovery after intense exercise or training. They can also increase aggression.

Risks: Anabolic steroids can stop young people from growing properly.

Women can face the following risks: deepening voice, growth of facial hair, shrinking breasts, irregular periods, miscarriage and still-birth.

Men can face the following risks: breast growth, erection problems, shrinking testicles, sterility, increased chance of a heart attack or liver failure, and acne.

The Law: Steroids are a class C controlled drug and possession or supply without a prescription is an offence.

Amphetamine 

Speed, whizz, uppers, amph, billy and sulphate are all common names for amphetamines.

Amphetamine is usually sold as a white powder or grey paste that can be snorted, swallowed, smoked, dissolved in a drink or injected.

It is also available in tablet form for swallowing. Amphetamine is one of the most adulterated drugs on the market and street 'speed' can be as little as 5% pure.

Effects: Amphetamine is a stimulant that increases heart rate and brain activity. It can make the user feel confident, energetic and talkative. Larger doses suppress the appetite and reduce the need for sleep.

Risks: using amphetamine can make you feel tense and anxious, and afterwards will leave you tired and feeling down for a day or two and sometimes even longer.

Amphetamines can make the symptoms of mental illness worse, or bring them back even when you have been well for some time.

Havey use can cause people with no mental illness to experience 'amphetamine psychosis', a sudden and persistent attack of paranoia and hallucinations. This usually disappears if the user steers clear of the drug for a while, but it can come back if the drug is used again.

The Law: Amphetamine is a class B drug, unless prepared for injection when it becomes class A.

Cannabis

Cannabis is also known by many other names such as weed, blow, draw, marijuana, hash, dope, ganja, skunk or grass.  it comes from a variety of the hemp plant whose buds and leaves can be dried out and smoked as 'grass' or processed further by extracting their resin to make solid brown 'hashish' or oil. Cannabis is often smoked in a pipe, bong or cigarette along with tobacco, known as a joint or spliff.

It can also be eaten, either on its own or mixed into cake mixtures known as 'space cakes'.

Effects: Cannabis has a variety of effects which mostly affect the mind rather than the body. Some people feel relaxed, others become talkative & some become paranoid or anxious.

These effects begin after about ten minutes and can last up to 2 hours. Cannabis stimulates the appetite and it is common for users to become hungry, known as the "munchies".

It also slows reaction times and impairs short-term memory. The general sedative effects of cannabis use are referred to by users as being 'stoned'.

Some users report hightened senses or profound insights which seem significant at the time but are swiftly forgotten. Users can be left feeling tired with little motivation.

Risks: Cannabis impairs short-term memory and affects concentration and motivation.

Smoking cannabis with tabacco can lead to a nicotine addiction, and heavy use over a long period of time can lead to respiratory illnesses and even lung cancer.

Cannabis can make users paranoid and anxious. it has been suggested that it can worsen existing or latent mental health problems such as schizophrenia, but there is no convincing evidence to suggest that cannabis actually causes the problem.

Being stoned can affect co-ordination making the user susceptible to accidents.

The Law: Cannabis has been reclassifed from a B to a Class C drug in the UK.

In Jersey, however, it remians a Class B and possession is an arrestable offence that could lead to a criminal record. The more potent cannabis oil is a Class A drug.

Cocaine and Crack Cocaine

Cocaine is sometimes called coke, charlie, snow, or C, and it is a white powder that is snorted up the nose. Sometimes it is dissolved and injected.

 Crack is another form of cocaine, also called rock, wash or stone. It comes as small raisin-sized white crystals which can be smoked.

Effects: Taking cocaine makes users feel on top of the world. It's effect is like the stimulant 'amphetamines' (speed) but is stronger and doesn't last as long. people taking it feel wide-awake, confident and on top of their game.

Cocaine is a stimulant, so it can raise the body's temperature, make the heart beat faster and stave off feelings of hunger.

The effects of crack smoking are virtually immediate, peaking for about 2 minutes and lasting for only about 10 minutes. For snorted coke there is a slower time to peak but the effects still don't last that long (around 20 - 30 minutes).

Risks: Both crack and cocaine can be habit forming, expensive and hard to control, with crack being even more difficult.

The drug leaves heavy users feeling tired and and depressed for a day or two afterwards, and chest pain, heart problems and convulsions can result.

Cocaine and crack cocaine use can prove fatal.

The Law: Cocaine and crack are both Class A drugs.

Ecstasy

Common names for ecstasy include adam, E, echo, hug drug and fantasy. Its proper chemical name is methyldioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).

Ecstasy pills are often white, although a variety of different shapes, sizes and colours have been found.

Some users take to using the more expensive, better quality MDMA powder instead.

Effects: Ecstasy is a stimulant that gives you energy and a sense of well-being. You may feel alert with sounds and colours feeling intense and you are likely to feel more in touch woth your surroundings and with other people.

These effects can last from 3-6 hours and are followed by a less pleasant 'comedown' as the effects of the drug wear off. it takes several days for your body and mind to recover completely.

Risks: After taking ecstasy there is an increased risk of overheating and dehydration when dancing energetically. users should drink about 500ml of water, fruti juice or other non-alcoholic drinks per hour in regular sips to replace lost body fluids.

Long term use has been linked to liver and kidney problems. It has also been suggested that regular use causes a permanent flattening of mood due to changes in the brain.

Many different substances are sold as 'ecstasy' and there is no way to predict precisely what a pill contains or what its exact effect will be.

The Law: Ecstasy is illegal and a Class A drug.

GHB and GBL

Gammahydroxybutrate (GHB) or 'Liquid Ecstasy' and GBL (gammabutyrolactone) are closely related, dangerous drugs with sedative and anaesthetic effects. GBL converts to GHB shortly after entering the body. GBL and GHB have much the same effects. Both can kill you and are particularly dangerous when used with alcohol and other deressant or sedative substances including recreational drugs.

Effects: Effects can take between ten minutes and an hour to develop. With small doses you are likely to feel lower inhibitions and an increase in your socialbility and sex drive.

Larger doses produce feelings of euphoria, can reduce your inhibitions and make you feel sleepy.

Risks: These include nausea, drowsiness, vomiting, loss of muscle control, breathing problems and occasionally loss of consciousness.

Some people have experienced seizures and coma. There have been reports that GHB has been used as a 'date rape' drug.

The stength of GHB can vary greatly from bottle to bottle, making it very difficult to get the dose right and increasing the risk of overdose. 

It is very dangerous to take alcohol and GHB together.

The Law: GHB is a Class C drug. Check out the Talk to Frank website for more detailed information about this.

Heroin

Heroin is commonly known as smack, scag, gear, junk, brown, horse, H and jack. It comes as a brownish-white powder, which is smoked or dissolved and injected.

Effects: Small doses can give you a sense of well-being, but larger doses can make you drowsy.

It is common for first time users to vomit on taking the drug. Heroin is a powerful depressant that slows the body down (including breathing) and combats both physical and emotional pain.

Risks: Heroin is physically addictive, even when smoked.

Long term users end up taking heroin just to feel normal and avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

Using excessive amounts may result in overdose, coma or death. 

This becomes more likely when heroin is injected or combined with other depressant drugs such as alcohol, tranquillisers or other opiates.

Injecting is undoubtedly the most dangerous way to take drugs for two reasons. Firstly, there is an increased risk of overdose. Secondly, sharing needles or other injecting equipment puts users at risk of a number of infections including hepatitis and HIV.

For more information on HIV and AIDS see the Health section or call Health Promotion on 443900.

The Law: Heroin is a class A drug. This means possessing it can lead to a prison sentence of up to 7 years and an unlimited fine. Supplying (which includes giving it to a friend) can lead to a life sentence and another unlimited fine.

KETAMINE

 Also known as K or 'special K', Ketamine comes in tablet, liquid or powder form and is an anaesthetic with hallucinogenic and painkilling properties.

Effects: Ketamine creates feelings of energy and euphoria. It can also cause numbness, loss of control and a separation of mind and body.

It can make you hallucinate, have out-of-body experiences and may bring on a state of temporary paralysis. These effects begin after a few minutes and las for up to three hours.

Risks: Because of the numbness caused when using ketamine, users can hurt themselves without realising until later.

A range of mental health problems are associated with the drug including anxiety disorders and depression.

It is dangerous to mix ketamine with alcohol or other sedative drugs.

The Law: Ketamine is a Class C drug which means that it's illegal to possess it and to supply it. Possession can get you up to two years in prison and/or and unlimited fine. Supplying to someone else, even your friends, can get you 14 years in jail and /or an unlimited fine.

LSD 

LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) is also known as acid, trips, tabs, blotters, microdots or dots.

Tabs are small paper squares impregnated with the drug. They often have a logo or cartoon on one side and are swallowed. Mocrodots are tiny tablets.

Effects: Using LSD can distort your senses, speeding up or slowing down movement and time and making your surroundings seem very different, even strange.

Some users experience visual or auditory hallucinations.

These effects are often referred to as a 'trip' and can last up to twelve hours.

Risks: Once a 'trip' has started, it can't be stopped!

The experience you will have is very dependent on your mood and the environment.

Some users become paranoid or anxious and have a 'bad trip', a kind of waking nightmare, which can be terrifying.

Another major risk is having an accident whilst tripping. A minority of users later experience 'flashbacks', where they are briefly transported back into an earlier 'trip'.

LSD can also complicate existing mental health problems.

The Law: LSD is a Class A drug - illegal to have, give away or sell!

Magic Mushrooms 

Magic mushrooms are also known as mushies or 'shrooms, and are sometimes eaten raw, dried, cooked in food or brewed in tea.

Effects: The effects of maic mushrooms can be similar to those of LSD, although the trip is often milder and lasts up to 6 hours.

Risks: Eating the wrong type of mushroom can cause serious illness or even death through poisoning.

Magic mushrooms can cause stomach pains, sickness and diarrhoea and like LSD can make existing mental health problems worse.

The Law: Magic mushrooms in their natural, raw state are legal to possess but as soon as they are processed in any way they become a Class A drug.  Possession of a Class A drug can get you up to 7 years in jail and/or an unlimited fine. Supplying someone else, including your friends, can get you life imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

Mephedrone

Mephedrone is known by lots of other names, including meow meow, m-cat, magic, drone and bubbles. It is a stimulant drug similar to ecstasy or speed. It's a white, off-white or yellowish powder that's usually snorted but can also be swallowed in capsules or tablets.

It is sold as plant food, and is usually clearly marked 'not for human consumption'.

Effects: Users report a definite feeling of 'coming up' or of 'rushes' as the drug starts to take effect.

The main effects include:

• feeling alert
• a sense of calm or well-being
• excitement
• stimulation
• an elevated mood
• being more talkative

Risks: People who snort mephedrone can damage skin exposed in the nose, leading to inflammation, pain and nosebleeds.

The comedown is miserable - users feel tired and drained but are not able to sleep. These feelings can last well into the next day. 

The Law: Importation into the UK has been banned. Mephedrone is not legal. It is currently a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Law which means it is illegal to have, give away or sell.

Methadone

Methadone is sometimes prescribed to people who are addicted to heroin or other opiates.

It comes as a liquid, tablets or injectable ampoules, and is sometimes called linctus, meth or methadone mixture.

Effects: When methadone is prescribed, it is not meant to give the user a buzz or get them high. It can the user a feeling of well-being.

Risks: Methadone can be addictive; some users claim it is more addictive than heroin.

It is a long-acting drug that stays in the body for several days. it can cause drowsiness, constipation, sweating and itchy skin. it can also affect a woman's periods.

The Law: it is only legal to possess methadone if it has been prescribed for you. It is a Class A drug.

Naphyrone

Naphyrone is known by lots of other names icluding: NRG-1, energy-1 or rave.

It is a stimulant drug closely related to 'cathinone derivatives' including mephedrone. It is similar speed (amphetamine) and ecstasy. it is a white crystalline powder that is usually snorted or swallowed in wraps of paper.

It is sold as plant food, bath crystals or pond cleaner.

Effects: Can give the feeling of euphoria. Other effects are talkativeness, alertness & feelings of empathy.

Risks: Cathiones can cause anxiety, paranoia, risk of fits, reduced inhibitions, drowsiness, coma, seizures and death.

These risks can be increased if used with other substances including alcohol.

Poppers 

Chemical names for poppers are amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite and isobutyl nitrite.

Common product names include Ram, Liquid Gold, Thrust, RockHard, Kix, TNT and many others.

Poppers come as clear or straw coloured liquid in a small bottle or tube, and the vapour is inhaled through the nose or mouth.

Effects: The effects can be a brief but intense 'head rush' which is sometimes described as light-headedness or giddiness, and a flushed face and neck which lasts between 2 and 5 minutes.

Risks: Poppers can leave people with headaches, feeling sick and faint.

Using poppers regularly can cause skin problems around the mouth and nose, and if spilled can burn the skin.

If swallowed, poppers cause considerable damage and could even kill.

The Law: Amyl nitritecan only be issued by pharmacies (under the Medicine Act). Possession is not illegal but supplying can be an offence.

Solvents

Some everyday products found in the home contain volatile substances that give off vapours which can be sniffed to provide a drug-like 'high'.

Effects: The effectsof these volatile substances are short lived and lead to feelings similar to being drunk, with loss of co-ordination and sometimes visual distortion.

The likely after-effects are tiredness and a hangove, but there are also other risks.

Risks: The use of solvents is very dangerous, and in some circumstances can kill. Inexperienced of first-time users are at greatest risk of harm.

Some volatile substances are highly toxic and can cause sudden heart failure.

Others can freeze the airway, leaving the user unable to breath and causing suffocation.

Accidental death or injury can occur when the user is out of control or unaware.

Many volatile substances are flammable and some users have accidentally set themselves on fire.

Long-term use can cause forgetfulness, weight loss and depression or damage the kidneys and liver.

The Law: It is not illegal to buy or use solvents, although users could be charged with public order offences if they behave in an unruly, offensive, alarming or intoxicated manner while under their influence.

Tranquillisers

Common names for tranquillisers are moggies, mazzies and jellies.

There are many different product names for tranquillisers including; Valium, Mogadon, Librium and Normison.

The chemical names include Diazepam, Temazepam, Lorazepam and others.

often prescribed by doctors for sleep problems, anxiety and depression, they usually come in tablet or capsule form, suppositories or injections.

Effects: Tranquillisers can calm, relieve tension and anxiety and slow you down mentally. Higher doses can make you drowsy and forgetful.

Risks: A tolerance to tranquillisers can quickly develop and a user will need more to get the same effect.

Some people can become dependent. The user may lose their short-term memory temporarily.

Withdrawal can be dificult and symptoms include irritability, panic attacks and insomnia.

It is very dangerous to mix tranquillisers and alcohol together because it multiplies the risk of overdose.

The Law: All minor tranquillisers are prescription only under the medicines Act.

A police officer can arrest an individual if they are in possession of any minor tranquilliser without legitimate prescription for them. Supply is illegal and Class C penalties apply.

DRUG PROBLEMS 

How to tell if someone has a drug problem!

Whether or not someone has a problem with drugs is not always clear. people take drugs for many different reasons, but mainly because they like the effects.

A drug user's family and friends may only see the negative impact of theri drug use, but for the user there are still benefits, or they would not continue to use them.

A drug user does nto need to be dependent on drugs to have a problem. If someone you care about is spending money they can't afford on alcohol or drugs, or it is causing friction between you, then there is a problem.

The question is whose problem is it, and what do you want to do about it?

If someone says they are happy using drugs there is little point in trying to get them to cut down or quit. You would do better to focus on their behaviour instead and how it impacts on your relationship.

Talk to them about it and try to understand the problem from their point of view. Stay calm and talk through the issues rather than threatening or blaming.

It could be that talking about the problem leads to some kind of compromise. If not, you will ultimately have to decide whether you still want to be friends with someone whose behaviour is unacceptable to you.

If it is a relative who has the problem and does not want to change, then consider your own needs and make sure you have the help and support you need.

Where to go for help!

The following agenices offer free and confidential information and advice about drugs for drug users and their families.

Jersey Alcohol and Drug Service ~ Tel: 01534 445000

Jersey Health Promotion Unit ~ Tel: 01534 443900

Help2Quit ~ Tel: (freephone) 0800 735 1155

Talk to Frank ~  Tel: (freephone) 0800 77 66 00

Release ~ Tel: 020 7729 9904 or www.release.org.uk

ILLEGAL DRUGS AND THE LAW

The Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Act divides illegal drugs into three 'classes'; A, B and C. Each class carries a different maximum penalty and they also vary according to the type of offence committed.

Penalties under the Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Act 1978

Drug Offence	Importatation	Possession with intent to supply	Possession
Class A	Life, a fine, or both	Life, a fine, or both	7 years, a fine, or both
Class B	14 years, a fine, or both	14 years, a fine, or both	5 years, a fine, or both
Class C	5 years, a fine, or both	5 years, a fine, or both	2 years, a fine, or both

Class A drugs are considered the most harmful and carry the highest penalties for possession or supply.

People supplying or importing drugs also face harsher penalties than those who possess them for personal use.

If you give drugs away to anybody, even to a friend for absolutely nothing, you could be charged with supplying them as if you were a dealer.

Even if you are carrying drugs 'for a mate' you can be charged with intent to supply.

If you are arrested for a drugs offence you should give your name and address, but it is wise to speak to a solicitor before answering any questions, or telephone Release who can give you advice about drugs and the law.

Release Legal Helpline ~ Tel: 0845 4500 215

 

Click on the photo of the drug you want more information on and you will be taken to the 'Talk to Frank' website! There is also plenty of information about other drugs on the website.