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Illicit Drugs: Effects One and All

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Illicit Drugs: Effects One and All
Skye Thomas
Jeffrey Larsen
English 101
13 December 2012

Illicit Drugs: Effects One and All

The world is full of addiction. “Addiction is when you can give up something at any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday.” (Sixx) This seems reasonable to many individuals, and some have a tendency to get involved with LSD (Acid, Purple Haze, Trip, One Way), Heroin (Smack, Brown Sugar, Black Pearl, Scat), MDMA (Ecstasy, Tic Tac Candy, X, Roll), Cocaine (Crack, Blow, Coke, Nose Candy, Snow), and Methamphetamine (Speed, White Crunch, Crank). These are the most known and used of the illicit, or ‘street,’ drugs. The drugs affect people in multiple ways whether they know it or not, starting with the individual status and then moving on to the bigger picture of society. Each drug will be explored separately for a greater on look of the overall effects that these drugs have.

LSD The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports LSD statistics and facts saying more than 200,000 people use LSD for the first time each year. Acid is a hallucinogenic drug, generally taken orally, with “trips” lasting for up to 12 hours. The effects of an acid trip are quite unpredictable, varying due to the dosage, the expectations when taken, the mood the user is in, and the personality of the user. LSD trips can cause synesthesia, or crossed senses. Some of the physical effects include increased body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, difficulty sleeping, and tremors. Users of LSD can have flashbacks of trips occurring years later. Whether the trip was good or bad, the aspects of the original trip can be experienced in a flashback. When abused, it can cause fear of insanity, fear of death, hallucinations when not using the drug, and long term psychosis, severe depression or schizophrenia. While LSD is not considered addicting, it is possible to build up a tolerance, so the longer the drug is used,


Cited: "DrugFacts: Cocaine." Cocaine. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. "DrugFacts: Methamphetamine." Methamphetamine. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. "Health Effects." National Institute on Drug Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. "Heroin." Heroin. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. "LSD Statistics & Facts." - LSD Addiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. "MAPP-SD Home." MAPP-SD Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. "Methamphetamine (Meth)." The White House. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. "METHAMPHETAMINE USE INCREASING AMONG STATE AND FEDERAL PRISONERS." METHAMPHETAMINE USE INCREASING AMONG STATE AND FEDERAL PRISONERS. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. Sixx, Nikki. “A Short Alternative medical Dictionary.” The Heroin Diaries. New York; Pocket, 2007. N. pag. Print. "Statistics." Rehab International Drug Alcohol Rehab Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
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