Drug Education
Most governments around the world have laws prohibiting the consumption, manufacture, cultivation and supply of legal and illegal drugs. Penalties can be severe ranging from costly fines to criminal records and prison sentences.
Right or wrong, you should remember that supply can include buying for, or giving drugs to your friends. For further information contact your local law enforcement office.
When we talk about "drugs" people naturally assume we are talking about illegal drugs. There are many types of drugs being used these days for many different reasons. These include those prescribed by a doctor, those bought over the counter at a chemist or drug store, and of course the most commonly used recreational drugs - alcohol and tobacco.
A drug is basically any substance which when taken into the body alters its physical and psychological function.
When a person takes a drug or a mixture of drugs the brain and the body react depending on a number of things including:
- the type of drug used/taken
- the amount of drug or drugs being consumed
- the emotional or mental state of the person (including what they expect the drug to do)
- the age, drug experience and physical health of the person
- where the drugs are being used (club, party, home, etc)
- how the drug was administered (orally, smoking, snorting, injecting, etc)
- what other drugs have been taken (poly drug use)
Poly drug use essentially means using more than one drug at once. An example of poly drug use would be drinking an beer and smoking a joint or having a few beers and dropping an E.
Some people wouldn't consider this a bad thing, however when drugs are mixed, the effects may increase dramatically or they may produce different and unpredictable reactions. In extreme cases this can result in an overdose and/or death.
It is important to remember that any drug scored illegally may contain one or more drugs already. This is often the case with ecstasy pills which may contain any number of substances including MDMA, caffeine, ephedrine, speed, codeine, etc. This means that the user is already poly drug using without even realising it.