Types of Drugs

This is a list of commonly abused illegal drugs.

1. Ecstasy
2. Marijuana
3. Cocaine
4. Heroin
5. Ketamine
6. LSD
7. Methamphetamine
8. Oxycontin
9. Steroids
10. Amphetamine
11. Other Club Drugs
12. Tobacco

Ecstasy (MDMA)

Street terms for MDMA/Ecstasy: XTC, go, X, Adam, hug drug

What does Ecstasy look like?

• Ecstasy is distributed in tablet form. Individual tablets are often imprinted with graphic designs or commercial logos, and typically contain 100 mg of MDMA.

How is Ecstasy used?

• Ecstasy is usually ingested in tablet form, but can also be crushed and snorted, injected, or used in suppository form.

Who uses Ecstasy?

• In 2000, more than 6.4 million people age 12 and older reported that they have used Ecstasy at least once in their lives.
• Ecstasy is popular among middle-class adolescents and young adults.
• Ecstasy is sold primarily at legitimate nightclubs and bars, at underground nightclubs sometimes called "acid houses," or at all-night parties known as "raves."

How does Ecstasy get to the United States?

• The vast majority of Ecstasy consumed domestically is produced in Europe.
• A limited number of Ecstasy laboratories operate in the United States.
• Law enforcement seized 17 clandestine Ecstasy laboratories in the United States in 2001 compared to 7 seized in 2000.

How much does Ecstasy cost?

• It costs as little as 25 to 50 cents to manufacture an Ecstasy tablet in Europe, but the street value of that same Ecstasy tablet can be as high as $40, with a tablet typically selling for between $20 and $30.

What are some of the consequences of using Ecstasy?

• In addition to chemical stimulation, the drug reportedly suppresses the need to eat, drink, or sleep.
• When taken at raves, where all-night dancing usually occurs, the drug often leads to severe dehydration and heat stroke in the user since it has the effect of "short-circuiting" the body's temperature signals to the brain.
• An Ecstasy overdose is characterized by a rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, faintness, muscle cramping, panic attacks, and, in more severe cases, loss of consciousness or seizures. One of the side effects of the drug is jaw muscle tension and teeth grinding. As a consequence, Ecstasy users will often suck on pacifiers to help relieve the tension.
• Ecstasy may cause hyperthermia, muscle breakdown, seizures, stroke, kidney and cardiovascular system failure, possible permanent damage to sections of brain critical to thought and memory, and death.

Marijuana

Street terms for marijuana: grass, pot, weed, bud, Mary Jane, dope, indo, hydro

What does marijuana look like?

• A green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. ("Cannabis" refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant.)
• Other forms, less common in the United States, are hashish and hashish oil.

What are the methods of usage?

• Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint) or in a pipe or bong.

What are some consequences of marijuana use?

• May cause frequent respiratory infections, impaired memory and learning, increased heart rate, anxiety, panic attacks, tolerance, and physical dependence.
• Use of marijuana during the first month of breast-feeding can impair infant motor development.
• Chronic smokers may have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers including daily cough and phlegm, chronic bronchitis symptoms, frequent chest colds; chronic abuse can also lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissues.
• A study of college students has shown that skills related to attention, memory, and learning are impaired among people who use marijuana heavily, even after discontinuing its use for at least 24 hours.

Who uses marijuana?

• Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug.
• At least one-third of Americans have used marijuana sometime in their lives.

How does marijuana get to the United States?

• Marijuana produced in Mexico and smuggled into the U.S. remains the most widely available.
• High-potency marijuana also enters the U.S. drug market from Canada.
• U.S. drug law enforcement reporting suggests increased availability of domestically grown marijuana.
• The availability of marijuana from Southeast Asia generally is limited to the West Coast.

How much does marijuana cost?

• Prices for commercial-grade marijuana have remained relatively stable over the past decade, ranging from approximately $400 to $1,000 per pound in U.S. Southwest border areas to between $700 to $2000 per pound in the Midwest and northeastern United States.
• The national price range for sinsemilla, a higher quality marijuana usually grown domestically, is between $900 and $6,000 per pound.

Cocaine

Street terms for cocaine: blow, nose candy, snowball, tornado, wicky stick.

What are the different forms of cocaine?

• White crystalline powder
• "Crack" or "rock" cocaine is an off-white chunky material.

How is cocaine used?

• Powder cocaine is generally snorted or dissolved in water and injected.
• Crack cocaine is usually smoked.

Who uses cocaine?

• Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in the United States.
• About 10 percent of Americans over the age of 12 have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetime, about 2 percent have tried crack, and nearly one percent is currently using cocaine.

How does cocaine get to the United States?

• The United States-Mexico border is the primary point of entry for cocaine shipments being smuggled into the United States.
• Organized crime groups based in Colombia control the worldwide supply of cocaine.

How much does cocaine cost?

• Cocaine prices depend upon the purity of the product.
• In 2001, cocaine purity declined by 8 percent, from 86 percent pure in 1998 to a 78 percent pure in 2001. The decrease in purity indicates a decrease in the supply of cocaine in the United States.
• Cocaine remained low and stable, which suggests a steady supply to the United States.
• Nationwide, prices ranged from $12,000 to $35,000 per kilogram.

What are some consequences of cocaine use?

• Cocaine is powerfully addictive.
• Smoking crack can cause severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding.
• The mixing of cocaine and alcohol create cocaethylene while increasing risk of sudden death.
• Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.

Heroin

Street terms for heroin: smack, thunder, hell dust, big H, nose drops

What does heroin look like?

• Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste.
• Most illicit heroin varies in color from white to dark brown.
• "Black tar" heroin is sticky like roofing tar or hard like coal, and its color may vary from dark brown to black.

How is heroin used?

• Injecting
• Smoking
• Snorting

Who uses heroin?

• In the United States in 1999 there were 104,000 new heroin users.
• In 2000, approximately 1.2% of the population reported heroin use at least once in their lifetime.

How does heroin get to the United States?

• The U.S. heroin market is supplied entirely from foreign sources of opium. Production occurs in South America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia.

How much does heroin cost?

• Nationwide, in 2000, South American heroin ranged from $50,000 to $200,000 per kilogram. Southeast and Southwest Asian heroin ranged in price from $40,000 to $190,000 per kilogram. Wholesale-level prices for Mexican heroin were the lowest of any type, ranging from $13,200 to $175,000 per kilogram. The wide range in kilogram prices reflects variables such as buyer/seller relationships, quantities purchased, purchase frequencies, purity, and transportation costs.

What are some consequences of heroin use?

• One of the most significant effects of heroin use is addiction. Once tolerance happens, higher does become necessary to achieve the desired effect, and physical dependence develops.
• Chronic use may cause collapsed veins, infection of heart lining and valves, abscesses, liver disease, pulmonary complications, and various types of pneumonia.
• May cause depression of central nervous system, cloudy mental functioning, and slowed breathing to the point of respiratory failure.
• Heroin overdose may cause slow and shallow breathing, convulsions, coma, and possibly death.
• Users put themselves at risk for contracting HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other viruses.

Ketamine

Street terms for Ketamine: jet, super acid, Special "K", green, K, cat Valium

What does Ketamine look like?

• Ketamine comes in a clear liquid and a white or off-white powder form.

How is Ketamine used?

• Ketamine is a tranquilizer most commonly used on animals.
• The liquid form can be injected, consumed in drinks, or added to smokable materials.
• The powder form can be used for injection when dissolved.
• In certain areas, Ketamine is being injected intramuscularly.

Who uses Ketamine?

• Ketamine, along with the other "club drugs," has become popular among teens and young adults at dance clubs and "raves."

How does Ketamine get into the United States?

• Marketed as a dissociative general anesthetic for human and veterinary use, the only known source of Ketamine is via diversion of pharmaceutical products.
• Recent press reports indicate that a significant number of veterinary clinics are being robbed specifically for their Ketamine stock.
• DEA reporting indicates that a major source of Ketamine in the United States is product diverted from pharmacies in Mexico.

How much does Ketamine cost?

• Prices average $20 to $25 per dosage unit.

What are some consequences of Ketamine use?

• Higher doses produce an effect referred to as "K-Hole," an "out of body," or "near-death" experience.
• Use of the drug can cause delirium, amnesia, depression, and long-term memory and cognitive difficulties. Due to its dissociative effect, it is reportedly used as a date-rape drug.

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the most potent hallucinogen known to science, as well as the most highly studied. LSD was originally synthesized in 1938 by Dr. Albert Hoffman. However, its hallucinogenic effects were unknown until 1943 when Hoffman accidentally consumed some LSD. It was later found that an oral dose of as little as 0.000025 grams (or 25 micrograms, equal in weight to a few grains of salt) is capable of producing rich and vivid hallucinations. LSD was popularized in the 1960s by individuals like Timothy Leary who encouraged American students to "turn on, tune in, and drop out." LSD use has varied over the years but it still remains a significant drug of abuse. In 1999, over 12 percent of high school seniors and college students reported that they had used LSD at least once in their lifetime.

Because of its structural similarity to a chemical present in the brain and its similarity in effects to certain aspects of psychosis, LSD was used as a research tool to study mental illness. The average effective oral dose is from 20 to 80 micrograms with the effects of higher doses lasting for 10 to 12 hours. LSD is usually sold in the form of impregnated paper (blotter acid), typically imprinted with colorful graphic designs. It has also been encountered in tablets (microdots), thin squares of gelatin (window panes), in sugar cubes and, rarely, in liquid form.

Physical reactions may include dilated pupils, lowered body temperature, nausea, "goose bumps," profuse perspiration, increased blood sugar, and rapid heart rate. During the first hour after ingestion, the user may experience visual changes with extreme changes in mood. In the hallucinatory state, the user may suffer impaired depth and time perception, accompanied by distorted perception of the size and shape of objects, movements, color; sound, touch, and the users own body image. During this period, the users' ability to perceive objects through the senses is distorted: they may describe "hearing colors" and "seeing sounds." The ability to make sensible judgments and see common dangers is impaired, making the user susceptible to personal injury. After an LSD "trip," the user may suffer acute anxiety or depression for a variable period of time. Flashbacks have been reported days or even months after taking the last dose.

TRAFFICKING

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) remains available in retail quantities in virtually every state. LSD production reportedly is centered on the West Coast, particularly in San Francisco, northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and recently the Midwest. Since the 1960s, LSD has been manufactured illegally within the United States. LSD production is a time-consuming and complex procedure. Several chemical recipes for synthesizing LSD are on the Internet, but clandestine production requires a high degree of chemical expertise. Chemists maintain tight control at the production level, but do not necessarily participate in the distribution of the drug. These chemists usually sell the crystal LSD product to one or two trusted associates, insulating themselves from the wholesale distributors.

Few LSD laboratories have ever been seized in the United States because of infrequent and irregular production cycles. In 2000, DEA seized one LSD laboratory that was located in a converted missile silo in Kansas. LSD is produced in crystal form that is converted to liquid and distributed primarily in the form of squares of blotter paper saturated with the liquid. To a lesser extent, LSD is sold as a liquid, contained in breath mint bottles and vials; in gelatin tab form ("window panes") of varying colors; and in pill form known as "microdots."

Distribution of LSD is unique within the drug culture. A proliferation of mail order sales has created a marketplace where the sellers are virtually unknown to the buyers, giving the highest level traffickers considerable insulation from drug law enforcement operations. The vast majority of users are middle-class adolescents and young adults attracted by its low prices. Rock concerts continue to be favorite distribution sites for LSD traffickers; however, distribution at raves throughout the United States is becoming more popular. Contacts made at raves and concerts are used to establish future transactions and shipments of larger quantities of LSD.

Methamphetamine & Amphetamines

(Amphetamine, dextroamphetamine, methamphetamine, and their various salts are collectively referred to as amphetamines. In fact, their chemical properties and actions are so similar that even experienced users have difficulty knowing which drug they have taken. Methamphetamine is the most commonly abused.)

Street terms for methamphetamine: Meth, poor man's cocaine, crystal meth, ice, glass, speed

What Does Methamphetamine Look Like?

• Typically meth is a white powder that easily dissolves in water.
• Another form of meth, in clear chunky crystals, called crystal meth, or ice.
• Meth can also be in the form of small, brightly colored tablets. The pills are often called by their Thai name, yaba.

What are the methods of usage?

• Injecting
• Snorting
• Smoking
• Oral ingestion

Who uses methamphetamine and amphetamines?

• During 2000, 4% of the U.S. population reported trying methamphetamine at least once in their lifetime.
• Abuse is concentrated in the western, southwestern, and midwestern United States.

How do methamphetamine and amphetamines get to the United States?

• Clandestine laboratories in California and Mexico are the primary sources of supply for methamphetamine available in the United States.
• Domestic labs that produce methamphetamine are dependent on supplies of the precursor chemical pseudoephedrine, which is sometimes diverted from legitimate sources. It is smuggled from Canada, and to a lesser extent from Mexico.
• Domestic independent laboratory operators, mostly in the western, southwestern, and midwestern United States, also produce and distribute methamphetamine but on a smaller scale.
• Yaba (meth in tablet form) is most often produced in Southeast Asia and sent by mail or courier to the United States.

How much do methamphetamine and amphetamines cost?

• Prices for methamphetamine vary throughout different regions of the United States.
• At the distribution level, prices range from $3,500 per pound in parts of California and Texas to $21,000 per pound in southeastern and northeastern regions of the country. Retail prices range from $400 to $3,000 per ounce.

What are some consequences of methamphetamine and amphetamine use?

• Effects of usage include addiction, psychotic behavior, and brain damage.
• Withdrawal symptoms include depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression, and intense cravings.
• Chronic use can cause violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, delusions, and paranoia.
• Damage to the brain cause by meth usage is similar to Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and epilepsy.

OxyContin™

Street terms for OxyContin™: Hillbilly heroin, Oxy, Oxycotton

What does OxyContin™ look like?

• OxyContin™ is a legal, time-release pain medication that comes in tablet form.

What are the methods of usage?

• Chewing the tablets
• Snorting crushed tablets
• Dissolving tablets in water and injecting
• These methods cause a faster, highly dangerous release of medication.

Who uses OxyContin™?

• Abuse of OxyContin™ in rural Maine, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia brought national attention to this problem.
• The areas most currently affected by OxyContin™ abuse are eastern Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; southern Maine; Philadelphia and southwestern Pennsylvania; southwestern Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Phoenix, Arizona.
• An increase in illegal use has been especially apparent on the East Coast.
• 9% or 19.9 million Americans have used pain relievers illegally in their lifetime.

How does OxyContin™ get to the United States?

• Because it is a legal drug, OxyContin™ is supplied across the country for legitimate medical purposes.
• Word of mouth has allowed users to devise illicit usage techniques.
• Pharmacy robberies, health care fraud, and international trafficking constitute illicit distribution ability.

How much does OxyContin™ cost?

• When legally sold, a 10-mg tablet of OxyContin™ will cost $1.25 and an 80-mg tablet will cost $6.
• When illegally sold, a 10-mg tablet of OxyContin™ can cost between $5 and $10. An 80-mg tablet can cost between $65 and $80.

What are some consequences of illicit OxyContin™ use?

• Long-term usage can lead to physical dependence.
• A large dosage can cause severe respiratory depression that can lead to death.
• Withdrawal symptoms include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, and involuntary leg movements.

Steroids

Commonly abused steroids: Anadrol, Oxandrin, Dianobol, Winstrol, Durabolin, Depo-Testosterone, and Equipoise

What is the form of steroids?

• There are more than 100 types of anabolic steroids, and each requires a prescription.

What are the methods of usage?

• Oral ingestion
• Injection
• Rubbed on the skin in the form of gels or creams

Who uses steroids?

• Steroid use among young adults and high school students is much more prevalent among males than females.
• Among 19-22 year olds surveyed in 2000, 18.9% reported having a friend who was a current user of steroids.
• 1.4% of young adults (ages 19-28) surveyed in 2000 reported using steroids at least one time during their lives.

How do steroids get to the United States?

• Illicit anabolic steroids are often sold at gyms, competitions, and through mail operations.
• Steroids are also illegally diverted from U.S. pharmacies or synthesized in clandestine laboratories.
• Anabolic steroids are illicitly smuggled from Mexico and European countries to the United States.
• Recent DEA reporting indicates that Russian, Romanian, and Greek nationals are significant traffickers of steroids.

What are some consequences of steroid use?

• Effects associated with anabolic steroid abuse range from acne and breast development in men, increased irritability and aggression, to liver cancer, heart attacks, and high cholesterol.
• People who inject steroids run the risk of contracting or transmitting hepatitis or HIV.
• Withdrawal symptoms include mood swings, fatigue, restlessness, loss of appetite, insomnia, reduced sex drive, and depression.
• This depression can lead to suicide attempts and if left untreated, can persist for a year or more after the abuser stops taking the drugs.

Operation X-Out Ecstasy and Other Predatory Drugs

Street Names: Liquid Ecstasy, Scoop, Easy Lay, Georgia Home Boy, Grievous Bodily Harm, Liquid X, and Goop

What are the different forms of GHB?

• An odorless, colorless liquid form
• White powder material

How is GHB used?

• Usually ingested in a liquid mixture; most commonly mixed with alcohol

Who uses GHB?

• GHB has become popular among teens and young adults at dance clubs and "raves."
• Body builders sometimes use GHB for its alleged anabolic effects.

How does GHB get to the United States?

• Because the drug is easy to synthesize and manufacture, local operators usually handle distribution.

How much does GHB cost?

• GHB is usually sold by the capful, and sells for $5 to $25 per cap.

What are some consequences of GHB use?

• In lower doses, GHB causes drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, and visual disturbances.
• At higher dosages, unconsciousness, seizures, severe respiratory depression, and coma can occur.
• Overdoses usually require emergency room treatment, including intensive care for respiratory depression and coma. As of November 2000, DEA documented 71 GHB-related deaths.
• GHB has been used in the commission of sexual assaults because it renders the victim incapable of resisting, and may cause memory problems that could complicate case prosecution.

Tobacco

The Truth About Tobacco Slang -- Cigarettes: Smokes, Cigs, Butts. Smokeless Tobacco: Chew, Dip, Spit Tobacco, Snuff

Get the Facts...

Tobacco damages your health. Smoking is the most common cause of lung cancer. Smoking is also a leading cause of cancer of the mouth, throat, bladder, pancreas, and kidney. Smokeless tobacco can cause mouth cancer, tooth loss, and other health problems.

Tobacco affects your body's development. Smoking is particularly harmful for teens because your body is still growing and changing. The 200 known poisons in cigarette smoke affect your normal development and can cause life-threatening diseases, such as chronic bronchitis, heart disease, and stroke.

Tobacco is addictive. Cigarettes contain nicotine-a powerfully addictive substance. Three-quarters of young people who use tobacco daily continue to do so because they find it hard to quit.

Tobacco can kill you. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in this country. More than 400,000 Americans die from tobacco-related causes each year, and most of them began using tobacco before the age of 18.

Before You Risk It...

Know the law. It is illegal for anyone under 18 to buy cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, or tobacco-related products.

Stay Informed. Addiction to tobacco is hard to control. More than 90 percent of teens who use tobacco daily experience at least one symptom of withdrawal when they try to quit.

Keep your edge. The poisons in cigarettes can affect your appearance. Smoking can dry your skin out and cause wrinkles. Some research even relates smoking to premature gray hair and hair loss.

Be aware. It can be hard to play sports if you use tobacco. Smoking causes shortness of breath and dizziness, and chewing tobacco causes dehydration.

Think of others. Smoking puts the health of your friends and family at risk. Approximately 3,000 nonsmokers die of lung cancer each year from breathing other peoples' smoke.

Get the facts. Each day more than 3,000 people under age 18 become regular smokers. That's more than 1 million teens per year. Roughly one-third of them will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease.

Look around you. Even though a lot of teens use tobacco, most don't. According to a 1998 study, less than 20 percent of teens are regular smokers. In fact, 64 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have never even tried a cigarette.

Know the Signs...

How can you tell if a friend is using tobacco? Sometimes it's tough to tell. But there are signs you can look for. If your friend has one or more of the following signs, he or she may be regularly using tobacco:

• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Bad breath
• Smelly hair and clothes
• Yellow-stained teeth and fingers
• Frequent colds
• Decreased senses of smell and taste
• Difficulty keeping up with sports and athletic activities
• Bleeding gums (smokeless tobacco)
• Frequent mouth sores (smokeless tobacco)

What can you do to help someone who is using tobacco? Be a real friend. Encourage your friend to quit. For information and referrals, call the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at 800-729-6686.

Q & A

Q. Doesn't smoking help you relax?

A. No. Smoking can actually increase feelings of stress and nervousness. Break the cycle: Use drug-free strategies to calm your nerves like exercise and talking to your friends.

Q. Isn't smokeless tobacco safer to use than cigarettes?

A. No. There is no safe form of tobacco. Smokeless tobacco can cause mouth, cheek, throat, and stomach cancer. Smokeless tobacco users are 50 times more likely to get oral cancer than non-users. Those smokeless tobacco users who don't develop some type of cancer are still likely to have signs of use, like stained teeth, bad breath, and mouth sores.

Q. Isn't smoking sexy?

A. Only if you think bad breath, smelly hair, yellow fingers, and coughing are sexy. Advertisements often portray smoking as glamorous and sophisticated, but think carefully about who created these ads and why.