 Very addicting.  Always chasing a high that you can never obtain.  Always need that next “hit”.  stories.html stories.html

Facts

 Heroin is a highly addictive and rapidly acting opiate. Heroin is produced from morphine, which is a principal component of opium.  Heroin is injected, snorted, or smoked.  Impossible for them to know the purity of the heroin they are using (dangerous).  Heroin stops producing “highs” once a tolerance is built, from there it is used to just feel normal.

 3.8 million people (1.5 percent of the population above 12) say they have tried heroin at least once in their lifetimes.  560,000 people used heroin last year.  338,000 people used heroin last month.  The rate of heroin use is higher among those in prison (23.4 percent for State and 17.9 percent for Federal).

 Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant. The powdered form of cocaine can be snorted or dissolved in water and then injected. Crack is the street name given to the form of cocaine that has been processed to make a rock crystal, which, when heated, produces vapors that are smoked.

 Stimulant  Disruption of normal brain communication between neurons.  With repeated use, tolerance to the cocaine high often develops. Many cocaine users report that they seek to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first time, but never reach it.

 About 14% of U.S. adults have tried cocaine.  One in 40 adults has used it in the past year.  Young men aged 18 to 25 are the biggest cocaine users, with 8% using it in the previous 12 months.

 Comes in pill or tablet form.  Synthetic drug, noted for its hallucinogenic effects.  Extreme disorientation.  Typically sold as a liquid (often packaged in small bottles designed to hold breath freshening drops) or applied to blotter paper, sugar cubes, gelatin squares, and tablets.

 In 2009, 779,000 Americans age 12 and older had abused LSD at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.  The NIDA-funded 2010 Monitoring the Future Study showed that 1.2% of 8th graders, 1.9% of 10th graders, and 2.6% of 12th graders had abused LSD at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.

 More pure than the powder form of methamphetamines.  The drug can cause rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, and damage to the small blood vessels in the brain--which can lead to stroke.  Chronic use of the drug can result in inflammation of the heart lining.  Overdoses can cause hyperthermia (elevated body temperature), convulsions, and death.

 According to the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Survey, nearly 5 percent of high school seniors in the United States used crystal methamphetamine at least once in their lifetime and 3 percent used the drug in the past year.