DRUGS

Facts

Marijuana is smoked or eaten. It is made out of dried shredded flowers and leaves. It is a green or gray color. It is illegal. Most people that use it roll it into a cigarette. Some people put it in their food. It can be smoked in a water pipe called a bong. Marijuana is a Mexican name. There are other names for it like: kif, pot, maryjane, weed, sinsemilla, and dope. There are 400 chemicals in marijuana.

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COCAINE

Cocaine is a drug made from the leaves of a coca plant. Cocaine is one of the most powerful addictive drugs. Cocaine is dealed on the streets and looks like white powder. Cocaine’s snorted, smoked, or injected. Cocaine is so powerful it can kill a person . Cocaine can cause you serious health risks. If you take too much cocaine you could slip into a coma or die. Cocaine is usually sold in a form shaped like a rock. The effects of cocaine last normally about 20 minutes . Cocaine's short term effects causes high blood pressure and makes your heart beat faster and dilates your pupils. Mental effects include restlessness, being very hyper, suspicious, and sometimes mental illness. Long term effects of taking cocaine include skin sores, holes that develop in the lining of your nose, weight loss, and damage to the nervous system. Cocaine is illegal and if sold and caught you will face a trial. Cocaine was first used as an anesthetic in minor surgery. You can die even if you take a small amount of the drug. Death is usually caused by seizures or heart attack. The Inca Indians chewed coca leaves to feel good. The drug was first discovered in 1855. Although Cocaine has been abused for many years, it became very popular in the late 1970s and 1980s. Cocaine, a white powder sold on the streets as snow, can dissolve in water. Cocaine is usually inhaled through a small tube placed in the nose. Cocaine can also be injected with a needle into a vein. Cocaine can also be smoked in two forms. "Freebasing" is smoking a pure form of Cocaine through a water pipe. Cocaine is also smoked in a form called "crack" when concentrated pellets are placed in special smoking gear. People who use cocaine feel very good and have a lot of energy. Using cocaine can also decrease your appetite.

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HEROIN

Heroin comes from morphine, which is gotten from opium poppy. It messes up, your brains pleasure systems and ability to notice pain. Heroin can be used in many ways, relying on what the user wants and how strong the drug is. Heroin can be used by:

- Injecting it into a vain.

- Injecting it into a muscle.

- Smoked in a water pipe.

- Smoked in a standard pipe.

- Mixed in a marijuana joint.

- Mixed in a regular cigarette.

- Breathed in through a straw as smoke known as chasing the dragon.

- Breathed in as a powder through the nose.

Heroin is a quick acting drug, mainly when injected or smoked. When heroin is injected into a vein it can reach the brain in 15 to 30 seconds. When heroin is smoked it reaches the brain in 7 seconds. The effect of Heroin is experienced as intense pleasure. When a person starts using Heroin, they quickly become addicted to it and they crave more and more in order to get the same pleasure.

EFFECTS OF HEROIN

· slurred speech.

· walking slowly.

· small pupils, sagging eyelids, can't see at night.

· irritated skin.

· throwing up.

· can't go to the bathroom.

· falling asleep (at high doses).

· almost unconscious leading to a coma

· slow breathing or none.

· AIDS from injection.

· damage your germ fighting system.

· craving more and more.

· not hungry.

· slow uneven heart beat.

· too high or too low blood pressure.

· 0r death from too much.

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Tobacco and Nicotine

Chewing tobacco can cause mouth, tongue or even lip cancer. If you smoke pipes you can get black lungs and die. Smoking pipes also kill you. Smoking cigarettes can turn your lungs black and kill if you smoke for a very long time. Do you know how much money if you were a smoker you would have spent on cigarettes every year? Hundreds of dollars. That is a lot of money to waste on cigarettes. So much you could go to college or get a brand new bike every year, if you were a smoker and stopped smoking.

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ALCOHOL

If you have heard of beer , wine, and hard liquor than you have probably heard of alcohol. Alcohol is the most widely spread drug amoung teens. Even low doses of alcohol can cause dizziness, slurred speach, disturbed sleep, and vomiting. Hangovers are possible after large amounts of alcohol. Hangovers can cause head aches, dizziness, and tiredness. Heavy uses of alcohol can be called alcoholism. Alcoholism is an addiction of alcohol which is caused when someone takes too much of the drug.

Long-term effects of quantities of alcohol can lead to poor nutrition. Mothers who drink during a pregnancy give birth to kids with alcohol syndrome. When the child is born it will suffer from a mental retardation. A child with alcoholics for parents will have a greater risk of being an alcoholic itsself.

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Internet Links to information

Drug- Free Resource Net

Monty Harper Productions Drug Free Page

Connect for Kids - Substance Abuse

Students Against Drugs and Alcohol

For Kids Only - Be Smart, Don't Start