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When you use street or club drugs, you’re taking a lot of risks. The drugs are dangerous, and usually there’s no way to know how strong they are or what else may be in them. It's even more unsafe to use them along with other substances like alcohol and marijuana.
Here's a rundown of common street drugs and the health threats they can pose.
Bath Salts – Cocaine – Ecstasy – Flakka – Heroin – Krokadil – LSD – Marijuana – ICE – Mushrooms – Salvia – Spice
Bath Salts
These designer drugs came on the scene fairly recently and became popular fast. That may be because they were easy to get and used to be hard to detect in drug tests.
They're highly addictive, and they come in a crystalline powder that users swallow, inhale, or inject.
Despite their name, bath salts have nothing in common with products you can use for a soak in the tub.
What else they’re called: Plant Food, Bloom, Cloud Nine, Ivory Wave, Lunar Wave, Scarface, Vanilla Sky, or White Lightning.
What type of drug is it? Bath salts contain manmade stimulants called cathinones, which are similar to amphetamines.
What are the effects? These stimulants increase levels of dopamine, a brain chemical that can create feelings of euphoria.
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Significant changes include:
- The per cent reporting any use of cocaine in the past six months increased significantly from 68 per cent in 2020 to 80 per cent in 2021, the highest per cent observed since monitoring began, although frequency of use remains low.
- The per cent reporting any use of ecstasy capsules in the past six months declined significantly in 2021 (from 83 per cent in 2020 to 70 per cent in 2021), as did the per cent reporting use of ecstasy pills (53 per cent in 2020 to 42 per cent in 2021) and ecstasy powder (35 per cent in 202 to 26 per cent in 2021). The price of all forms of ecstasy significantly increased in 2021, and there were significant declines in the perceived purity and availability of ecstasy capsules and crystal, suggesting a disruption to the MDMA market compared to 2020.
- The per cent reporting use of ketamine in the past six months significantly increased from 43 per cent in 2020 to 52 per cent in 2021, representing the largest per cent reporting recent use since monitoring began. Frequency of use, however, remained low and stable at a median of three days in the past six months.
- Reported recent use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical stimulants significantly increased from 39 per cent in 2020 to 46 per cent in 2021, as did the per cent reporting any recent hallucinogenic mushroom use (30 per cent in 2020 to 45 per cent in 2021), although frequency of use remained low for both.
- Almost three-fifths (58 per cent) of the national sample reported any e-cigarette use in the six months preceding interview, a significant increase from 39 per cent in 2020. Frequency of use also increased, from a median of 7 days in 2020 to 30 days in 2021
(Dalgarno Institute Comment: It is interesting to note that even in this snapshot of the data that, from where we sit, the substances that have received ‘positive’ press, or little attention in the marketplace have increased in use. However, the substances that have had some negative focus, and restrictions placed on use ‘opportunities’, due to the pandemic (i.e. ecstasy at non-existent music festivals) have declined. Of course, interrogating the data requires more than an anecdotal swipe, but it remains an observational reality, none-the-less. Permission models continue to drive demand and extinction focused vehicles, when given even part sway, can shift demand down)
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Prevalence of Adolescent Cannabis Vaping: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of US and Canadian Studies.
JAMA Pediatr. Published online October 25, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.4102
Key Points
Question: What is the prevalence of adolescent cannabis vaping in the US and Canada?
Findings: This systematic review and meta-analysis reviewed 17 unique studies from the US and Canada, with a total of 198 845 adolescents, and found that the lifetime prevalence of cannabis vaping doubled from 2013 to 2020 (6.1% to 13.6%), past 12-month use doubled from 2017 to 2020 (7.2% to 13.2%), and the 30-day prevalence of cannabis vaping increased 7-fold from 2013 to 2020 (1.6% to 8.4%). Preference for cannabis products may be shifting from dried herb to cannabis oil.
Meaning: The findings of this study suggest that more effective prevention and response measures are required to mitigate the increasing prevalence of cannabis vaping among adolescents.
Abstract
Importance: Vaping products were initially designed to deliver nicotine as a tobacco cigarette substitute (eg, electronic cigarettes) but are now frequently used to deliver psychoactive substances, such as cannabis and its derivatives. Large, nationally representative surveys, such as Monitoring the Future, found that approximately 1 in 3 grade-12 students vaped cannabis in 2018 alone.
Objective: To summarize the findings of epidemiological studies that reported the global prevalence of cannabis vaping in adolescents by survey year and school grades.
Main Outcomes and Measures: Prevalence of cannabis vaping.
Results: Seventeen studies met the eligibility criteria (n = 198 845 adolescents). Although no restrictions were imposed on study location, all 17 studies were from the US and Canada. Across all school grades, the pooled prevalence increased for lifetime use (6.1% in 2013-2016 to 13.6% in 2019-2020), use in the past 12 months (7.2% in 2017-2018 to 13.2% in 2019-2020), and use in the past 30 days (1.6% in 2013-2016 to 8.4% in 2019-2020). Heterogeneity across studies was large. The limited evidence from studies using similar survey and study designs suggested that adolescents’ preference for cannabis products other than dried herbs, which usually contain higher Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol levels, may have shifted over time.
Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this study suggest that the prevalence of cannabis vaping has increased among adolescents in the US and Canada and that more effective preventive and response measures are required.
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algarno Institute Comment – Again, a ‘harm reduction’ product that not only ‘isn’t’, yet one that is easily hijacked by pro-drug actors to enable and equip illicit drug use, and most tragically, among the now ‘propagandized’ young.)
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Key points:
* Researchers found pesticides, cleaning agents and potentially dangerous chemicals in vaping products
* They also found trace elements of nicotine in products that claim to be nicotine-free
* An independent researcher backed the findings as evidence of the need for greater regulation
Curtin University respiratory physiologist Alexander Larcombe studied 65 common liquids used in vapes from local suppliers that are available in Australia.
Dr Larcombe said the results showed that many vapes contained carcinogenic and other harmful ingredients.
"There is a suite of chemicals in there, many are known to have negative impacts on your lung health," he said.
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By the Specialist Reporting Team's Alison Branley and national medical reporter Sophie Scott
Dakota Stephenson started vaping to help manage her anxiety. When 15-year-old Dakota Stephenson first started vaping with friends after school she never imagined it could have potentially deadly consequences.
Key points:
- A teenager ended up in ICU with a condition doctors suspect was linked to regular vaping
- She is now speaking publicly to warn others about the potential dangers of vapes
- There are mounting concerns about vaping advertisements targeting teens through social media
That's exactly what happened when the Sydney teen ended up in intensive care last September, with what doctors believe was EVALI, a new lung illness emerging among vape users.
EVALI stands for E-cigarette or Vaping product use-Associated Lung Injury, a lung condition first reported in the United States.
At the peak of her condition, Dakota was partially ventilated on full-face oxygen in the intensive care unit at the Children's Hospital at Randwick for three days, almost drowning because of her fluid-filled lungs.
Dakota Stephenson was partially ventilated in the intensive care unit for three days.
Her mother, Natasha Stephenson, said whenever Dakota took the mask off she was visibly struggling for breath so badly doctors initially thought she had COVID-19.
"She needed a high-flow face mask, she couldn't breathe without it," she said.
"It was horrendous."
Dakota had been rushed to hospital by ambulance just days before when back pain and trouble urinating turned into vomiting, rigours, rapid heartbeat and a temperature as high as 39 degrees.
"She was really struggling to breathe. She got worse and worse," Ms Stephenson said.
Within hours Dakota became hypoxic with not enough air getting into her lungs and all signs pointed to pneumonia in both lungs.
It was then she revealed to her mother that she had been secretly vaping for the past seven months, up to three times a week.
It is thought Dakota Stephenson's is the only suspected case of EVALI reported in Australia to date.
Dakota told the ABC she first started vaping in early 2020 as a way to manage her emotions.
"They kind of calmed me down in a way, like it was soothing to my anxiety," she said.
"The colours were just intriguing — all of it."
Within weeks the high school student started graduating to cartridges that also contained nicotine.
'It looks so innocent'
Dakota was released from hospital after a week, but months later the previously fit teen still struggled with basic cardiovascular exercise.
Her mother said she narrowly escaped permanent injury with some nodules still showing up on lung scans months later.
Dakota said she was speaking out to warn other teenagers about what she believes are the potential risks of vaping.
"It looks so innocent but it could kill you. It's so scary," she said.
Ms Stephenson said she was shocked to learn her daughter had been secretly vaping, saying neither she nor Dakota's father smoked and were very anti-smoking.
"The hardest part was definitely when they said they had to take her to the Children's Hospital," she said.
"Words can't describe as a parent how it made me feel."
For complete story https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-04/vaping-warnings-after-teenager-lung-injury-icu-visit/100508090
For Further Resources on Vaping Check out Vaping Crisis Info Sheet