10 Common Drugs
Alcohol
The vast majority of people in the UK drink alcohol legally. Problems with illegal, underage drinking are well documented. A great many people are unaware of some of the potential risks of excessive drinking. There is a popular belief that alcohol is harmless. This is not true. There are some very serious risks connected to long term alcohol consumption. Alcohol is a major contributor to violent crime and domestic violence. Drinking too much can result in a coma or even death.
Read more about alcohol on the Talk to FRANK website.|
Cannabis
Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in Britain. Made from parts of the cannabis plant, it’s a naturally occurring drug. It is a mild sedative (often causing a chilled out feeling or actual sleepiness) and it’s also a mild hallucinogen (meaning you may experience a state where you see objects and reality in a distorted way and may even hallucinate).
Read more about cannabis on the Talk to FRANK website.|
Cocaine
Cocaine powder, freebase and crack are all forms of cocaine. They are stimulants with powerful, but short-lived, effects. Stimulants temporarily speed up the processes of your mind and body. ‘Freebase’ cocaine and ‘crack’ cocaine, can be smoked, and so can reach the brain very rapidly in high dosage. Snorted powder cocaine is absorbed more slowly. Hence, smoked freebase or crack tends to be much stronger and more addictive than snorted powder cocaine.
Read more about cocaine on the Talk to FRANK website.|
Ecstasy
This is often called the original designer drug because of its synonymous relationship with rave culture in the early 90s. Clubbers took ecstasy to stay awake and dance for hours. The effects take about half an hour to kick in and tend to last between 3 to 6 hours, followed by a gradual comedown.
Read more about ecstasy on the Talk to FRANK website.|
Heroin
Heroin is a natural opiate made from morphine (opiates dull pain). Morphine is extracted from the opium poppy. Like many drugs made from opium, including synthetic opioids (e.g. methadone) heroin is a very strong painkiller. ‘Street’ heroin sold as 'brown' is sometimes used by clubbers as a chill out after a big night out. Brown is still heroin but some people mistakenly think it's not as addictive.
Read more about Heroin on the Talk to FRANK website.|
LSD
LSD or Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is a hallucinogenic drug (which means you’re likely to experience a distorted view of objects and reality, including in the form of hallucinations). It originally derived from ergot, a fungus found growing wild on rye and other grasses. LSD is commonly called ‘acid’. The experience is known as a ‘trip’ and these trips can be good or bad. A trip can take from 20 minutes to an hour to start and usually lasts about 12 hours.
Read more about LSD on the Talk to FRANK website.|
Mushrooms
Magic mushrooms are mushrooms that grow in the wild. They produce similar hallucinogenic-type effects to LSD when you eat them. There are two main types and they’re quite different. The most common form is a species called psilocybe semilanceata or ‘liberty cap’, while the other more potent variety is amanita muscaria or ‘fly agaric’. There are deadly poisonous species of amanitas, so if you don't know what you're doing, it’s wise not to take them.
Read more about mushrooms on the Talk to FRANK website.|
Speed
‘Speed’ is the street name for a range of amphetamines such as amphetamine sulphate, dexedrine and dexamphetamine. Like cocaine, amphetamines are stimulants that people take to keep them awake and alert. The effects of amphetamine kicks in within half an hour of ingesting it by mouth.
Read more about Speed on the Talk to FRANK Website.|
Steroids
The male hormone, testosterone, is an anabolic steroid. The effects of the other anabolic steroids are often very similar to the effects of testosterone. The anabolic steroids can be used in medicine to treat anaemia and muscle weakness after surgery. They shouldn’t be confused with the other main kind of steroids, corticosteroids, which are used to treat other medical conditions, such as asthma, eczema and skin inflammations.
Read more about steroids on the Talk to FRANK website.|
Tobacco
Tobacco comes from the leaves of the tobacco plant. It contains a drug called nicotine which is highly addictive. It's nicotine that gives smokers their 'hit'.
Read more about Tobacco on the Talk to FRANK Website.|