Illegal drugs
Different classes of drugs (e.g. A, B and C) have different penalties for possession and supplying. Possession means having them on you or in your bag, car or home. Supplying means passing them on to other people such as a mate or selling them for money. Penalties for possession and dealing can be found on the Home Office website.
Effects
In the same way as alcohol, drugs can make you do things you wouldn’t normally do and because everyone is different, it may not have the same effect on you as it has on somebody else.
Class A drugs
- Ecstasy (E, disco biscuit, echo, hug drug, burgers, fantasy)
- LSD (acid, trips, tabs, blotters, microdots, dots)
- Heroin (smack, scag, gear, junk, brown, horse, H, jack)
- Cocaine and crack cocaine (coke, charlie, nose candy, snow, C)
- Magic mushrooms (mushies, shrooms)
- Amphetamines (speed, whiz, uppers) if prepared for injection
Class B drugs
- Amphetamines (speed, whiz, uppers, phet, amph, billy, sulphate)
Class C drugs
- Cannabis (weed, blow, draw, marijuana, puff, herb, hash, dope, ganja, grass)
- GHB (gamma hydroxybutrate),
- Ketamine (K, special K)
- Tranquilisers (moggies, mazzies, jellies)
Do you really know what you’re taking?
Drugs can contain other substances such as flour or bicarbonate of soda as this makes the drug go further so manufacturers can make more money. Although these substances are harmless in themselves, they’re not designed to be used in this way and can cause complications. The amount of drug you get can vary so overdosing is always a risk.
Injecting drugs
Injecting drugs can damage your veins and cause infection. Don’t share needles as this exposes you to the risk of getting HIV, Aids and Hepatitis C, which damages the liver. If you do inject drugs, you can get clean needles and dispose of used ones at needle exchanges. These can be found by doing a pharmacy service search on the NHS website.
If you use drugs when you’re pregnant or breast feeding, you are giving your baby them too.
Working with young people in Knowsley
Knowsley’s Drug and Alcohol Action Team ensures that the appropriate support and advice is available to young people in Knowsley who are at risk of substance related harm. With a range of partners, they will:
- deliver substance misuse education through youth work and through Healthy Schools to young people in Knowsley
- provide accurate information and respond to the needs of young people for advice concerning substance misuse
- support vulnerable young people within the community to live healthy lives and reach their potential
The Drug and Alcohol Action Team can be contacted directly on 443 3872.
The following services specifically work with young people:
- Healthy Schools 443 5683
- Youth and Play Services (including Drug and Alcohol Intervention Team)443 3032/443 5323
- Youth Offending Services 443 3074/443 3799
- Young People Specialist Nurses 546 8369
- Children Looked After 443 3369
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health 489 6137
Description and effects of class A, B and C drugs:
Ecstasy
Users may feel alert with sound, colour and emotions feeling intense. The effects can last from 3 to 6 hours and people may feel in touch with their surroundings, often dancing for hours. There is a risk of overheating and dehydration when dancing. Users should sip about a pint of water, fruit juice or other non-alcoholic drinks every hour. The after effects can be tiredness and depression. It has been linked to liver and kidney problems, and brain damage which can cause depression.
LSD
These are inch squares of paper which often have a picture on one side, which are swallowed. Using LSD can distort your senses, speeding up or slowing down movement and time and making your surroundings seem very different, even strange. These effects are known as ‘tripping’. Once a ‘trip’ has started, it can’t be stopped. Some trips can be terrifying. Some people may have flashbacks where parts of a trip are re-lived later. LSD can complicate any mental health problems. The risk of having an accident whilst tripping is increased.
Heroin
This comes as a brownish-white powder, which is smoked, snorted or dissolved and injected. Small doses can sometimes give a sense of well being, but larger doses can make users drowsy and relaxed. Heroin slows down the body functioning (including breathing) and combats both physical and emotional pain.Heroin is addictive, even when smoked. Users may end up taking heroin just to feel normal. Injecting can damage veins, and sharing needles puts users at risk of hepatitis B or C and HIV and Aids. Using excessive amounts can sometimes result in overdose, coma or death. It can also be fatal when combined with other depressant drugs such as alcohol, tranquillisers or other opiates.
Cocaine and crack cocaine
Cocaine is a white powder that is snorted up the nose or sometimes dissolved and injected. Crack is another form of cocaine, also called rock wash or stone. It comes as small raisin sized crystals which can be smoked.A sense of well being, confidence and alertness from cocaine can last about 30 minutes or so. Users can be left craving more. The effects of crack are nearly the same as cocaine, but are more intense and shorter lasting. Both drugs can be addictive, expensive and hard to control. Users can feel tired and depressed for a day or two or even longer, and chest pain, heart problems and convulsions can result. Cocaine and crack cocaine use can prove fatal.
Magic mushrooms
Magic mushrooms are sometimes eaten raw, dried, cooked in food or brewed in tea. The effects can be similar to those of LSD but the trip is often milder and lasts about four hours.
Eating the wrong type of mushroom can cause serious illness or even death through poisoning. Magic mushrooms can cause stomach pains, sickness and diarrhoea and can complicate mental health problems.
Amphetamines
They can be in tablet form for swallowing, a white, grey, yellowish or pinky powder or a putty like substance called base that can be snorted, swallowed, smoked, dissolved in a drink or injected. In its crystal form (crystal meth, ice) it can be ignited and smoked. It is the most impure drug in the UK. Using amphetamines causes tension and anxiety. Afterwards it can leave you tired and depressed for a day or two or longer. High doses taken over a few days, can cause panic and hallucinations. Amphetamine can make the symptoms of mental illness worse or bring them back when someone's been well. Long-term use can strain the heart. Heavy use can cause people with no mental illness to experience a 'speed psychosis' (a sudden attack of paranoia and hallucinations).
Cannabis
It can be in a dark brownish solid lump called resin, dried crushed leaves, stalks and seeds called grass or a dark, sticky oil. Cannabis is sometimes smoked in a pipe, bong, or cigarette along with tobacco, known as a spliff or joint. It can also be eaten on its own or usually mixed into cake mixtures know as ‘space cakes’.
Users feel relaxed, talkative and hungry (the "munchies"). The sedative effect of cannabis use is called being 'stoned'. Heightened senses are sometimes an effect, but cannabis use can leave users feeling tired.
Smoking cannabis with tobacco has all the risks of smoking. It can make users paranoid and anxious and affect their short-term memory and ability to concentrate. There's an increased risk of injury when stoned. There is growing evidence that long term use by young people can lead to psychosis and mental illness.
GHB
GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) was originally used as an anaesthetic, but was withdrawn because of the side effects. It is usually found in a liquid form that is clear, odourless and salty tasting.
Effects can take between ten minutes and an hour to develop. Inhibitions can be lowered, the user can become more sociable and sex drive can be increased.
Risks include nausea, drowsiness, vomiting, loss of muscle control, breathing problems and occasionally loss of consciousness. Some people have experienced seizures and coma. Reportedly used as a date rape drug.
Ketamine
Also known as K or special K, ketamine comes in tablet, liquid or powder form and is an anaesthetic that has hallucinogenic and painkilling properties.Ketamine can make the user hallucinate, have out of body experiences and can bring on a state of temporary paralysis. Temporary paralysis can be a risk when using ketamine, as can unconsciousness.
Because of the numbness caused when using ketamine, users can hurt themselves without realising until later. Large doses can lead to breathing problems and heart failure.
Tranquilisers
There are many different product names for tranquillisers including Valium, Ativan, Mogadon, Librium, Rohypnol and Normison. The chemical names include Diazepam, Temazepam, Lorazepam and others. Often prescribed by doctors for sleep problems, anxiety and depression, they usually come in tablet or capsule form, suppositories (for inserting into the rectum) or injections.Tranquillisers can calm, relieve tension and anxiety, slow the user down mentally. High doses can make the user drowsy and forgetful. A tolerance to tranquillisers can quickly develop and a user will need more to get the same effect. Some people can become dependent. The user may lose their short term memory temporarily. Withdrawal can be difficult and symptoms include irritability, panic attacks and insomnia. It is very dangerous to mix tranquillisers with alcohol and overdose can be fatal.