Club drugs are a group of popular drugs often found at parties and dances. One of the most common and dangerous club drugs is Ecstacy (MDMA). It is both an hallucinogen and a stimulant.
An hallucinogen can cause a variety of hallucinations, and affect thinking and sensory perception. A stimulant speeds up the central nervous system.
Other club drugs include Herbal Ecstacy, Ketamine, Rohypnol and GHB.
Dangerous?
Rohypnol and GHB (date rape drugs), and a few other drugs, are sometimes slipped into an unsuspecting person's drink, which makes the person drowsy or sleepy and mentally confused. The person becomes an easy target for kidnapping, sexual violence or robbery.
Club drugs are indeed dangerous -- far more dangerous than some may realize. They can cause death, or trigger a series of harmful health conditions, from seizure and heart attack to coma.
Your children can get into serious legal trouble by using these drugs, and they may become dependent upon them.
So never let your kids labor under the popular misconception that they are safe.
Reasons Kids Use Club Drugs
Kids may use drugs to gain social status and approval, release tension and have fun, avoid responsibilities and find the courage to face their problems.
Some may use these to commit a crime, putting a "date rape" drug in someone's drink, for example.
Safety
Adolescents often make the mistake of believing club drugs are not dangerous. They may think of them as innocent party drugs. And since they are widely used by their friends and people they trust, they appear to be quite safe.
Adolescents are still growing and developing, and they often do not make sound decisions when it comes to drugs and other potential hazards in their lives. And they believe myths about the safety of these and other drugs.
It's hard to know the effect of a drug on a person, since each may respond to a drug's chemical properties in a somewhat different way. Plus, your teenager cannot know what other ingredients are mixed in with ones they are taking. And there is no way of knowing how much of the club drug is present in the mixture.
Therefore, the effects of these drugs are unpredictable.
Tips
1. Take club drugs seriously
2. Talk to your teenager about the dangers of these drugs
3. If you need more accurate information, take time to learn more about these dangerous drugs before talking to your teen about them.
4. Use specific and accurate language when discussing these drugs with your kids so they realize you know what you are talking about. Otherwise, they may dismiss your ideas as mistaken and old hat.
Richard Hamon is a dynamic coach and therapist with 30 years of professional experience. Richard helps people to solve their relationship problems, enjoy truly extraordinary marriages and find exceptional success in all areas of their lives.
You'll find all kinds of articles on how to spice up your relationships and lead a happier life at Richard's website, Happy-Relationships.com. Find out about personal coaching programs to assist you in quickly reaching your loftiest goals. Discover eBooks, relaxation CDs and other informative products, such as a free relationship quiz to help you assess your relationship.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Long-Term Negative Consequences of Using Club Drugs on Teens
The term 'club drugs' refers to a wide variety of psychoactive drugs mostly abused by teenagers and young adults, often at raves or trances (all-night dance parties), dance clubs and nightclubs. Some wrong perceptions among teens are encouraging teens to get into drug addiction. Many teenagers think that "abusing drugs is common and everybody is doing it". The truth is contradictory to what they think. Majority of teens are not using club drugs. In fact, a vast majority of teens have never even tried club drugs. There are different types of drugs.
Club drugs and types
Different types of drugs used in rave parties, dance clubs and bars are:
• Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or Ecstasy - stimulant and psychoactive
• Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) - central nervous system (CNS) depressant
• Ketamine - dissociative anesthetic
• Rohypnol - strong hypnotic and powerful sedative
• Methamphetamine - very addictive stimulant
• Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) - hallucinogen
Harmful effects of club drugs
It is a strong myth among the youngsters that drugs are not harmful, but no drug is benign and infact they have severe negative effects on the health. As per NIDA, drugs abuse can cause serious health issues. There are many harmful effects pertaining to drug abuse. They are:
Memory loss
MDMA (Ecstasy) harms the neurons which release Serotonin. Serotonin plays an important role in regulating memory. Significant number of Ecstasy abusers have impaired memory. The ketamine abusers also develop short-term memory impairment on prolonged abuse. Apart from memory loss, club drugs impair senses, judgment and coordination damaging the neurons in the brain.
Hepatitis
Club drugs have harmful effects on liver by disturbing the metabolism. Drug abusers, generally, suffer from chemical hepatitis which is inflammation of the liver. This leads to Jaundice. Hepatitis may spread among people abusing drugs intravenously.
Damage to nerve endings
Almost, all drugs have some or the other type of impact on the nerve cells. Ecstasy blocks the neurotransmitter, Serotonin, in nerve endings leading to the damage of nerve endings.
Behavioral problems
Club drugs generally have long-lasting negative effects on the brain that can alter teens behavior. They will have issues with mood swings, high euphoria or severe depression, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, sadness, aggression, sleep disturbances, decrease in appetite, sudden fears, high confusion, loss of control over body movements, tendencies to injure themselves or others.
Crime and violence
After getting addicted to drugs, teenagers can go to any extent of crime to get them. Teenagers abusing drugs become violent and they get into fights. Drug addicts are more likely to become victims of criminals who seek to rob them of their money, and assault or rape them as their brains will be flooded with fuzzy pleasure chemicals.
Other adverse effects
Several adverse effects are associated with club drugs. The Drug abuse has irreversible effects on brain and general health. Insomnia, coma, seizures are the most common adverse effects. Teenagers taking club drugs have lack of interest to sleep which slowly leads to insomnia. There are a lot of side effects with insomnia. They may develop diabetes, heart problems and there will also be a decline in cognitive functioning. GHB, being a sedative results in coma with persistent abuse. Abusing GHB leads to loss of consciousness (G-hole), tremors, irregular and depressed respiration and ultimately coma.
Even experimentation with drugs will have unpredictable and dangerous impacts on health. Remember, club drugs are not fun drugs. Even first time use of drugs can be fatal. Hence, it is important to avoid using drugs and to live a healthy life.
Club drugs and types
Different types of drugs used in rave parties, dance clubs and bars are:
• Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or Ecstasy - stimulant and psychoactive
• Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) - central nervous system (CNS) depressant
• Ketamine - dissociative anesthetic
• Rohypnol - strong hypnotic and powerful sedative
• Methamphetamine - very addictive stimulant
• Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) - hallucinogen
Harmful effects of club drugs
It is a strong myth among the youngsters that drugs are not harmful, but no drug is benign and infact they have severe negative effects on the health. As per NIDA, drugs abuse can cause serious health issues. There are many harmful effects pertaining to drug abuse. They are:
Memory loss
MDMA (Ecstasy) harms the neurons which release Serotonin. Serotonin plays an important role in regulating memory. Significant number of Ecstasy abusers have impaired memory. The ketamine abusers also develop short-term memory impairment on prolonged abuse. Apart from memory loss, club drugs impair senses, judgment and coordination damaging the neurons in the brain.
Hepatitis
Club drugs have harmful effects on liver by disturbing the metabolism. Drug abusers, generally, suffer from chemical hepatitis which is inflammation of the liver. This leads to Jaundice. Hepatitis may spread among people abusing drugs intravenously.
Damage to nerve endings
Almost, all drugs have some or the other type of impact on the nerve cells. Ecstasy blocks the neurotransmitter, Serotonin, in nerve endings leading to the damage of nerve endings.
Behavioral problems
Club drugs generally have long-lasting negative effects on the brain that can alter teens behavior. They will have issues with mood swings, high euphoria or severe depression, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, sadness, aggression, sleep disturbances, decrease in appetite, sudden fears, high confusion, loss of control over body movements, tendencies to injure themselves or others.
Crime and violence
After getting addicted to drugs, teenagers can go to any extent of crime to get them. Teenagers abusing drugs become violent and they get into fights. Drug addicts are more likely to become victims of criminals who seek to rob them of their money, and assault or rape them as their brains will be flooded with fuzzy pleasure chemicals.
Other adverse effects
Several adverse effects are associated with club drugs. The Drug abuse has irreversible effects on brain and general health. Insomnia, coma, seizures are the most common adverse effects. Teenagers taking club drugs have lack of interest to sleep which slowly leads to insomnia. There are a lot of side effects with insomnia. They may develop diabetes, heart problems and there will also be a decline in cognitive functioning. GHB, being a sedative results in coma with persistent abuse. Abusing GHB leads to loss of consciousness (G-hole), tremors, irregular and depressed respiration and ultimately coma.
Even experimentation with drugs will have unpredictable and dangerous impacts on health. Remember, club drugs are not fun drugs. Even first time use of drugs can be fatal. Hence, it is important to avoid using drugs and to live a healthy life.
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