What you need to know about DRUGS!

What you need to know about DRUGS
courtesy Pastor Keji Hamilton, Chief Resource Officer of Global Centre for Drug Rehabilitation.

Drugs in general bend the mind, but the focus here are illegal drugs, though prescription drugs like Benylin with Codeine (street name Sizzurp) meant for cough are increasingly abused.

Who Are Drug Users?
Drug users come from all kind of backgrounds; male and female, young and old, rich and poor, students from their preteens, working and unemployed, from the city and from the countryside. Drug users cut across all strata of society.

Why Do People Get Into Drugs?
A lot of people get into drugs because they want to change something about their lives.

Here are some of the reasons young people have given for taking drugs:

1. To fit in (peer pressure)
2. To escape or relax
3. To relieve boredom
4. To seem grown up
5. To rebel
6. To experiment

They think drugs are a solution but eventually the drugs become the problem.

What types of drugs are out there, and what effects do they have on users?

MARIJUANA
Often called cannabis. It is usually rolled in cigarette papers called rizzla. Cannabis is number three of the top five substances abused. It can lead users to consume stronger drugs over time.

What are street names for Marijuana?

• Weed
• Igbo
• Taffe
• Efo
• Smoke
• Ewe
• Cocomatad
• Dope
• Ganja etc.

What are short-term effects of Marijuana?

• Loss of concentration
• Distortion in the sense of time
• Distortion in hearing and vision
• Sleeplessness
• Redness of eyes
• Increased appetite
• Reduction in academic performance because of impaired memories.

What are long-term effects of Marijuana?

• Can cause psychotic symptoms
• Can damage the lungs and heart
• Worsens bronchitis symptoms

ALCOHOL
It depresses the central nervous systems (brain and spinal cord). Drinking large amounts can lead to coma or death.

What are short-term effects of Alcohol?

• Poor concentration
• Slow reflexes and reaction time
• Reduced coordination
• Slower brain activity
• Slurred speech
• Sleepiness
• Altered emotions
• Poor vision
• Increased urine production
• Vomiting
• Breathing difficulties
• Passing out
• Coma

What are long-term effects of Alcohol?

• Disrupts normal brain development
• Liver damage and cirrhosis of the liver
• Brain cells die, decreasing brain mass
• Stomach and intestinal ulcers and destroyed organs
• Blood pressure increases, causing heart disease, heart attack, or stroke
• Male sperm production decreases
• Lower levels of iron and vitamin B, causing anemia
• Alcoholism
• Death
• Fetal alcohol syndrome in unborn children. Pregnant woman may give birth to a baby with heart, brain and other major organ defects

COCAINE
Cocaine and crack cocaine can be taken orally through the nose (snorted) injected with a syringe or in the case of crack through inhalation of the fumes from heating it . Cocaine is the powder form while crack is the crystal form.

What are the street names for Cocaine?

• Coke
• Crack
• Oko
• Flakes
• Sniff
• Rock

What are short-term effects of Cocaine?

• Short lived intense high feeling immediately followed by the opposite
• Intense feeling of depression and edginess
• Improper eating and sleeping
• Increased heart rate
• Paranoid, anger, hostile, and anxious

What are long-term effects of Cocaine?

• Mood disturbances
• Restlessness
• Hallucinations
• Murder in order to get money for some by all means
• Suicide

HEROIN
It is usually injected, snorted or smoked. It is highly addictive. It enters the brain rapidly but makes people think and react slowly impairing their decision-making ability. It causes difficulty in remembering things.

What are street names for Heroin?
•Horse
•Smack
•Gbana
•Atike
•Brown Sugar etc.

What are short-term effects of Heroin?

• Cloudy mental functioning.
• Vomiting
• Suppresses pain
• Pregnant women experience spontaneous abortion
• Cardiac (heart) function slows down
• Breathing slowed down a times to the point of death

What are long-term effects of Heroin?

• Scarred or collapsed veins
• Liver or kidney diseases
• Bacterial infection of the blood vessels
• Lung complications
• Sharing needles may result in hepatitis, AIDS and other blood borne viral diseases

What are the other drugs out there?

• LSD
• Inhalant
• Ecstasy
• Crystal meth and Methamphetamine
• Vicodin
• Nicotine
• oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), morphine)
• benzodiazepines (diazepam (Valium)
• Alprazolam (Xanax)
• Flunitrazepam (Rufilin)
• Clonazepam (Klonopin)
• Lorazepam (Ativan))

Are you or someone you know already addicted?
It is possible to get out. No matter how long you have gone on the wrong road, it is never to late to turn back.

What are the typical warning signs that could lead someone to the path of addiction? Courtesy https://www.lakehouserecoverycenter.com/

1. Anxiety - When someone is under stress and if he or she does not have the coping skills to manage that stress, it’s easy to turn to drugs. It’s easy to have a drink as a way to calm the nerves. Not being able to manage anxiety can be a reason to turn to drugs.
2. Depression - Sometimes depression can lead to drinking. An individual might feel so uncomfortable with who they are, how are their lives are functioning, and it hurts. Although depression is a psychological disorder, it can be painful emotionally and physically. The dissatisfaction with one’s life, the inability to feel anything, the lack of connection with oneself and others might stimulate the desire to drink.
3. Social Alienation - Withdrawing is a pattern for many people who experience depression, who have to face stressful situations at work, or who don’t have the coping skills to manage their emotions well. They might be very sensitive and yet have developed the pattern of hiding their emotions. With this is the tendency to feel shameful, and as a result feel the need to hide and withdraw. Yet, in their aloneness and in their inability to deal with their emotions, drugs or drinking can become their coping mechanism of choice.
4. Emotional Avoidance - Emotional awareness is the skill of knowing what you are feeling, why you’re feeling it, and what physical sensations you are having as a result.  It’s is also the ability to understand the relationship between what you are feeling and how you choose to behave. However, alcohol or drugs can turn into a way to avoid distress and challenging emotions, especially those that are difficult to express, such as anger and shame. Not having the skills to cope with difficult feelings as well as not wanting to feel them can easily lead to using drugs as an avoidance mechanism.
5. Risk Taking - Some people never grow and heal from their childhood wounds. They might make choices that are based on childish thinking; they might engage in risk taking behavior as a means to feel themselves or to have fun, which perhaps wasn’t what they experienced as a child, especially if they had to grow up fast. Taking drugs releases dopamine in the brain helps to feel good, especially if life is challenging, and provides a high that changes the internal experience from feeling heavy to light and happy.

These are warning signs that might lead to addiction. If you or someone you know shows any signs of the above, you may want to have them therapeutically assessed. Doing so can help prevent the harmful cycle of addiction from developing.

What do I do, if I or someone I know requires help out of the pressure to do drugs or addiction?

1. If you find yourself in a problem situation where there is pressure to do drugs, find an excuse to leave the place.
2. Talk to someone you can trust, a responsible friend, parent, uncle, aunty, teacher, etc. for support.
3. If at a party where drugs could be in use, never leave your drink unattended and avoid cocktails or non bottled drinks you did not open yourself.
4. Make new friends who respect your decision not to use drugs.
5. Call Keji Hamilton, Chief Resource Officer of Global Centre for Drug Rehabilitation on this number +234 703 254 2163.