MEET THE ENEMY

The '80 are often described as the decade of addiction. It was the time when drugs gained the largest popularity and their assortment was profoundly broadened. Every day, in home and scientific laboratories new "wonderful drugs" are being discovered which aim at improving feeling of well-being, substitute love, friendship and real feelings. At present, all around the world the war on drugs is being fought. Unaware of the enemy we are more likely to be defeated. Information about drugs we receive is usually partial and false, therefore it is more likely to raise people's interest than objection. Information which may help to overcome the enemy and win the battle with drugs is provided below.

How the drug affects health?

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"Polish heroine" Amphetamine  Cannabis  Glues LSD, "acid"

  "Polish heroine" 

It is the most commonly sold drug in Poland, usually produced at home laboratory. At first glimpse it reminds of strong tea, but nobody should be mislead by this "innocent" looks. Polish heroine already killed enormous number of young people. It is usually injected in conditions far from any acceptable standards of hygiene, therefore except for expected "boost" one can get HIV virus or jaundice. Polish heroine is a drug highly mentally and physically addictive. A few doses only may lead to addiction. When drug dose is not provided for a period of time, various symptoms of "hunger" appear, such as sickness, diarrhoea, strong muscle pains and fever.

Consequences of taking:

• Risk of getting sick with AIDS or jaundice

• Vascular inflammation

• Kidney and liver cirrhosis

• Heart malfunction

• Lung swelling

• Weakening of central nervous system

• Psychological changes

• Problems with memory and concentration

• Loss of interests

• death

Amphetamine 

Recently the number of people addicted to amphetamine is increasing. It is a stimulating substance, taken in larger amounts affects thinking, increases the level of blood pressure and heart action. The price for a short "boost" is priced high; frequent headaches, physical exhaustion, psychical imbalance, anaemia. As the drug could wipe out the symptoms of tiredness for a time, after the period of its activity, the exhaustion returns in multiplied extent. Large and frequently taken doses may evoke delirium, strong anxiety, hallucinations. Returning to balance may last a couple of days. 
The activity of amphetamine may be compared to a fast drive in a brand new and unpredictable car. After a time the engine fails and the machine is unable to work. The car is in better position, though, because the engine may be exchanged, whereas damaged brain cells can not. 
Amphetamine is a substance strongly affecting our psyche. It is said that an every individual carries a grain of mental illness inside. One can be unaware of that all their life, and only strong stress or emotion may start the illness. What sort of illness? Nobody knows. It may be either schisophrenia, depression, or light psychosis. Amphetamine, being a stimulant, may also evoke such a disease. One need not to wait a couple of months to notice the results of its taking. Who of us is this individual in a hundred? Again - nobody knows. Do you want to know? Will you take this risk? An extensive use of amphetamine may lead to the death of exhaustion.

Consequences of taking:

• Strong exhaustion 

• anaemia 
  problems with concentration 

• amphetamine psychosis

• heart activity malfunction

• damage to central nervous system 

• death

• increased level of aggression

Cannabis 

Its supporters perceive cannabis as a light and not harmful drug. For some, it is a safer drug than the alcohol drug by their parents. However, as scientists have found, cannabis' ability to evoke the mental addiction is 18 times stronger than of alcohol. 
Large doses of cannabis may evoke malfunctions in perceiving, time and space awareness. They affect the STM (short time memory) brain center and cause problems with body balance. Large doses evoke feeling of anxiety, fear, hallucinations and psychotic states. Often happen chest pains and temporal loss of movement coordination. An active factor, responsible for a temporal loss of control, is cannabis' ingredient THC, or 9 deltatetrahydrocannabiol. This substance, once apparent in high concentration, may cause death. Cannabis contain from 1 to 4 per cent of it. But THC does not dissolve in water as normal tobacco and is not expelled quickly from organism. It belongs to fat-absorbants and before it leaves the organism it stays about 3 to 4 weeks in brain tissue and genital cells responsible for producing male and female hormones. 
Organism detoxication of a cannabis - taker takes usually 2-3 weeks. To get rid of THC from a body of an addict lasts normally approximately 60 days. Therefore it is highly probable that in tissues of a regular cannabis smoker, concentration of "stored" THC is far beyond the "safe" levels. Owing to this happen problems with concentration, memory and movement coordination. 
Just after smoking the cannabis, a man is in "goofying" mood. Its symptoms are talkativeness, high sensitivity to sound and colour. The expectations connected with using drug and the situation of its taking, or smoking, are of key importance either. Therefore, many mokers create own rituals of smoking cannabis. A big mistake is treating cannabis as an "entertainer", it only strengthens the mood the individual is already in. then if anybody tried it to get rid of sadness, may get the opposite result from the expected and drawn in depression. It is definitely discouraged driving a car after having smoked cannabis, because it affects concentration and reactions. Approximately 17% of car crashes in USA are caused by drivers smoking "a mysterious herb". Although everyone knows that nobody died of cannabis yet, still those who were killed in crashes as well as those who became depressed and commited suicide were equally dead as heroine takers after overdose.

Consequences of taking:

• Losing interest in surrounding world

• Lowering the perceiving and concentration levels

• Problems with memory

• Body balance shortage

• Coma

• Lung cancer

• Lowering the level of testosterone and sperm damage

• Psychosis, delirious states 

• Loss of interest

Glues 

Glue is cheap and easily accessible, therefore it became the most popular drug among schoolchildren. The state of excitement it causes and its low price result in that nobody cares about the side effects of "sniffing game". At the same time glue vapours are transported with blood to the brain, where they penetrate its cells. 
Such an affected brain operates much slower, it takes more time to associate facts and assess the reality. After some time a glue addict faces problems with concentration and memory. Lower level of oxygen in brain is the reason for apathy, fears and loss of consciousness. A glue addict is recognizable after a characteristic scent of glue evaporating from his hair and clothes. 
As scientists have calculated, during one session of "sniffing" dies approximately 350 thousand brain cells. It is a lot, bearing in mind that they are irrevertably lost. This is the reason for later problems with concentration, movement coordination or memory. Very often the sessions result in death.

Results of taking:

• Irrevertable brain damage

• Problems with concentration

• Problems with memory

• Doubled eyesight

• Chest pains

• Problems with movement coordination and speech control

• Death due to suffocation 

LSD, "acid"

Nowadays halucinogenic substances are getting more and more popular. They may evoke visual and auditory illusions, create "images", provide the impression called "a trip". This trip may be a good one, when the illusions are pleasant, or a bad one when repulsive impressions appear. Taking the "acid" nobody knows in advance, in what direction the "trip" will be. 
Although it does not result in physical addiction, taking LSD may lead to a strong psychical dependency. The state of intoxication may last a couple of hours and in case of raising repulsive images it is impossible to stand. There were the fatal cases when a person, who thought to be a bird "flew" from the 10th floor… 
Frequent use of LSD may lead to numerous side effects. One of them is flashback - short episodes being a sort of a short-term mental disability, connected with auditory and visual illusions together with strong fear. They are self-evoking, even a couple of months after detoxication.

Consequences of taking:

• Blurred eyesight 

• Difficulties with concentration 

• Psychosis with a strong fear

• Flashback