Also referred to as “club drugs”, designer drugs are prepared by amateur chemists called “cookers”. Cookers alter the molecular structure of certain chemicals to mimic existing illicit drugs and their pharmacological effects. They are powerful and dangerous. For example, cookers modify pharmaceutical drug Fentanyl to create a designer drug 80 to as much as one thousand times more powerful than heroin.
Designer drugs are used at Raves, underground dance parties frequented by youths who listen to pulsing techno music and experiment with various psychoactive drugs. Designer drugs are cheap and readily available. These drugs which can be smoked, ingested, snorted or injected are the cause of many admittances to Georgia drug rehab programs.
There three main drugs which are typically chemically altered into “designer drugs” are: Fentanyl, PCP, and amphetamine/methamphetamine. Most act on the nervous system rapidly, usually within the first four minutes. Their effect lasts from thirty to ninety minutes. The common reactions are stimulation, euphoria, a sense of well-being and sensory distortions. But larger doses can create hallucinations, paranoia, irrational behavior or fits of rage and violence, even overdoes which cause death.
Two of the most popular designer drugs with the Club Crowd are Ecstasy and Ketamine. Ecstacy, commonly referred to as XTC or X, is manufactured in secret labs in the same way that Methamphetamines is made. It’s then distributed in pill or capsule form.
Ecstacy is a hallucinogen. Like amphetamines it produces stimulant-like effects. Promoted as a “feel good drug”, users under the influence of the drug experience extreme relaxation, a sense of well-being and empathy for others. Their anxiety is eliminated, though, of course, ephemerally.
Ecstasy also curbs appetite and causes wakefulness and a surge of energy allowing club-goers to last all night long.
Ketamine, also known as “Special K”. The latter is either snorted or swallowed or injected as a liquid. It’s used pharmaceutically by veterinarians and stolen from their practices.
Ketamine acts as both a hallucinogenic and an anesthetic. As a hallucinogenic, a user may feel as if they’ve entered another reality. As an anaesthetic, a user under the influence won’t feel pain and thus may cause injure themselves unwittingly. Ketamine also depresses the heart rate which can starve the brain and muscles of the oxygen they need to function. An overdose can also cause the heart to stop.
Like most anaesthetics, eating or drinking before ingesting ketamine may lead to nausea and vomiting. There have been reports of Ketamine causing temporary paralysis but such reports are rare. Still the danger caused by abusing these drugs is reason enough to know the signs of designer drug abuse.
Because these drugs are mixed in batches by amateur chemists, it’s likely that no two doses are identical or as strong. The side effects are as variable and unpredictable as they are dangerous. It’s but a matter of time before a user has a negative and potentially dangerous brush with one of these designer drugs. Which is why knowing the signs of designer drug abuse is so critical. Many a parent or loved one of an addict now in a drug rehab in Georgia program I’m sure wishes they have known the following signs, heeded them and intervened in time to do something about it.
The typical physical symptoms experienced include:
- Elevated heart rate
- Hypertension
- Chills and sweating
- Dehydration and heat exhaustion
- Respiratory depression
- Blurred vision
- Clenched teeth
- Drooling
- Anorexia
- Uncontrolled tremors
- Nausea and vomiting
- Impaired speech
- Total Paralysis
- Permanent brain damage
Seizures
Death
Some common psychological side effects include:
- Insomnia
- Irritability
- Severe anxiety
- Extreme emotional sensitivity
- Irrational thinking
- Depression
- Confusion
- Amnesia
- Hallucinations
- Violent behavior
