Brief
Description:

A powerfully addictive drug that is snorted, sniffed, injected, or smoked. Crack is cocaine that has been processed from cocaine hydrochloride to a free base for smoking.

Street Names:

Coke, snow, flake, blow, and many others.

Effects:

A powerfully addictive drug, cocaine usually makes the user feel euphoric and energetic. Common health effects include heart attacks, respiratory failure, strokes, and seizures. Large amounts can cause bizarre and violent behavior. In rare cases, sudden death can occur on the first use of cocaine or unexpectedly thereafter.

Statistics
and Trends:

10.6% of Canadians have used cocaine in their lifetime, and 1.9% have used in the past year.

Brief
Description:

An addictive drug that is processed from morphine and usually appears as a white or brown powder.

Street Names:

Smack, H, ska, junk,thunder, big h, crop and many others.

Effects:

Short-term effects include a surge of euphoria followed by alternately wakeful and drowsy states and cloudy mental functioning. Associated with fatal overdose, and particularly in users who inject the drug-infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Long-term users may develop collapsed veins, liver disease, and lung complications.

Statistics
and Trends:

1% of Canadians report using heroin.

Brief
Description:

A human-made drug that acts as both a stimulant and a hallucinogen. It is taken orally as a capsule or tablet. Ecstacy comes in all colors and shapes, not just what is seen above. Pills are often branded with designer symbols.

Street Names:

XTC, X, Adam, E, Hug, Beans, Roll, Love drug.

Effects:

Short-term effects include feelings of mental stimulation, emotional warmth, enhanced sensory perception, and increased physical energy. Adverse health effects can include nausea, chills, sweating, teeth clenching, muscle cramping, and blurred vision

  Warning Signs of Overdose

• Feeling hot or unwell
• Becoming confused, not able to talk properly
• Headache
• Vomiting
• Not Sweating
• Racing heart or pulse when resting
• Fainting or collapsing
• Loss of control over body movements
• Tremors
• Problems Urinating
  
  An Ecstasy Overdose is Characterized By:
  
  rapid heartbeat
• high blood pressure
• faintness
• muscle cramping
• panic attacks
• loss of consciousness
• seizures
• hypothermia
• muscle breakdown
• stroke
• kidney and cardiovascular system failure
• permanent damage to sections of brain critical to thought and memory
• death

Statistics
and Trends:

4.1% of Canadians report using ecstasy

Brief
Description:

The most commonly used illegal drug in the The main active chemical is THC.

Street Names:

Pot, ganja, weed, grass, bud, mary-jane, reefer and many others

Effects:

The following are some of the common side effects of using marihuana:    

• Trouble remembering things
• Sleepiness
• Anxiety
• Paranoia (feeling that people are “out to get you”)
• Altered time perception
• relaxation
• reduced coordination
• reduced blood pressure

Using marihuana for a long time makes some people lose interest in school, work, relationships and other activities. It may also cause legal problems. Using marihuana can be especially dangerous in certain situations, such as when you are driving.

The following are some of the common physical effects of marihuana:

• Tremors (shaking)
• Nausea
• Headache
• Coordination becoming worse
• Breathing problems
• Increased appetite
• Reduced blood flow to the brain

Like tobacco, marihuana contains many chemicals that can hurt the lungs and cause cancer. One marihuana cigarette can cause more damage to the lungs than many tobacco cigarettes because marihuana has more tar in it and is usually smoked without filters.

How long does THC stay in your body and for how long can it be detected after you use marihuana?

The amount of time depends on several factors such as how much a person has smoked, how long a person has smoked for, and the method used to detect THC or its metabolites. Marihuana can be detected in urine, blood and saliva using methods called thin layer chromatography, high pressure liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, enzyme immunoassay and radioimmunoassay. The most psychoactive ingredient in marihuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is broken down into several other compounds that are also psychoactive. The half-life of THC is about 24 hours. However, the metabolites of THC can be detected for 45 to 60 days after the last use.

Statistics
and Trends:

44.5% of Canadians and 70% of 18-24 year olds have used marihuana. 47% of 18 and 19 year olds have used in the past year. There are approximately 300 million users worldwide and 28 million users in the United States (Diaz, 1997).

Brief
Description:

An addictive stimulant that is closely related to amphetamine, but has longer lasting and more toxic effects on the central nervous system. It has a high potential for abuse and addiction.

Street Names:

Speed, meth, tina, tweak, chalk, ice, crystal, glass, Bulb baby, chore boy, hitter, Pink glass, Throwing darts, freshies, Geek, Gack, Geet, Amp, Rails, railing down, bangers, slammers, C.R., crank, tweak, Poor man's coke, Hooking up.

Effects:

Increases wakefulness and physical activity and decreases appetite. Chronic, long-term use can lead to psychotic behavior, hallucinations, and stroke.

Addiction experts say crystal meth first became popular in poor areas of rural North America for a number of reasons. It was a cheap high and, in initial stages of use, it actually gave the energy that allowed the user to keep working. It was also considered "cool" by young people who did not have big-city connections to other street drugs.

A recent Statistics Canada survey of teenagers showed that among those who answered questions about drug use:

• 34 per cent had tried marijuana.
• 4 per cent had used ecstasy.
• 3 per cent had used crack cocaine.
• 2 per cent had used crystal meth.
• 1 per cent had used heroin.

Six Safety Tips for approaching a person on Meth

* Keep 7-10 feet away, getting to close can be threatening.

* Don't shine bright lights. The person on meth is already paronoid, and, if blinded by a bright light, he /she is likely to become violent.

* Slow your speach and lower the pitch of your voice. A person on meth is already hearing sounds at a fast pace and in a high pitch.

* Slow your movements. This will decrease the odds that he/she will misinterpret your physical actions.

* Keep your hands visible. If you place your hands where he/she cannot see them, he might feel threatened and become violent.

* Keep her/him talking. A individual on meth who becomes silent can become extremely dangerous. Silence often means that his/her paronoid thoughts have taken over reality, and anyone present could become part of his/her paronoid delusions.

 Symptoms of an Overdose from Methadone include but are not limited to the following:

• muscle spasticity
• difficulty breathing
• slow, shallow and labored breathing
• stopped breathing (sometimes fatal within 2-4 hours)
• pinpoint pupils
• bluish skin
• bluish fingernails and lips
• spasms of the stomach and/or intestinal tract
• constipation
• weak pulse
• low blood pressure
• drowsiness
• disorientation
• coma
• death
• respiratory depression
• circulatory collapse
• cardiac arrest
• euphoria
• dysphoria
• motor retardation
• sedation
  
  Below are some pictures of Before/After effects of Crystal Meth Addiction.

  
  
  Can an addict recover?
  
  Experts say that crystal meth is one of the most addictive street drugs and one of the hardest to treat. Addiction counsellors say the relapse rate of 92 per cent is worse than cocaine.
  
  The withdrawal symptoms, especially the depression and physical agony, are reported by addiction counsellors to be worse than heroin or cocaine, and often addicts will drop out of recovery programs.
  
  This situation is worse in the United States than in Canada because patients in the U.S. usually have inadequate health insurance or none at all. Those American patients in managed care programs are often cut off before treatment is complete. In Canada, however, provincial health insurance and government recovery programs can help the addict recover.
  
  With increasing use of the drug, there are strong indications that users suffer brain damage, including memory impairment and an increasing inability to grasp abstract thoughts. Those who do manage to recover from addiction and retain memory and the ability to function in society are usually subject to some memory gaps and extreme mood swings.
  
  Who uses crystal meth?
  
  According to mental health workers, police and research scientists, the people who use crystal meth include: Large numbers of rural and small town poor across North America.
  
  *Some young people in the rave and dance scene
  *Some young people who want to lose weight.
  *Gay males involved in the dance scene or who frequent bathhouses.

Statistics
and Trends:

2.7% of Manitoba students and 3.3 of Ontario students report using meth in the past year, and 6.4% of Canadians report having used ‘speed’

Brief
Description:

An addictive depressant which enters the bloodstream and acts on the central nervous system.

Street Names:

Booze

Effects:

In large doses it causes slurred speech, disturbed sleep, nausea, and vomiting. Alcohol, even at low doses, significantly impairs judgment and motor functions.

Statistics
and Trends:

In the past 12 months 79.3% of Canadians 15 and older consumed alcohol, and 22.6% of past-year drinkers exceeded the low-risk drinking guidelines. In 2003 in Canada, road crashes involving a driver who had been drinking killed 902 people, of which half (450) were drivers who were legally impaired.

Brief
Description:

One of the strongest mood-changing drugs. It is sold as tablets, capsules, liquid, or on absorbent paper.

Street Names:

Acid, blotter, and many others.

Effects:

Unpredictable psychological effects. With large enough doses, users experience delusions and visual hallucinations. Physical effects include increased body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure; sleeplessness; and loss of appetite.

Statistics
and Trends:

11.4% of Canadians report having used hallucinogens

Brief
Description:

Breathable chemical vapors that users intentionally inhale because of the chemicals' mind-altering effects. The substances inhaled are often common household products that contain volatile solvents or aerosols.

Street Names:

Whippets, poppers, snappers.

Effects:

Most inhalants produce a rapid high that resembles alcohol intoxication. If sufficient amounts are inhaled, nearly all solvents and gases produce anesthesia, a loss of sensation, and even unconsciousness.

Statistics
and Trends:

Inhalants are often among the first drugs that young kids use. In the , 12.7% of 10th graders and 11.2% of 12th graders said they had abused inhalants at least once. Source: NIDA Research Report: Inhalant Abuse.