OPIATE-SEDATIVE-PSYCHOACTIVE
Heroin can be inhaled, smoked or injected.
MANUFACTURE
INHALING OF HEROIN
It is widespread and very affordable nowadays.
It is a trap which frequently ensnares users of cannabis.
Unlike shooting heroin, which makes people nervous because of the injecting, many are caught out during a party because they are unaware that heroin can be inhaled.
Unfortunately, it is most often in this manner that people have their first encounter with heroin.
The user is unaware that he will soon need to shoot up for the first time (dependence develops quickly).
SHOOTING OF HEROIN
Brown heroin (brown sugar) is not very soluble, drug addicts dissolve it by mixing it with an acid (lemon juice) and heating it in a small spoon prior to injecting it.
Heroin causes a highly relaxed mental and physical state, "flashes" and a "high".
Finding the drug quickly becomes the principle activity for the heroin addict. In case of withdrawal, the user can experience intense anxiety, insomnia, pain, respiratory and cardio-vascular depression which can be fatal.
High doses of heroine cause delirium and hallucinations.
ALL organs and bodily functions are affected. As with all drugs, heroin leads to depression and suicide.
Habituation happens very quickly with this product, therefore it is necessary to increase the frequency of usage. Withdrawal from heroine by total abstinence is very effective and not dangerous for the person. Substitution treatment using Methadone or Subutex is not an efficient therapy but rather a postponement of the problem ...
SPEED-BALL
Speed-ball, which is heroin mixed with cocaine to be snorted, is currently becoming widespread in Europe. Heroin is very often found with cocaine, hashish, ecstasy, amphetamines or benzodiazepines.
A heroin addict strives in vain to recapture his initial high. It is a desperate quest for an absolute ecstacy.
STIMULANT - PSYCHOSTIMULANT
Cocaine is a powerful stimulant drug. It leads to strong dependency.
MANUFACTURE
Cocaine is made from part of the coca leaf. There are over 200 types of coca in South America, of which 2 types have leaves particularly rich in alkaloids.
The producing countries are Peru, Colombia and Bolivia.
During the chemical process for extracting cocaine, 98% of the nutritive and medical components of the leaf are destroyed.
Once picked, the leaves are put to soak for several days in a sort of lime.
Then a solvent, eg kerosene, is added.
After that the leaves are removed, sulfuric acid is poured in and one has crack, cocaine base.
To make cocaine, it must then be dissolved in acetone, hydrochloric acid and then pure alcohol.
To get 1kg of cocaine base takes
The chemical products used will then leach into the soil.
The effects of cocaine
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THE COCA LEAF
It has been used for over 10,000 years.
In 1961, the UN classed coca as a poisonous plant and included it in its list of narcotics. The indigenous Colombians were considered as savages who must be civilized under the law of 1889/1890, which was still in force at that time.
In 1988, the Anti-Narcotic Convention abolished the banning of the leaf, recongizing the importance of coca in the traditions of indigenous people. They recongnized the benfits revealed in 1901 by the work of W. Golden Mortimern that it was a particularly rich nutritional supplement for a malnourished population.
The Constitutional Court made a clear distinction between coca leaves and cocaine.
Mortimer described the benefits of the coca leaf thus: "The coca leaf contains more calcium than milk, more phosphorous than fish, more iron than spinach, it is a prodigious food."
Patented in 1954, methylphenidate is prescribed to treat depression and sleep disorders.
The chemical structure of methylphenidate, Ritalin, is phenylethylamine, which has pharmacological properties similar to those of amphetamines.
Popular name "kiddy coke".
World consumption in 2011: 52 tons (1.7 billion daily doses).
Production in the U.S.:
1990: 1.8 tons 2011: 41 tonnes
Given to so-called "hyperactive" children.
For 15 years, Ritalin, the obedience pill has been prescribed to millions of American children with disastrous health consequences.
In France, this terrible amphetamine is increasingly prescribed.
HALLUCINOGENIC - PSYCHODYSLEPTIC (which upsets the mind)
Entry into drug addiction – Trap for teenagers – Vehicle to drug addiction
INTRODUCTION
| HASHISH (also called chronic, hash, pot) |
GRASS, MARIJUANA (dope, ganja, pot, skunk, weed) |
CANNABIS OIL |
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Dried cannabis resin Sold in 0.1 to 0.2 ounce sticks or sheets or in 8.8 ounce blocks Smoked pure or mixed with tobacco, rolled in cigarette paper. Or taken in a bong or hash pipe |
Dried and chopped cannabis leaves and flowers. Looks like tea leaves Smoked pure in a joint |
Obtained by distilling cannabis leaves or resins. Can contain up to 60% of tetrahydrocannabinol psychoactive substance (THC) |
Two species of cannabis
INDICA CANNABIS: Indian hemp, high in THC. The leaf has 5 petioles. There are more than 100 varieties.
SATIVA CANNABIS: Textile cannabis with a very low concentration of the active ingredient THC–less than 0.3%. With its high content of fibers and its solidity, it is used to make ropes, textiles, industrial items and so on. Due to its low concentration of the THC it is unsuitable for "tripping".
MORE THAN 100 VARIETIES OF CANNABIS
Cannabis also, depending on its variety, contains quite powerful active ingredients, which correspond to different THC levels. With time, the user will have to increase the number of doses or take a higher dosed variety to achieve the initial effects. This is called habituation.
To give an example, let's take alcohol. Wine, beer, whisky, cognac, all contain powerful active properties which correspond to their different contents of alcohol. If one drinks the same amount of each separately, the effect of the alcohol will depend on its level in the beverage.
Today's cannabis varieties contain between 6 to 35 % of THC. This increase has been genetically engineered and illegally cultivated.
Cannabis seeds sold on the internet produce plants with a high content of THC – from 15 to 20% in average. Their specific names identify their effect and their strength, eg. Afghan, crystal, ganja, Mexican, white, skunk, special poison and so on.
We are far from the joints smoked in the Sixties. Then cannabis contained from 0.6 to 6% of THC and was used most of time in joints which were passed around a group.
Nowadays it is fashionable to get "stoned" on weekends and to consume cannabis and alcohol together.
ELIMINATION
Elimination time principle of half-life of a substance
This is the time needed by a body with no prior exposure to a substance to eliminate 50 % of it
Cannabis half-life and releasing
Half-life of cannabis is 96 hours or 4 days. It is stored in body fat for 28 days.
During this period the user will find it difficult to resist taking the drug. The more he takes the drug, the more the stocks are stored in the body fat. The product will be released in case of stress, fear –which accounts for scooter and car accidents – or anger. This is releasing.
The body tries to adapt to unsettling effects provoked by the product and enters quickly into a spiral of dependency and habituation.
CONSEQUENCES OF CANNABIS CONSUMPTION
Generally, there is a change in behavior, attitudes, acquaintances – a change of friends.
In the following list, keep in mind that no one is a match for drugs, the physiology of each person being different. The following signs do not necessarily occur simultaneously.
To stop
6 to 8 months are needed by the regular cannabis user to completely stop consumption. Do not forget that a consumer is under the influence of the product. Thus he does not have the will to resist it.
One has to decrease and then cease consumption one's self. Only abstinence allows a complete discontinuity of use without risk. Antidepressants are no substitutes, they seriously compromise the cessation.
Report by the French Science Academy
"The damaging effects of cannabis on psychic as well as physical health do exist. Cannabis alters memory in affecting the cerebral system, which allows information to filter and interferes in the process of memorizing. Cannabis affects the reproduction system. It weakens the body's immune system. Cannabis causes the user to experience a syndrome characterized by an indifference to life, lack of motivation, loss of interest in all activities, be they scholastic, sportive or cultural. Cannabis leads to using more powerful drugs simply because the body gets used to it".
A few reflexions
"Any strong cannabis addict does not inevitably become a heroin-addict. However we find that 90% of heroin-addicts were initially cannabis users [...] At the same time we witness an impressive increase of criminality amongst youth, in relation to the abuse of so-called mild drugs."
Dr Koopman is a director of "Hope", a rehabilitation center in Holland
"The person who smokes cannabis with a high THC content quickly develops a strong addiction. [...] Joints with high THC levels cause habituation in the consumer requiring higher and higher dosages to achieve his original high. [...]We then witness withdrawal symptoms. [...] In Holland, 70% of cannabis consumed in coffee shops is Nerdereit containing up to 35% of THC. Whereas in 1979, cannabis contained from 0.6 to 6 %."
Professor Ashton, School of Neurological Sciences, University of Newcastle (GB)
A few testimonies
"When you smoke all the time, stopping seems impossible. When you decide to take that first step, it is then that you realize how far you are from your normal self. It feels like you become yourself again. Can you underline yourself? (Silence)...It's really hard to stop."
Clotilde, aged 17, from an artistic background, Nancy, France
"Smoking makes you lose interest in everything. Nothing interests you... nothing. From the morning on you feel dizzy. Then day starts, you smoke a little joint...and it'll be the same again, we won't care about anything and about anyone...You have to tell them that."
Sabrina, aged 18, from an executive background, Toulon, France
Extracts from Et si on parlait du haschich by Marie-Christine d'Welles.
It is easy to find information on the harmful effects of tobacco!
At the same time, misinformation would have you believe that tobacco is a drug.
Many young people nowadays are convinced that tobacco is the drug of adults and that the drug of young people is cannabis.
WE MUST TELL THEM THE TRUTH!
This product is harmful, toxic and dangerous for the health.
We all know that using tobacco increases the risks of cancers, cardiovascular disease ...
Tobacco is highly addictive (difficult to go without) but does not cause habituation (the need to increase the dose and then change produce to obtain the same effect). The smoker will move from one cigarette to a pack a day, then two ... but he will stay on tobacco until he decides to stop.
The impact on health is important and tobacco should be the subject of proper prevention: zero consumption
ATTENTION: DO NOT LIE TO CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE!
Tobacco is not a psychotropic drug.
They know very well that a person is not going to "get high" on a pack of cigarettes.
It is a biochemical poison that will not affect their spirit:
You do not become a drug addict by using tobacco!
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), a part of the UN, responsible for monitoring the implementation of international contracts relating to the control of drugs has never included tobacco on its list of drugs.
France was denounced in one of the INCB reports for having put tobacco,alcohol and cannabis on the same level, effectively trivialising and minimalising the danger of cannabis.
We have plenty of testimonies that prove that it is through will power that one stops using tobacco!
The best thing is to never start.
Warning: the so called anti tobacco pill marketed in France under the name Zyban or Wellbutrin has terrible secondary effects.
It is an old anti-depressant, a psychotropic drug, made fashionable again as a "convenient" alternative to cigarettes ...
Member Organization of Make Mothers Matter, granted General Consultative Status by the United Nations.