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Marijuana
What are the street names/slang terms?
Aunt Mary, Boom, Chronic (Marijuana alone or with crack), Dope, Gangster, Ganja, Grass, Hash, Herb,
Kif, Mary Jane, Pot, Reefer, Sinsemilla, Skunk, Weed
What is Marijuana?
Marijuana, the most often used illegal drug in this country, is a product of the hemp plant, Cannabis
sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana, also present in other forms of cannabis, is THC (delta-9tetrahydrocannabinol). Of the roughly 400 chemicals found in the cannabis plant, THC affects the brain
the most.
What does it look like?
Marijuana is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant (Cannabis
sativa).
How is it used?
Most users roll loose marijuana into a cigarette called a “joint”. Weed can be smoked in a water pipe,
called a “bong”, or mixed into food or brewed as tea. It has also appeared in cigars called “blunts”.
What are its short-term effects?
Short-term effects of marijuana include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception
(sights, sounds, time, touch), trouble with thinking and problem solving, loss of motor coordination,
increased heart rate, and anxiety. These effects are even greater when other drugs are mixed with
weed. A user may also experience dry mouth and throat.
What are its long-term effects?
Marijuana smoke contains some of the same cancer-causing compounds as tobacco, sometimes in
higher concentrations. Studies show that someone who smokes five joints per week may be taking in as
many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day.
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Alcohol
What are the street names/slang terms?
Booze
What is Alcohol?
Alcohol is a depressant.
What does it look like?
Alcohol is used in liquid form.
How is it used?
Alcohol is drunk. Types include beer, wine, and liquor.
What are its short term effects?
When a person drinks alcohol, the alcohol is absorbed by the stomach, enters the bloodstream, and
goes to all the tissues. The effects of alcohol are dependent on a variety of factors, including a person’s
size, weight, age, and sex, as well as the amount of food and alcohol consumed. The disinhibiting effect
of alcohol is one of the main reasons it is used in so many social situations. Other effects of moderate
alcohol intake include dizziness and talkativeness; the immediate effects of a larger amount of alcohol
include slurred speech, disturbed sleep, nausea, and vomiting. Alcohol, even at low doses, significantly
impairs the judgment and coordination required to drive a car safely. Low to moderate doses of alcohol
can also increase the incidence of a variety of aggressive acts, including domestic violence and child
abuse. Hangovers are another possible effect after large amounts of alcohol are consumed; a hangover
consists of headache, nausea, thirst, dizziness, and fatigue.
What are its long-term effects?
Prolonged, heavy use of alcohol can lead to addiction (alcoholism). Sudden cessation of long term,
extensive alcohol intake is likely to produce withdrawal symptoms, including severe anxiety, tremors,
hallucinations and convulsions. Long-term effects of consuming large quantities of alcohol, especially
when combined with poor nutrition, can lead to permanent damage to vital organs such as the brain
and liver. In addition, mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy may give birth to infants with fetal
alcohol syndrome. These infants may suffer from mental retardation and other irreversible physical
abnormalities. In addition, research indicates that children of alcoholic parents are at greater risk than
other children of becoming alcoholics.
Think you know the facts about alcohol abuse? If you consume alcoholic beverages, it’s important to
know whether your drinking patterns are safe, risky or harmful.
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PCP
What are the street names/slang terms?
Angel Dust, Embalming Fluid, Killer Weed, Rocket Fuel, Supergrass, Wack, Ozone
What is PCP?
PCP, or phencyclidine, is a “dissociative” anesthetic that was developed in the 1950s as a surgical
anesthetic. Its sedative and anesthetic effects are trance-like, and patients experience a feeling of being
“out of body” and detached from their environment. Use of PCP in humans was discontinued in 1965,
because it was found that patients often became agitated, delusional, and irrational while recovering
from its anesthetic effects.
What does it look like?
PCP is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water or alcohol. It has a distinctive bitter
chemical taste.
How is it used?
PCP turns up on the illicit drug market in a variety of tablets, capsules, and colored powders. PCP can be
snorted, smoked, injected, or swallowed and is most commonly sold as a powder or liquid and applied
to a leafy material such as mint, parsley, oregano, tobacco, or marijuana.
Many people who use PCP may do it unknowingly because PCP is often used as an additive and can be
found in marijuana, LSD, or methamphetamine.
What are its short-term effects?
At low to moderate doses, PCP can cause distinct changes in body awareness, similar to those
associated with alcohol intoxication. Other effects can include shallow breathing, flushing, profuse
sweating, generalized numbness of the extremities and poor muscular coordination. Use of PCP among
adolescents may interfere with hormones related to normal growth and development as well as with
the learning process.
At high doses, PCP can cause hallucinations as well as seizures, coma, and death (though death more
often results from accidental injury or suicide during PCP intoxication). Other effects that can occur at
high doses are nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, flicking up and down of the eyes, drooling, loss of
balance, and dizziness. High doses can also cause effects similar to symptoms of schizophrenia, such as
delusions, paranoia, disordered thinking, a sensation of distance from one’s environment, and catatonia.
Speech is often sparse and garbled.
PCP has sedative effects, and interactions with other central nervous system depressants, such as
alcohol and benzodiazepines, can lead to coma or accidental overdose.
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Many PCP users are brought to emergency rooms because of PCP’s unpleasant psychological effects or
because of overdoses. In a hospital or detention setting, they often become violent or suicidal, and are
very dangerous to themselves and to others. They should be kept in a calm setting and should not be
left alone.
What are its long-term effects?
PCP is addicting; that is, its repeated use often leads to psychological dependence, craving, and
compulsive PCP-seeking behavior.
People who use PCP for long periods report memory loss, difficulties with speech and thinking,
depression, and weight loss. These symptoms can persist up to a year after cessation of PCP use. Mood
disorders also have been reported.
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LSD
What are the street names/slang terms?
Acid, Doses, Hits, Microdot, Sugar cubes, Tabs, Trips
What is is LSD?
LSD is the most common hallucinogen and is one of the most potent mood-changing chemicals. It is
manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains.
What does it look like?
LSD is usually found on “blotter” paper (paper that is perforated into small squares). The squares or
“tabs” may be colored or have images printed on them. Liquid LSD is a clear liquid, usually in a small
container, tube or flask. LSD can also be found in thin squares of gelatin.
How is it used?
LSD is taken orally. Gelatin and liquid can be put in the eyes.
What are its short-term effects?
The effects of LSD are unpredictable. They depend on the amount taken, the user’s personality, mood,
and expectations, and the surroundings in which the drug is used. The physical effects include dilated
pupils, higher body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, loss of appetite,
sleeplessness, dry mouth, and tremors. Sensations and feelings change much more dramatically than
the physical signs. The user may feel several different emotions at once or swing rapidly from one
emotion to another. If taken in a large enough dose, the drug produces delusions and visual
hallucinations. The user’s sense of time and self changes. Sensations may seem to “cross over,” giving
the user the feeling of hearing colors and seeing sounds. These changes can be frightening and can
cause panic.
What are its long-term effects?
Some LSD users experience flashbacks, recurrence of certain aspects of a person’s experience even if the
user doesn’t take the drug again. A flashback occurs suddenly, often without warning, and may occur
within a few days or more than a year after LSD use. Most users of LSD voluntarily decrease or stop its
use over time. LSD is not considered to be an addicting drug because it does not produce compulsive
drug-seeking behavior like cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, alcohol, or nicotine.
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Cocaine/Crack
What are the street names/slang terms?
Big C, Blow, Coke, Flake, Freebase, Lady, Nose Candy, Rock, Snow, Snowbirds, White Crack
What is Cocaine?
Cocaine is a drug extracted from the leaves of the coca plant. It is a potent brain stimulant and one of
the most powerfully addictive drugs.
What does it look like?
Cocaine is distributed on the street in two main forms: cocaine hydrochloride is a white crystalline
powder and “crack” is cocaine hydrochloride that has been processed with ammonia or sodium
bicarbonate (baking soda) and water into a freebase cocaine — chips, chunks or rocks.
How is it used?
Cocaine can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected. Crack can be smoked.
What are its short-term effects?
Short-term effects of cocaine/crack include constricted peripheral blood vessels, dilated pupils,
increased temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, insomnia, loss of appetite, feelings of restlessness,
irritability, and anxiety. Duration of cocaine’s immediate euphoric effects, which include energy,
reduced fatigue, and mental clarity, depends on how it is used. The faster the absorption, the more
intense the high. However, the faster the absorption, the shorter the high lasts. The high from snorting
may last 15 to 30 minutes, while that from smoking crack cocaine may last 5 to 10 minutes. Cocaine’s
effects are short lived, and once the drug leaves the brain, the user experiences a “coke crash” that
includes depression, irritability, and fatigue.
What are its long-term effects?
High doses of cocaine and/or prolonged use can trigger paranoia. Smoking crack cocaine can produce a
particularly aggressive paranoid behavior in users. When addicted individuals stop using cocaine, they
often become depressed. Prolonged cocaine snorting can result in ulceration of the mucous membrane
of the nose.
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Morphine
What are the street names/slang terms?
Duramorph, M, Miss Emma, Monkey, Roxanol, White Stuff
What is Morphine?
Morphine is an opiate, derived from the poppy plant. It is classified as a narcotic and is commonly
prescribed to manage pain.
What does it look like?
Morphine is commonly available in the form of a tablet, syrup, injection or as a suppository. Depending
on its form, morphine may be injected, swallowed, or even smoked.
How is it used?
Morphine is often used before or after surgery to alleviate severe pain. Morphine and other opioids act
by attaching to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are found in the brain, spinal cord, and
gastrointestinal tract. When these compounds attach to certain opioid receptors in the brain and spinal
cord, they can effectively change the way a person experiences pain.
What are its short-term effects?
Morphine affects regions of the brain that mediate what we perceive as pleasure, resulting in initial
feelings of euphoria. Morphine can also produce drowsiness, cause constipation, and, depending upon
the amount taken, depress breathing. Taking a large single dose could cause severe respiratory
depression, coma or death.
What are its long-term effects?
Long-term use of morphine also can lead to physical dependence. This can also include tolerance and
addiction. Individuals taking prescribed opioid medications should be given these medications under
appropriate medical supervision and should be supervised when discontinuing use to mitigate
withdrawal symptoms.
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Methamphetamine
What are the street names/slang terms?
Chalk, Crank, Croak, Crypto, Crystal, Fire, Glass, Meth, Tweek, White Cross
What is Methamphetamine?
Methamphetamine (Meth) is an addictive stimulant that strongly activates certain systems in the brain.
What does it look like?
Methamphetamine is a crystal-like powdered substance that sometimes comes in large rock-like chunks.
When the powder flakes off the rock, the shards look like glass, which is another nickname for meth.
Meth is usually white or slightly yellow, depending on the purity.
How is it used?
Methamphetamine can be taken orally, injected, snorted, or smoked.
What are its short-term effects?
Immediately after smoking or injection, the user experiences an intense sensation, called a “rush” or
“flash,” that lasts only a few minutes and is described as extremely pleasurable. Snorting or swallowing
meth produces euphoria — a high, but not a rush. After the initial “rush,” there is typically a state of
high agitation that in some individuals can lead to violent behavior. Other possible immediate effects
include increased wakefulness and insomnia, decreased appetite, irritability/aggression, anxiety,
nervousness, convulsions and heart attack.
What are its long-term effects?
Methamphetamine is addictive, and users can develop a tolerance quickly, needing larger amounts to
get high. In some cases, users forego food and sleep and take more meth every few hours for days,
‘binging’ until they run out of the drug or become too disorganized to continue. Chronic use can cause
paranoia, hallucinations, repetitive behavior (such as compulsively cleaning, grooming or disassembling
and assembling objects), and delusions of parasites or insects crawling under the skin. Users can
obsessively scratch their skin to get rid of these imagined insects. Long-term use, high dosages, or both
can bring on full-blown toxic psychosis (often exhibited as violent, aggressive behavior). This violent,
aggressive behavior is usually coupled with extreme paranoia. Methamphetamine use can also cause
strokes and death.
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Tobacco
What are the street names/slang terms?
Chew, Dip, Fags, Smoke
What is Tobacco?
Tobacco is an agricultural crop.
What does it look like?
Brown cut up leaves.
How is it used?
Tobacco is usually smoked. Sometimes tobacco leaves are “dipped” or “chewed” so the nicotine is
absorbed via the gums.
What are its short-term effects?
When a person smokes a cigarette, the body responds immediately to the chemical nicotine in the
smoke. Nicotine causes a short-term increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and the flow of blood from
the heart. It also causes the arteries to narrow. Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen the
blood can carry. This, combined with the effects produced by nicotine, creates an imbalance in the
demand for oxygen by the cells and the amount of oxygen the blood is able to supply.
What are its long-term effects?
It is now well documented that smoking can cause chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease, and
stroke, as well as cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, mouth, and bladder. In addition, smoking is
known to contribute to cancer of the cervix, pancreas, and kidneys. Researchers have identified more
than 40 chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause cancer in humans and animals. Smokeless tobacco and
cigars also have deadly consequences, including lung, larynx, esophageal, and oral cancer. The harmful
effects of smoking do not end with the smoker. Women who use tobacco during pregnancy are more
likely to have adverse birth outcomes, including babies with low birth weight, which is linked with an
increased risk of infant death and with a variety of infant health disorders. The health of nonsmokers is
adversely affected by environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Each year, exposure to ETS causes an
estimated 3,000 non-smoking Americans to die of lung cancer and causes up to 300,000 children to
suffer from lower respiratory-tract infections. Evidence also indicates that exposure to ETS increases the
risk of coronary heart disease.
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Rohypnol
What are the street names/slang terms?
Date rape drug, La roche, R2, Rib, Roach, Roofenol, Roofies, Rope, Rophies, Ruffies, The forget pill
What is Rohypnol?
Rohypnol is the brand name for a drug called Flunitrazepam, which is a powerful sedative that depresses
the central nervous system. Rohypnol is not legally available for prescription in the United States, but is
legal in 60 countries worldwide for treatment of insomnia.
What does it look like?
A small white tablet with no taste or odor when dissolved in a drink.
How is it used?
Rohypnol is swallowed as a pill, dissolved in a drink, or snorted. Roofies are frequently used in
combination with alcohol and other drugs. They are sometimes taken to enhance a heroin high, or to
mellow or ease the experience of coming down from a cocaine or crack high. Used with alcohol, roofies
produce disinhibition and amnesia.
What are its short-term effects?
The drug creates a sleepy, relaxed, and drunk feeling that lasts 2 to 8 hours. Other effects may include
blackouts, with a compete loss of memory, dizziness and disorientation, nausea, difficulty with motor
movements and speaking.
What are its long-term effects?
Rohypnol can produce physical and psychological dependence.