Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Kids Getting High Off of Anything

      Unlike our parents generation, kids today are experimenting in different ways to get high.  The most prevalent drugs for the baby boomers were opium and marijuana.  There have been many various narcotics within America, and unfortunately most of them came back, full swing, in the 90's. 
      But for the present time, younger kids are trying anything they can to get a high.  I will talk about bath salts, ecstasy, prescription drugs, salvia, fake marijuana and jenkem. 
      Bath salts; they are now illegal, but you can still get them online or in drug paraphernalia stores, like the fake marijuana.  We do not know much about the consequences of this drug because of its rapid emergence, but what we do know is that the evidence is worrisome.  We know that Mephedrone is a chemical within bath salts, this is of particular concern because, according to the United Kingdom experience, it presents a high risk for overdose. These chemicals act in the brain like stimulant drugs (indeed they are sometimes touted as cocaine substitutes); thus they present a high abuse and addiction liability.  Also the contents of bath salts are unknown at this time so abusing them make it that much more dangerous.  Lastly bath salts have been linked to an alarming number of ER visits within the Country. 
      Ecstasy, the party drug.  The medical term is MDMA.  The difference between Ecstasy and Molly (which is pure MDMA) is hard to conquer.  First there is not that much of a difference; ecstasy, the pill, comes compressed and you can distinguish it from other pills.  But you can never really tell whats in them, and MDMA can not be bound into a pill itself.  Now for molly, it is pure or straight MDMA in the form of crystals or powder.  There are adverse side effects to both of these drugs; nausea, chills, sweating, muscle cramping, and blurred vision. Overdoses can occur with symptoms of high blood pressure, faintness, panic attacks, loss of consciousness and seizures.  Because of its stimulant properties and the environment in which it is often taken, MDMA is associated with vigorous physical activity for extended periods. This can lead to one of the most significant, although rare, acute adverse effects -- a marked rise in body temperature (hyperthermia). Treatment of hyperthermia requires prompt medical attention, as it can rapidly lead to muscle breakdown, which can in turn result in kidney failure.
      Most experts will debate that prescription drugs are the most dangerous and prevalent drug amongst teens.  The use of illegal drugs is down in high school grades, according to the 2007 Monitoring the Future report from the National institute on Drug Abuse.  Instead, teens are using what they find at home, what they can buy legitimately at retail stores, and what they can buy over the internet.  These prescription drugs are also a high risk for drug abuse. 
      Another new drug is called Salvia.  This is a leaf that can be smoked like marijuana or chewed like chewing tobacco.  The high from this drug comes very quickly, but is not long lasted.  During the high people experience eliciting euphoria and temporary loss of motor skills.  This in my defense is very dangerous, because you are unable to control anything that happens, or the possibility of something happening.  Also with a bad trip it will bring on intense paranoia and panic attacks.  This drug again is easily accessible to teens, who can buy it in head shops and stores that sell herbal remedies, and don't forget EBay.  Stores can also claim it as an incense.
      With salvia being claimed an incense, vendors do it with fake marijuana also.  Law enforcement tries to keep up with this industry and tries to shut it down like the brand K-2.  But people keep coming out with new ones like Spice, Genie, Zohia, Happy Hour, etc..  The effects of this are the same as regular marijuana.  Again we do not know the effects, or long term effects of this drug.  But it has been noted that there were ER visits and even possible deaths from the product. 
      And lastly, Jenkem.  This is very new, and most people do not know about it, i did not know until writing this blog.  Jenkem is an inhalant made my fermenting raw sewage (fecal matter and urine) it is a cheap way to make a hallucinogenic high.  This drug was particularly used by children in third world countries but now is a popular drug in American Schools.  Jenkem again, is a homemade substance which consists of fecal matter and urine.  These ingredients are placed in a bottle or jar and covered most commonly with a balloon.  The container is then placed in a sunny area for several hours or days until fermented.  The contents of the container will separate and release a gas, which is captured in the balloon.  Inhaling the gas is said to have a euphoric high similar to ingesting cocaine but with strong hallucinations of times past.  Articles on this subject have indicated that the user immediately passes out after ingesting the gas then regains a magical/hallucinogenic state. 


Sources:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/jenkem.asp

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/fake-marijuana-the-next-big-drug

http://www.parentswithoutpartners.org/_documents/Authors/Parenting-NewHighs.pdf

http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/ecstasy/f/mdma_faq04.htm

http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/directors-page/messages-director/2011/02/bath-salts-emerging-dangerous-products


9 comments:

  1. The amount of new drugs coming onto the illegal market is very concerning. Even more concerning is the age of first time users. It seems children have no problem finding new substances to get high. I have a problem with the methods used to combat the growth of some illegal substances. Most of us know how hard it can be to buy certain cold medicines and how frustrating it is when you have a cold. I understand the intent behind such strict regulation of sales but there must be a better way. Illegal markets will sell substances all day no matter what the law or fine. Ordinary citizens seem to be suffering more than criminals with these regulations.

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  2. It really is a shame that kids these days feel the need to experiment with anything just to alter their state of mind. I never understood it and it really stinks that society today is not more concerned with this outpouring of support amongst youth towards drugs. I think the sedentary lifestyle that todays youth has slowly started adopting plays into the fact that they would rather sit around and get high than going outside and keeping busy. Interesting post.

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  3. It really is outrageous that young kids are trying different things just to experience a high. The effects of a lot of these drugs are unknown and I personally don't think it is worth trying just for the feeling one gets. I have a younger brother in high school and I hear him talk about the different things that his classmates are doing and I just can't believe it. I think something needs to be done to try and prevent the shops from selling these things illegally. Obviously the problem isn't going to go away any time soon but I think some sort of effort should be put forth to figure out what these drugs do and let people know about it.

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  4. The main thing is that this produces so many questions, which we need to find the answer too. Why are kids in this era trying all of these things? Could it be the schools, with bullying, or trying to fit in? Is it the home? Many parents now are getting divorces, it was not like that with older generations. Is it because of our liberal society? Is it the parents themselves, for not being involved in the kids live? All of these could tie into it. We need to research the subject more, include all the variables, and try to figure it out.

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  5. I am in agreement with the post and the comments above as well. It is like worse than the sixties I believe. I had never even heard of alot of those drugs that you listed above, like Jenkem. I know from personal experience (not the experience of me trying drugs) of coworkers that kids are in fact doing drugs. My place of employment only drug tests upon hire or injuries, and we recently hired a handful of high schoolers, which is also atypical. 3 out of 5 had smoked marijuana recently. Also, my brother went on a trip to africa, and im not sure the drug they used, but it was more common to see kids on drugs than eating or anything else. He showed me pictures, and said it was because the drug numbed the pain of starvation and was cheaper than food. This whole problem breaks my heart!

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  6. What worries me the most is that many of these "new" drugs being used today are made from common household materials. It is very hard to regulate the sale of these items. Once these items are successfully regulated, there will be a new method of getting high that will replace the previous method.

    I first heard about Jenkem while I was in police academy. The main problem is that there aren't a lot of laws out there regulating the use of Jenkem. Some cities, such as Bettendorf, IA, have amended their city ordinances to make the production and distribution of Jenkem illegal. Is it only a matter of time before the TSA (Toilet Security Administration) is in our bathrooms making sure we properly dispose of our waste?

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  7. I think that kids experimenting with household products is a very scary thing, and I'm not sure it's something we can really stop or fix. For now we can ban these things and make them illegal, but what happens when we can't find substitutes for some of these products? What if limiting the quantities that people can purchase is not enough? I wish there was an easy fix or quick answer to this problem, but I don't think that there is.

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  8. I personally believe that no matter what kind of anti-drug strategy we come up with next, kids will still be getting high and finding new ways to do it. I think that because of the rebellious nature of youth that taking drugs to get high is something a lot of kids do, and although it is unfortunate and dangerous it seems inevitable that kids will find things to get them high.

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  9. The experimentation of trying to get high has gone way to far when you have kids putting feces in a jar and inhaling the fumes. I recently saw an article on kids drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk as if they were drinking grain alcohol. The people experimenting with drugs are getting younger and younger. They can not buy alcohol and may not have access to drugs so they are using things around their house with very harsh chemicals. I have even heard that some kids are dipping their marijuana joints into embalming fluid. Kids are dropping dead left and right.

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