The 5 Things You Need To Know About Street Drugs

Content warning: This article mentions date rape drugs.

Many people hear “street drugs” and do not know what it means. Street drugs are addictive drugs obtained illegally through drug dealers. They can fall into any Schedule of controlled drugs. Many of them have no legitimate use.

Street drugs can be highly dangerous to use.

Slang Names for Street Drugs

Many times, people call street drugs by slang names so they can discuss substances without detection. The words constantly change as slang terms become well-known.

For this reason, each drug can include many names. Some of these names include:

• Cocaine: Blow, coke, crack, snow, flake, rock, and crank
• Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB): Georgia home boy, goop, liquid X, scoop, and G
• Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD): acid, dots, blotters, windowpane, blue heaven, smiles, and mellow yellow
• 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA): Ecstasy, E, molly, STP, X, uppers, eve, adam, disco biscuit, beans, and hug drug
• Ketamine: Cat tranquilizer, kit kat, special k, vitamin k, purple, jet k, and super k
• Khat: Qat, oat, catha, miraa
• Dextromethorphan (DXM): Triple c, dex, robo, robotripping, skittles, velvet
• Mescaline: Peyote, cactus, mesc
• Heroin: Big h, hell dust, smack, thunder, chiva, dope, black tar, H, and skunk
• Methamphetamine: Speed, ice, stove top, chalk, yaba, tweak, biker’s coffee, glass, and crystal
• Inhalants: Huff, whippets, rush, gluey, and laughing gas
• Psilocybin: Magic mushrooms, mushrooms, and shrooms
• Synthetic cannabinoids: K2, spice, genie, and bliss
• Synthetic cathinones: Bath salts, cloud nine, and flakka
• Fentanyl: China white, dance fever, he-man, great bear, and goodfellas

Dangers of Street Drugs

To understand the urgency of drug treatment, it is important to look at some facts about street drugs. There are five major dangers individuals need to know about street drugs:

#1. Drugs as self-medication

Many people use drugs to cope with trauma or concurrent mental illnesses. These individuals often believe the substances will prevent the pain, emotions, or symptoms. That may work for a short period, but it is damaging in the long run.

A person self-medicating is never really addressing their issues. They push it off by using drugs. It leaves plenty of time and space for the problems to get worse. Plus, they are adding substance abuse into the mix. This can become its own disorder.

It is better that people face their problems head-on from the start instead of self-medicating.

#2. Legal and employment issues

Street drugs can initiate many legal and employment issues. Possession of drugs, outside of a few locations that decriminalized them, can lead to arrest. Even without them on hand, police and workplaces can find out whether a person uses drugs.

While they used to only work for alcohol, some breathalyzers can now detect up to 12 controlled substances. Saliva drug tests can detect different street drugs, depending on the specific panels of the test. A urinalysis can detect most of the known and well-established drugs. Blood tests are just as thorough as urinalyses. 

The justice system can employ these detection methods if they possess probable cause to believe that a person is intoxicated. An employer can drug test at any time for any reason. If an employer finds illegal drugs or illegally used prescriptions in the results, they can dismiss the employee. The employee is not protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act because addiction to illegal substances does not count as a disability.

#3. Date rape drugs

Mixing alcohol with drugs is extremely dangerous. It can cause memory loss and a lack of bodily control. In social settings, sexual predators will try to mix drugs and alcohol to incapacitate their prey.

If a person takes any prescribed medications or illegal drugs, they need to ensure none of their drinks contain any alcohol. If a person drinks in a public setting, they should obtain their drinks. They should not accept drinks from anyone else. They should never leave the drink alone. They should try to avoid any social gatherings where it is known that drugs and alcohol will both be used.

While there is no foolproof way to prevent this, people should take security measures to protect themselves as best as possible. 

#4. Drugs laced with fentanyl

Due to the nature of street drugs, a person cannot guarantee that they are receiving the correct substance or potency. Many individuals producing drugs mix fentanyl into other substances. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “[The addition of illicitly manufactured fentanyl] makes drugs cheaper, more powerful, more addictive, and more dangerous.” 

There is no regulatory body testing the substances to ensure they are fentanyl-free. Many times, people are not aware that they are consuming more than one drug. In this case, the person using cannot account for the different interactions and side effects. They may unknowingly take enough fentanyl to overdose or die. 

#5. Long-term or permanent bodily damage

The choice to take a drug for the first time may not seem that serious, but drugs are more dangerous than they appear. Some drugs can cause permanent damage after only one use, and others damage a person after multiple instances of consumption. For example:

• Drugs can cause organ failure and seizures. 
• Hallucinogens can cause chronic psychosis. 
• Opioids can cause respiratory failure or a coma. 
• Depressants can prevent a person from getting enough oxygen. In under five minutes, brain cells start dying from oxygen deprivation. 
• Smoking anything can cause lung cancer. All toxins filter through the liver, so drugs can cause cirrhosis to the liver or liver disease. 
• Unsafe needles used for injectable drugs can cause HIV. 
• Amphetamines and stimulants can cause heart damage or heart attacks.

When engaging in substance abuse, you risk your health and safety. This especially applies when using street drugs. Due to the nature of street drugs, you never truly know what kind, potency, or quality of drugs you're receiving. This increases your chance of overdose and death.

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