cannabisnews.com: Club Drugs Hit Crisis Stage Among Teens 





Club Drugs Hit Crisis Stage Among Teens 
Posted by FoM on April 16, 2000 at 09:10:00 PT
By Nancy L. Othon, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Source: Modesto Bee
People say ecstasy makes them feel enlightened and loving. The anesthetic GHB gives people a profoundly intoxicating effect. Ketamine can put people in a dreamy state.  Ecstasy also can increase heart rate and cause dehydration. GHB easily can send someone into a coma. Ketamine, better known as "Special K," a dissociative anesthetic, can practically immobilize users. 
Whether mixed with other drugs or alone, these drugs and other so-called club drugs are killing at a scary pace, say substance abuse experts.  And while ecstasy, GHB and Rohypnol were once the drugs of choice at clubs or raves, all of them now have made their way into teen-age hands.  "It's alarming. Teens are doing it like people used to drink beer," said Mary Naples, a licensed mental health counselor.  The situation with club drugs, or designer drugs, is "absolutely" at a crisis mode, said Florida Drug Control Policy spokesman Tim Bottcher.  Ecstasy, or MDMA, a mixture of a stimulant and hallucinogen, was listed as the direct or related cause of more than a dozen deaths in South Florida in the past three years.  Other "club drugs," such as the anesthetic GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, were linked to dozens of deaths.  "We've found kids like to mix these drugs," Bottcher said. "If you mix GHB and alcohol, there's a good chance you're going to go into a coma and die."  While the sometimes deadly effects of GHB are scary enough to Timothy Condon, associate director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, he is more concerned about ecstasy.  A small faction of psychotherapists who prescribed MDMA before it was outlawed in the mid-1980s has long argued that there is no proof that ecstasy is harmful. But the latest research shows otherwise, Condon said.  Brain imaging research at Johns Hopkins University shows that ecstasy damages brain cells that produce serotonin.  Heavy ecstasy users also had memory problems that persisted for at least two weeks after they stopped using the drug, according to a study. Immediate effects are dehydration.  Naples said some parents and educators have never heard of ecstasy. They don't know the lingo, so if they hear their daughter or son tell a friend "let's roll tonight," the parent doesn't know they plan to do ecstasy.  Parents should notice differences in their children's behavior, Naples said, and they should make a trusting relationship with their teenagers a priority.  "What to look for isn't so clear as someone lighting up a joint or drinking alcohol," she said.  One Wellington, Fla., teen said he has been doing ecstasy for the past three years and his parents are oblivious.  "Mainstream kids have moved from keg parties to rolling parties," the 18-year-old said. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Published: Sunday, April 16, 2000Copyright © The Modesto Bee. Related Articles:House Votes to Put GHB On List of Illegal Drugshttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4542.shtmlClub Drug Dangers http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4079.shtmlSenate Bill Makes GHB A Controlled Substance http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3761.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by dddd on April 16, 2000 at 19:47:07 PT
once again
here's a cheap reprint of my previous ramblings.This GHB frenzy is an excellent example of the idiocy of the anti drug wierdness.The fact that this has been publicized as the "date rape drug",and given such heavy mediaattention,has done far more harm than good.I'll bet way less people would have even been aware of the devious uses of this normal "drug",if it hadnot been focused on by the media,and made illegal by the insipid governmental entities,,than if theywould have left well enough alone.And now it has become another devilish item,zeroed in upon by #%*holes who feel they areprotecting the public somehow,or/and have nothing better to do.I'm sure there are many other similar "drugs",that are now normal,and legal that could easily be usedin such ways.I think they're on the verge of attempting to control many herbal remedies with the "protectingpeople from themselves"justification.The out of control government continues to do far more harm than good,and the worst part is thatthey make it seem as if they are only concerned with protecting people,but in reality,they have a bigmoney interests driven agenda.They are able to put forth their crooked programs because they havebought the national media.I probably sound like some leftover 60's "radical" hippie,,,,,,,,and it's true.........dddd
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