Stimulants: Effects and Types

• Stimulants are drugs that accelerate communication between the brain and the body.
• They can induce feelings of heightened alertness, confidence, energy, and wakefulness.
• Stimulants encompass legal substances like caffeine and nicotine, medications such as dexamphetamines, Adderall, and methylphenidate (Ritalin), and illicit substances like speed, ice, and cocaine.

Appearance

• Stimulants come in forms such as tablets, capsules, powders, clear crystals, or brownish crystal-like powder, with a strong smell and bitter taste.

Common Names

• Stimulants are also known as uppers and pep pills.

How Stimulants are Used

• Methods of use vary depending on the stimulant type, including oral ingestion, chewing, snorting, smoking, or injection.
• The speed at which effects manifest is contingent on the stimulant type and method of administration.

Effects of Stimulants

• Using any drug carries inherent risks, necessitating caution.
• Stimulant effects are variable, influenced by factors such as size, weight, health, prior experience, concurrent drug use, dosage, environment, and the specific stimulant used.
• The type of stimulant significantly alters effects, with lower-dose stimulants like caffeine or prescribed dexamphetamines posing much lower harm risks compared to illicit stimulants like ice or speed.

Lower Doses

• Lower doses of stimulants can result in euphoria, heightened well-being, increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased alertness and talkativeness, and reduced appetite.

Higher Doses

• Higher doses, particularly with illicit stimulants, may lead to anxiety, tension, increased body temperature, nausea, tremor, seizures, coma, and death.

Impact of Mood and Environment on Psychoactive Drugs

• Psychoactive drugs can have varied effects based on a person’s mood ("set") and environment ("setting").
• Set: refers to a person’s state of mind, past experiences with a drug, and expectations.
• Setting: refers to the environment where drug use occurs, including familiarity, companions, location, and sensory factors.
• A calm environment may enhance pleasant experiences, while a noisy environment may cause negative experiences.

Overdose Information

• Illicit stimulants present a higher overdose risk.
• Prescribed stimulants also carry an overdose risk if dosage guidelines are not followed.
• Seek immediate medical attention if experiencing racing heartbeat, chest pain, breathing problems, extreme agitation, fits/convulsions, or passing out.

"Coming Down" Effects

• Following stimulant use, individuals may experience unpleasant effects such as sleep difficulties after using ice or speed, and irritability and mild paranoia after using cocaine.

Tolerance and Dependence

• The risk of tolerance and dependence varies by stimulant type.
• Regular users of stimulants like ice, speed, cocaine, and nicotine can develop dependence, needing the drug to function normally.
• Tolerance may develop, requiring increased dosages to achieve the same effect.
• Dependence on prescribed stimulants like dexamphetamine or methylphenidate (Ritalin) may occur for managing conditions like ADHD or narcolepsy, but harm risk increases with non-prescribed use.

Mixing Stimulants with Other Drugs

• Combining stimulants with other drugs can lead to unpredictable and harmful effects.
• Ice/speed and MAOIs can cause elevated blood pressure, potentially leading to irregular heartbeat, heart failure, and stroke.
• Cocaine/speed and alcohol, opioids, or benzodiazepines can overburden the body, potentially causing overdose.
• Ice and speed or cocaine can place extreme strain on the heart, increasing the risk of stroke.
• Cocaine and MDMA: Cocaine may mask the desirable effects of MDMA while increasing the risk of heart attack.

Polydrug Use

• Polydrug use involves using multiple drugs simultaneously or consecutively, including both illicit drugs and legal substances like alcohol and medications.