5 Common Types of Party Drugs

Inconsistency in the strength and exact composition of the supplied drug causing users to overdose. Wide variance in the measured rate of deaths caused by drugs such as ecstasy across countries suggest that user and societal/environmental factors may also affect the lethality of club drugs. This category includes both illegal stimulants, including cocaine and methamphetamine (called meth or “crystal”), and prescription stimulants, like the ADHD drugs Aderall and Ritalin, which are often abused as party drugs. Stimulants are a popular party drug because they increase users’ focus and energy, producing bursts of activity and talkativeness. These drugs work by impacting certain parts of the brain that are involved with alertness. Stimulant party drug effects, particularly with meth and cocaine, include increased respiratory rate, heart rate, and blood pressure.

«Club drugs often are taken together, with alcohol, or with other drugs to enhance their effect.» Drug interactions can cause hazardous side effects. When club drug users are in a liquor-licensed nightclub, users may mix pills or powders (MDMA, 2C-B, GHB, ketamine) with consumption of alcoholic drinks such as beer, wine or hard liquor. Some depressants, such as medications for treating alcohol dependence Rohypnol, are dangerous to take while drinking alcohol. «Ketamine often is taken in «trail mixes» of methamphetamine, phencyclidine, cocaine, sildenafil citrate , morphine or heroin.» Various amphetamines and methamphetamines are used as stimulants, as is cocaine. The duration of cocaine’s effects depends on the amount taken and the route of administration.

Risks and adverse effects

This may be why users report feeling a heightened sense of emotional closeness and empathy. Many drugs can alter a person’s thinking and judgment, and can lead to health risks, including addiction, drugged driving, infectious disease, and adverse effects on pregnancy. Information on commonly used drugs with the potential for misuse or addiction can be found here.

The psychedelic quality of MDMA and its amphetamine-like energizing effect offers multiple reasons for its appeal to users in the rave setting. Some users enjoy the feeling of mass communion from the inhibition-reducing effects of the drug, while others use it as «party fuel» for all-night dancing. Young adults use party drugs to enhance social experiences and feel more intense emotions and sensations.

Other inhalants are usually common household products that offer a quick, intense high but can cause severe brain damage even in the short term. Overdose symptoms are easy to spot though if teens and young adults are encouraged to stay in pairs at parties. Club drug users take the drugs because the substances’ effects enhance the experience of rave and electronic dance music clubs’ pulsating lights, brightly colored projected images and massive sound systems with heavy basslines. MDMA, short for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, is most commonly known as Ecstasy or Molly.

Hallucinogens:

This can cause harmful levels of the drug to build up in the body if it is taken repeatedly within short periods of time. High levels of the drug in the bloodstream can increase the risk for seizures and affect the heart’s ability to beat normally. Prescription Stimulants Medications that increase alertness, attention, energy, blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate. For more information, see the Misuse of Prescription Drugs Research Report. Romanelli F, Smith KM, Pomeroy C. Use of club drugs by HIV-seropositive and HIV seronegative gay and bisexual men.

Users may call it XTC, X, E, Adam, Eve, clarity, hug, beans, love drug, lovers’ speed, peace, uppers, or molly. A synthetic psychoactive drug can be made with any combination of chemicals, and the day one chemical compound is outlawed, another similar and sometimes more effective compound follows. Sadly, unlike your Volkswagen or Audi that requires a very expensive synthetic oil change, synthetic psychoactives are cheaply made and cheaply sold.

As a Supporter

Rohypnol has been suggested to have a high abuse liability, higher, some say, than other benzodiazepines83. Like other benzodiazepines, chronic use of Rohypnol can produce dependence. The withdrawal syndrome includes headache, tension, anxiety, restlessness, muscle pain, photosensitivity, numbness and tingling of the extremities, and increased seizure potential84. A hit can produce serious side effects, including body temperature increases, high blood pressure, and kidney damage. Ecstasy can also alter the brain and cause long-term cognitive decline. Some people who are introduced to club drugs at raves get hooked on them.

In addition, restraints can be used for protection of the patient and medical staff67,70. Evidence collection is a separate process from the collection of a blood or urine sample by a health care provider for the purpose of a medical evaluation and treatment. DPS has the ability to submit samples collected as evidence in a criminal investigation to a certified crime lab.

Ketamine often is taken in “trail mixes” of methamphetamine, cocaine, sildenafil citrate , or heroin74. Both popular and research accounts indicate that the recreational use of ketamine has widened in the context of nightclubs, dance parties, and raves75. There is a fair amount of overlap in what appears to be adverse symptoms due to acute effects, and withdrawal symptoms.

It is odourless and tasteless and is easily dissolved in beverages7, allowing a perpetrator to add it to the beverage of a potential victim. Flunitrazepam has had a long history of abuse by heroin and cocaine addicts. The manufacturers, Hoffman-La Roche, are now adding a blue dye to the pill that will be visible if added to a beverage14.

Examples of Club Drugs

A large number are Israelis, most of them fresh from the frazzle of military service dance to psychedelic music on full moon nights and smoking hashish91. Students who report to Stanford DPS that they may have been drugged will receive outreach from their residence deans and sometimes the Office of Substance Use Programs, Education & Resources and/or the SHARE Title IX Office. Long-term users can develop nerve problems, including paralysis and persistent pain. And the drug can cause you to keep using, even when you don’t want to do so.

• A person “tripping” on acid can be very susceptible to serious injury or even death.
• Nitrous oxide is a dissociative inhalant that can cause depersonalisation, derealisation , dizziness, euphoria, and some sound distortion .
• Fox HC, McLean A, Turner JJD, Parrot AC, Rogers R, Shakian BJ. Neuropsychological evidence of a relatively selective profile of temporal dysfunction in drug-free MDMA (“Ecstasy”) polydrug users.
• Mephedrone is another synthetic stimulant used for its euphoric qualities – elevated mood, an enhanced appreciation for music, and sexual stimulation.
• Be sure to skim the list of street names for psychoactive drugs to make sure you keep your ears perked for some of the psychoactive drug lingo.

Ravers often present with concurrent ingestion of drugs with different pharmacological profile, which may include stimulant and depressant drugs. Therapist should always make an attempt to gather information from as many sources as possible regarding what was ingested and in what form. COVID-19 may have shut down clubs and bars, but your teen or young adult could be attending a pharm party, increasing their chance of exposure to club drugs. Read our feature outlining and describing the 17 most common haven house los angeles.

Party Drugs: Ecstasy or Molly

Users can become psychologically dependent, with craving and a high tolerance, but there is little documented evidence of a physiological withdrawal syndrome79,80. Cocainecan be very dangerous, as it’s often cut with other substances that are even more damaging to the brain and body. Club drugs can be dangerous because there is typically no way to tell how potent the dose, where the drug came from, or what other substances might be mixed in. Because predatory drugs are rapidly metabolized, it is strongly recommended that individuals involve law enforcement and provide a sample for evidence purposes within 12 hours after ingestion.

And 1 in 10 young adults not attending college reported hallucinogen use—the highest level in two decades.

Substances often handed out at dance parties are grouped under the club drug heading. Side Effects – Euphoria, dizziness, excessive salivation, abnormally low heart rate, hypothermia, and amnesia, overdose can lead to seizures, coma, and death. alcohol and cancer risk fact sheet are created synthetically in labs, and one reason these drugs can have unexpected side effects during use is due to substitutions or contamination during formulation. Manufacturers may intentionally or unintentionally dilute the purity of the drug by mixing other harmful substances such as other drugs or chemicals, which may lead to unintended or harmful effects. MDMA (3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), better known as ecstasy, is a synthetic, psychoactive drug that acts like both a stimulant and a hallucinagen.

Both types, though, in teens and young adults especially, can cause memory loss and troubles with learning, and kidney damage on top of that. Although research continues into the full scope of the effects of illegal drugs, regular and unsafe use of club drugs is widely accepted to have damaging side effects and carry a risk of addiction. Increased heart rate, a steep increase in body temperature, increase in blood pressure, spasms and dehydration are all common side effects of MDMA and methamphetamine.

Many of those who use synthetic psychoactive drugs put themselves and others in harm’s way to include personal injury and accidental or intentional suicide. Combined use with other drugs such as alcohol can result in nausea and breathing difficulties. Regular use of GHB can lead to addiction and withdrawal that includes insomnia, anxiety, tremors, increased heart rate and blood pressure, and occasional psychotic thoughts.

This is a psychedelic drug created in the 1970s, experts say, and it’s considered a hallucinogenic substance. Stronger visual and perception changes happen with larger doses, and music tends to enhance the experience. The increase in body temperature can be significant enough to be dangerous, potentially fatal. Some of the social dangers of ecstasy include a higher incidence of unprotected sex and its use as a date rape drug. When it is slipped into someone’s drink unaware, they could become impaired enough to not be able to give reasoned consent.

What To Do If You Think You Have Been Drugged

In comparison, many emergency departments do not routinely screen for predatory drugs. Further, emergency departments typically screen for a much smaller sample of drugs compared to what a crime lab can test. But in general, researchers consider club drugs substances that boost energy, offer hallucinogenic properties, enhance a sense of connection, or all three. Side Effects – Bizarre thoughts and hallucinations, confusion, memory loss, delirium, rapid heartbeat, heart palpitations, elevated blood pressure, and slow or «stop and start» breathing.

Be aware that drugging is a form of violence that can trigger mandatory reporting to law enforcement in California. As is the case with an individual who has been sexually assaulted, a victim is not required to provide a statement to law enforcement. It is important to note that involving law enforcement enables evidence to be collected and retained in accordance with procedures that are admissible in court should you want to pursue a criminal case. Other side effects include high blood pressure, vertigo, aggression, and vomiting.

According to a Global Drug Survey of 40,000 people around the world, global use of alcohol and benzodiazepines, such as Xanax and Valium, has also increased. The general anxiety and social anxiety created by the pandemic may be inducing more young people to turn to substances as a way to feel less worried and inhibited. The pills can be different colors and sometimes have cartoon-like images on them.