China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Stimulants: cocaine, amphetamines and party drugs
Published in Berry Beaumont, David Haslam, Care of Drug Users in General Practice, 2021
This is the form in which it is produced in illegal laboratories in South America for transport to Europe and the USA. It is an odourless white crystalline powder with a bitter taste known by various terms including Charlie, toot, dust and snow. Initially produced with a high purity, by the time it reaches street users it has been mixed with adulterants such as glucose (‘cut’) and the purity is reduced to 50% or less. It is taken in various ways. Sniffing (‘snorting’): the powder is finely chopped with a razor blade and drawn into 2 inch-long lines which are then sniffed up one nostril at a time using a straw or other implement.Injecting: the hydrochloride is very soluble in water and can easily be prepared for intravenous injection. It is sometimes mixed with heroin and the resultant preparation is called a ‘speedball’.Orally: either as powder or in solution.By application to mucous membranes: for example, the gums, genitals or anus.
Inhalational Durg Abuse
Published in Jacob Loke, Pathophysiology and Treatment of Inhalation Injuries, 2020
Jacob Loke, Richard Rowley, Herbert D. Kleber, Peter Jatlow
Experience with opiate overdoses in humans is collected primarily from the setting of illicit use and is a tragically frequent occurrence in this setting. The overwhelming majority of addicts experience at least one overdose in their life, and an estimated 1% of opiate addicts die each year due to acute toxic reactions (Louria et al., 1967). Important factors that lead to narcotic overdose or death in addicts include potency of the heroin (a function of the purity of the street packets of the illicit drug), impurities, drug tolerance, length of abstinence, and synergistic effect with alcohol and other drugs. The latter include the street drug “speedball,” a combination of heroin with cocaine or amphetamine. Such “drug mixing” was implicated in the death of comedian/actor John Belushi. Most narcotic overdoses are taken by the intravenous or “mainline” route, although it has been demonstrated that nasal inhalation (“sniffing” or “snorting”) of codeine or heroin has resulted in death (Hirsch and Adelson, 1972). Shallow sniffing results in absorption primarily from the nasal and pharyngeal mucosa and deeper sniffing produces a combination of mucosal absorption, aspiration, and swallowing. In various series, 3-10% of heroin overdoses have been administered by the inhalational route, producing a clinical picture similar to intravenous overdose (Frand, 1972; Duberstein and Kaufman, 1971; Steinberg and Karliner, 1968).
Intoxication and overdose
Published in G. Hussein Rassool, Alcohol and Drug Misuse, 2017
About one third of those who self-harm misuse drugs or alcohol on a regular basis (Haw et al. 2001). The misuse of a combination of psychoactive substances such as benzodiazepines and alcohol with opiates or combining heroin with cocaine as a “speedball” can increase the chances of an overdose. In a prospective study of mortality among drug misusers, Gossop et al. (2002) found that the majority of deaths (68%) were associated with drug overdoses. Opiates were the drugs most commonly detected during post-mortem examinations. In the majority of cases, more than one drug was detected. Polydrug use and, specifically, heavy drinking, and use of benzodiazepines and amphetamines, were identified as risk factors for mortality. The use of antidepressants amongst polysubstance users has also been found to heighten the risk of fatality (Oyefeso et al. 2000).
Prevalence and high-risk behaviors associated with non-fatal overdose among people who use illicit opioids: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Published in Journal of Substance Use, 2022
Bahram Armoon, Azadeh Bayani, Mark D. Griffiths, Amir-Hossein Bayat, Rasool Mohammadi, Ladan Fattah Moghaddam, Elahe Ahounbar
Findings indicate there was an association between receiving money, goods, or drugs in exchange for sex non-fatal overdose among PWUIOs (Table 5). The findings showed that PWUIOs who received money, goods, or drugs in exchange for sex were 1.77 times more likely to report having had a non-fatal overdose during last year compared with those that did not (OR = 1.77, 95%CI = 1.46–2.15). There were no significant associations found between those who had used a speedball and non-fatal overdose among PWUIOs (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.85–2.08) (Table 5). There was also a positive association between those who had witnessed an overdose and non-fatal overdose among PWUIOs. Individuals who had witnessed an overdose were 2.22 times more likely to have had a non-fatal overdose (past 12 months) compared with those who had not (OR = 2.22, 95%CI = 1.61–3.08) (Table 5).
Bad Future, Bad History
Published in Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 2022
Into this context, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born March 31, 1945, three weeks after the German surrender. In retrospect, he is considered by many a slow-motion suicide: dead at 37 from a speedball overdose of cocaine and barbiturates, following a legendary appetite for alcohol and drugs. From the perspective of today, his own soon-to-be funeral shadows the film in question. And as a gay man who flaunted the rules and codes of the bourgeoisie from which he hailed, he would have been, in any of the 12 years preceding his birth, an incinerable subject of the Reich. Like many of his generation living through West Germany’s code of silence regarding those 12 years, he found correlations between the Germany of the German Economic Miracle and the Germany of the Reich. And, as for many of his generation, one could easily wonder, was there was a kind of traumatic intromission as the parallels of those histories piled up?
Transitioning illicit drug preferences and emerging user identities in Ohio: The proliferation of methamphetamine use among African Americans
Published in Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 2019
Karen Coen Flynn, Lee D. Hoffer
Given that methamphetamine is a psychomotor stimulant and heroin is an opiate commonly associated with a depressive effect, it may seem counterintuitive for a user not to have a distinct preference for one or the other. Yet research has shown that there are chemical changes in the brains of users who are strongly addicted to heroin such that they experience stimulatory effects with its continued use in increasing amounts (Kosten & George, 2002). Aside from using different drugs at different times, it also is common for polydrug users to use multiple drugs concurrently. For example, users and researchers alike often refer to the combination of a psychomotor stimulant and an opioid as a “speedball.” The most common speedball recipe historically was composed of heroin and cocaine; today heroin and methamphetamine is the popular mix (Jacobs, 1999; Trujillo, Smith, & Guaderrama, 2011). Research on rats has shown that “methamphetamine-heroin combinations … produce a greater rewarding effect than the identical doses of methamphetamine alone and suggest that enhanced reward may underlie the popularity of speedball[s]” (Ranaldi & Wise, 2000, p. 2621). Appearing to substantiate this animal research, four participants in this research and users documented elsewhere in Ohio by OSAM use speedballs to “intensify and make the high last longer” (Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS), 2014, p. 13).