Saturday 27 March 2010

Using legal highs? Are you an oxymoron?!

Its the buzz on every one's lips at the moment. Legal highs. I find myself talking about this subject nearly everyday and it shocks me that something so irrelevant to my own life, has taken over. I know very little about drugs and moreover designer drugs and many think that I am ignorant, however, it has simply never been a scene that I have wished to act in.

Legal highs are derived from Ecstasy, by its content rather than its effects and are both dangerous and unpredictable. However, these drugs are very easy to get your hands on. I googled "legal highs" so as to learn more about legal drugs such as mephedrone and all the web pages that came up were selling such drugs not information. I then decided to investigate the prices of such drugs and I am not surprised that many have swapped their drinks for drugs - these are so cheap!

What I find most worrying about these designer drugs is that no one really knows the true effects. Obviously, the user finds the short term effects incredible, however, it is impossible to find out the long term effects of this drug. Personally, what I think the worst aspect of this new drug scene is the effect it has on your life as a whole. As many of the drugs are stimulants, it means that the individual can stay up all night . However, this leads to the need to sleep all day or perhaps to force yourself to stay awake and then use the drug again the next evening so as to keep them up for a second night running. This leads to a contineous circle.

Although as students we all have the odd day that we don't get out of bed until 3pm, the use of stimulants causes this reguarly, so university lectures are missed and the motivation and ability to work slowly disappears. Although the governement is currently looking at ways of making this drug illegal, there will always be a new designer drug to take its place.

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