The withdrawal from any addictive drug can be life threatening, especially if the withdrawal occurs outside of a certified doctor’s care. According to a recent Medical News Today report, this is especially true if the individual is trying to overcome an addiction to GBL.
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Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant that produces effects similar to Ecstasy, amphetamines, and cocaine. Although the drug was outlawed in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland earlier this year, researchers from Queen’s University Belfast have found that the ban did not deter people from taking the substance.
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Singer and actress Fergie (born Stacy Ferguson) has admitted that as a teenager, she became addicted to illegal drugs in an attempt to escape her troubles. Fergie has been clean for more than ten years, but is only now revealing that her pre-fame drug addiction left her paranoid and delusional.
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How it starts is fairly predictable. At an all-night rave or trance, where the dance scene is frenetic and the music is loud and non-stop, someone passes around brightly colored pills or tabs of E (ecstasy), or hands you a drink containing Rohypnol, GHB or ketamine. With the heat, the intoxicating energy of dancing bodies, strobe lights and your own excitement, you take the pill or drink.
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There is a common perception that “club drugs” are harmless and meant for just having fun at parties. More and more young, and not so young, people today are leading increasingly frenetic social lives and looking to maximize the “fun” experience while they can. In the process they encounter more than just food, music, and drinks while at parties. They come across things like Ecstasy, Rohypnol, and GHB. These are thought to be fun drugs, to be taken for a good time with no side effects.
Read more about Club Drugs: Harmless ‘Fun’ or Dangerous Game?
Ketamine is a club drug, identified as such due to its popularity at dance clubs and raves. The prevalence of ketamine among users in grades 8, 10 and 12 in 2008, according to the 2009 Monitoring the Future Report from The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, was 1.2 percent, 1.0 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively.
According to data from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), teenagers and young adults represent the majority of ketamine users. Statics from the Drug Abuse Warning Network show that young people between the ages of 12 and 25 accounted for 74 percent of the ketamine emergency mentions in the U.S. in 2000.