Drugs are substances that change a person’s mental or physical state. They can affect the way your brain works, how you feel and behave, your understanding and your senses. This makes them unpredictable and dangerous, especially for young people.
The effects of drugs are different for each person and drug that have been used by the person.
It’s not hard to find drugs, and sometimes it may seem like everyone’s doing them or wanting you to do them. But as with anything that seems too good to be true, there are downsides (and dangers) to taking drugs.
People take drugs because:
Are curious and want to see what happens
Some want to fit in or feel pressured by their peers
To enjoy the effect on their body for example, feeling excited and energetic, or relaxed and calm
It help them cope with situations for example, reducing pain or relieving stress
They’ve have a drug dependency and need to keep taking them to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Legal and illegal drugs
Drugs can be:
- legal – for example, alcohol, caffeine, and Tobacco
- illegal – for example, cocaine or heroin.
Legal drugs
Some drugs – such as alcohol caffeine, and nicotine are legal but may be subject to restrictions based on age, location of use, driving and point of sale regulations.
We regulate and control the active ingredients in legal drugs:
- the alcohol content of drinks
- the milligrams of nicotine in cigarettes.
Illegal drugs
Other drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin, are illegal. They are not subject to quality or price controls and the amount of active ingredient varies. A person using illegal drugs can never be sure of how strong the drug is, or what is actually in it.
Different batches of an illegally manufactured drug may have different amounts of the drug and other unidentified additives.
It is against the law to possess, use, make, import or sell illegal drugs. The penalties for drug offences vary depending on the age of the offender (adult or minor), type of drug, quantities involved, previous offences, and the state or territory in which the offence happened.
Illicit drugs
Illicit drugs include:
- illegal drugs
- prescription medicines that have been obtained illegally or are not being used for medicinal purpose
- other substances that are being used inappropriately – for example, sniffing glue or inhaling paint thinner.
When taken (usually by swallowing, inhaling, or injecting), abused drugs find their way into the bloodstream. From there, they move to the brain and other parts of the body. In the brain, drugs may intensify or dull the senses, change how alert or sleepy people feel, and sometimes decrease physical pain.
Commonly abused drugs include:
Alcohol
Amphetamines
Cocaine and Crack
Cough and Cold medicine
Depressants
Heroin
Inhalants
LSD
Marijuana
Methamphetamine
PCP
Criminal networks traffic a range of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. As international borders become increasingly porous, global abuse and accessibility to drugs have become increasingly widespread. Criminal lawyers saved many of the loath handlers from entering into the deep gorge of drug trafficking.
This international trade involves growers, producers, couriers, suppliers and dealers. It affects almost all of our member countries, undermining political and economic stability, ruining the lives of individuals and damaging communities. The end-users and addicts are often the victims of a powerful and manipulative business.
As a report published by the Drug trafficking lawyers in Hamilton drug trafficking is often associated with other forms of crime, such as money laundering or corruption. Trafficking routes can also be used by criminal networks to transport other illicit products.
As criminals devise ever more creative ways of disguising illegal drugs for transport, law enforcement faces challenges in detecting such concealed substances. In addition, new synthetic drugs are produced with regularity, so police need to always be aware of new trends and products on the illicit market.