Category: Addiction Education

What Is Cocaine Cut With?

Cocaine is a euphoria-inducing drug often used recreationally in the United States. For many people, cocaine is a casual use drug, which never escalates into a problem or problematic use. In fact, in 2022, over half a million people used cocaine for the first time. For many of those people, cocaine is seen as a relatively safe and low-impact drug that wears off quickly and has few side-effects other than a hangover and maybe a nosebleed or two. At the same time, 1.4 million Americans aged 12 or older (0.5% of the population) also have a substance use disorder or problematic usage of cocaine.

In addition, while millions of Americans will use cocaine and then only use it occasionally, it remains dangerous. Cocaine is a powerful stimulant that causes stress on the cardiovascular system and can result in heart attack or heart problems. In addition, it interacts badly with many other drugs. And, increasingly, cocaine is cut not with potentially illness-inducing white powders but with other, stronger drugs that look similar but cost less to acquire.

As a result, every single time you use cocaine, you could end up in the hospital. Using a drug like cocaine is always a risk. That’s because it’s unregulated, you have no idea what you’re taking, and you could experience negative cardiovascular side-effects that could be fatal.

Why is Cocaine Cut?

Cocaine can be cut for a number of reasons. However, the most common is that the dealer is trying to save money or the person they bought it from is. Here, cocaine is often mixed with white powders that look similar to cocaine, or so much so that you couldn’t tell the difference.

Cocaine can also be cut if what you’re taking is not actually cocaine. For example, it’s increasingly common to see products that are essentially fentanyl powder cut with baby powder or talk sold as cocaine. There’s no actual cocaine in the product, but the dealers often don’t even know that. Instead, they get “cheap” cocaine, which they can then sell for a higher profit margin or pass on cheaply.

In each case, the primary goal is more money for someone in the chain of manufacturer to dealer. And, in some cases, that can result in significant danger to the user, because the person selling the cocaine doesn’t necessarily know what they are selling or what safe usage looks like.

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What is Cocaine Cut With?

Cocaine is cut with a large number of substances. The only thing they have in common is that all of them are white powders. Adulterants and cutting agents can include:

Flour
Baking soda/powder
Baby powder (unscented)
Talcum
Boric acid
Gypsum powder/chalk

These “fillers” increase the quantity of “cocaine” the dealer has to sell. Often, they are used to increase the volume of the cocaine to increase profit margin. In this case, it’s common to see ratios of 10-60% of what are essentially household ingredients used as cutting agents.

However, there are other cutting agents often used. These are typically added in the case that the cocaine has been cut too much and someone could tell that their cocaine isn’t doing anything or that it tastes different. They can also be added in the case that there isn’t any actual cocaine in the product you’re being sold, and the dealer wants to ensure that the drug “does something”.

Levamisole (veterinary strength dewormer with a similar taste and melting point to cocaine)
Fentanyl (high strength opioid drug which is available cheaply and is commonly used to create faux cocaine)
Amphetamines (Used to create a euphoric high similar to cocaine, but more cheaply)
Caffeine (used to create a high similar to cocaine, but with higher risk of cardiovascular complications)
Hydroxyzine (antihistamine medication)

If there’s a filler in your cocaine, it’s very likely to be one of these. However, you might also end up with a filler like a local analgesic or painkiller, powdered paracetamol, or a similar filler. These are less common but may still be used to cut cocaine.

Are Fillers Dangerous?

In the best-case scenario, fillers in cocaine can be relatively harmless and merely reduce the strength of whatever you’re taking. For example, it’s not exactly healthy to snort flour up your nose or inject it into your veins, but you’ll probably survive it (although injecting it can cause you to go into shock).

However, many substances that are used to cut cocaine are not safe for taking in any kind of volume. Most are also not intended for use via the membrane layer in the nose or mouth or for injection. This means you can easily reach toxicity with substances that might be safe to take via a pill.

What else? Cutting agents like fentanyl can be extremely strong. If you don’t know what you’re taking, you run the risk of an opioid overdose, without having an overdose reversal agent like Naloxone on hand. Finally, agents like amphetamines can be extremely habit inducing and can result in psychosis, behavioral dependency, cardiovascular problems. Cocaine also penetrates the membrane layer between the brain and the cardiovascular system. It can saturate that layer, drawing other substances with it, and can cause toxicity on its own. In this case, the result is often sudden death.

What Can You Do About Cut Cocaine?

Cocaine is never safe to use on its own. Every time you use it, you take on risks to your health. However, additives and fillers add new layers of risk, because you simply don’t know what you’re taking. For that reason, there are many drug testing organizations in the United States, some of which will test your drugs for free. The best solution is always to not use illicit drugs. However, if you’re going to use them anyway, organizations like DanceSafe provide avenues to ensure that you’re using in as safe of a way as possible. Often, that means ordering drug testing kits or taking a sample of your drugs in to be tested. This won’t get you into trouble. However, you will get a report back on what’s actually in your cocaine, so you can make a decision about whether it’s safe enough for you to use. For example, most people might be surprised to learn that about 5% of all cocaine collected by the DEA includes fentanyl or heroin. Understanding the risks and that you are taking an opioid can allow you to practice much better drug safety.

And, of course, most of us aren’t to pleased with the prospect of using household cleaning products or baby powder as a drug either.

Getting Help

If you or a loved one is using cocaine, it’s important to understand that it is a risk. For example, in 2022, roughly 10,000 people died of stimulant-related overdose without contaminants like fentanyl and a further 47,000 died of overdose-deaths after taking a stimulant mixed with fentanyl or heroin.

Many people see cocaine as a safe drug that they can use and have vanish in a few hours. While that’s often the case, the drug comes with its own significant risks and it’s never safe to use, even if you’ve safely used it before. That may mean it’s important to get help, to look into talking to your doctor about drug use, and to get treatment or therapy to explore the reasons behind using, so you can improve those direct causes and not need it.

Does Cannabis Really Help with Hangovers?

If you drink often enough to deal with hangovers, you’ve probably heard all sorts of tips on how to get rid of them. Often, from raw eggs to drinking more in the morning, those cures range from the gross to the outright dangerous. While it’s true that taking an ibuprofen in the morning will help with your headache, very few “hangover cures” are actually cures. Instead, you get, at best, a short-term solution with painkillers.

That’s also true with cannabis, which is touted as a way to help hangovers. You’ll see people all over Reddit claiming to cure hangovers with weed – and that unfortunately often means self-medicating with another drug while you should likely be at work and sober.

Of course, there are truths behind the concept that cannabis can help with hangovers. We’ll look at those, as well as what’s really going on, and give you the information you need to make the healthy decision.

First, What Causes a Hangover?

Most people are aware that a hangover is a result of drinking too much alcohol. But, you can get a hangover from any kind of drug abuse. In fact, hangovers are a combination of dehydration and congeners, or built-up chemicals left over from metabolizing drugs and alcohol. These alcohol byproducts stick around, sometimes for as long as two days, leading to fatigue, headache, light and sound sensitivity, and sometimes even nausea. And, the more you drink the worse they get.

What else? Alcohol and many other drugs are inflammatory, which means they cause inflammation across the body which can lead to muscle and joint pain and fatigue.

Finally, as a diuretic, drinking a lot of alcohol can mean you’re short on liquids and electrolytes.

That’s a lot to go wrong for a single night out.

Where does Cannabis Come In?

Cannabis isn’t completely useless at helping with hangovers. In fact, cannabis has been shown to be an anti-inflammatory drug – much like paracetamol, although it’s less good at being an anti-inflammatory than paracetamol or ibuprofen. However, this result is entirely linked to CBD and CBG and not to THC. This means that if you smoke a joint, you’re primarily taking in something that does not actively help with your hangover. What’s more, the anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis are comparable to those of garlic, meaning you could just eat a lot of garlic, or take an Aspirin.

What’s worse, is that cannabis can actually cause a hangover. If you take in enough THC< you’ll experience hangover effects. That normally means hangover, cotton mouth, and delays in functioning.

However, Cannabis can also help with nausea. In one study, THC was actually shown to have greater nausea reducing effects than CBD. 96.4% of users smoking joints reported reductions in nausea. This means that many people use cannabis to try to reduce or get rid of nausea after a hangover.

What else? Cannabis is a muscle relaxant, which means it can help you go back to sleep. That’s one of the reasons it’s not safe to use if you’re driving or going to work. However, it can help patients to relax and to go back to sleep, which can “help” with a hangover.

Finally, a lot of people get downright cranky when they have a hangover. If you want to improve your mood, there’s nothing like drugging yourself to get that result. Cannabis is calming and soothing, meaning that crankiness and irritability can disappear, making you much more tolerable to be around for your family, friends, and coworkers. It’s not a cure, and you’ll probably feel worse when it wears off, but it will prevent you from snapping at people.

Cannabis can also help with hangover in some unexpected ways. For example, if you have a variety that causes the munchies, it can encourage you to actually eat food, which will generally just help with the nausea. Once you get something in your stomach, the rest of the symptoms seem much less pressing, and cannabis can help you do that.

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Does Cannabis Cure Hangover?

Cannabis can temporarily relieve head pain and muscle pain by relieving inflammation. However, cannabis only tackles one of the causes of a hangover.

Hangovers are caused by:

Inflammation
Dehydration
Chemical buildup
Electrolyte imbalance

So, can you drink a Gatorade with your joint and be fine? Yes and no. Once you’re suffering from a hangover, taking steps to restore hydration and electrolyte levels are important for feeling better more quickly. You can also use anti-inflammatories to reduce head pain and improve focus if you’re struggling.

However, in most cases, unless you’re staying home, it’s not recommended to use something intoxicating, like weed. Instead, over the counter anti-inflammatories are cheap, safe, and effective.

Some people refer to cannabis as helping the headache, killing the nausea, and putting them back to sleep. Unfortunately, that might be effective on a case-by-case basis, but mixing cannabis with alcohol can cause worsening nausea in many users.

What Helps with a Hangover?

The best cure for a hangover is prevention. That means:

Eating before you start drinking
Drinking plenty of water alongside alcohol. A glass of water per 2 beers is a good rule of thumb.
Managing your alcohol intake

If it’s too late for that and you’re already suffering from a hangover while you read this article, try some pain relief options:

Take an over-the-counter pain reliever, like an aspirin or two
Drink a sports drink, like Gatorade, to rehydrate and rebalance electrolytes
Go for a walk and engage in light activity to help your body speed up metabolization
Eat something. Even if you start with fries or leftovers, getting food in your stomach will help with nausea.
If you have nausea, Pepto Bismal or a similar product can help a lot

If you don’t have to go to work, consider going back to sleep and sleeping it off, after you drink some water. If you do have to go to work, don’t forget your sunglasses, extra painkillers, and maybe an apology to your coworkers.

Eventually, if you’re drinking to the point of needing a hangover cure on the regular, chances are, you should be cutting down on alcohol consumption. There’s nothing wrong with drinking to the point of having a hangover a few times a year. And, if that’s the case, you can try self-medicating with cannabis the morning after to see if it helps. It will mostly help you relax and go back to sleep and you’re probably better off with Aspirin. But, you can safely try it. Just make sure you’re not still drunk, because cannabis and alcohol can mix badly together. However, if it’s more than a few times a year and you’re looking into hangover management as a normal part of your life, you probably want to step back, talk to your doctor, and look into getting help with managing alcohol consumption. Looking into regular drug use is not the solution and cannabis will result in further headache and hangover, especially if you’re stacking it on top of alcohol use.

What’s the verdict? Cannabis can help your hangover symptoms in a variety of ways. At the same time, it’s not a cure. It’s also dangerous to smoke before work or driving a vehicle. And, you can often get the same or better results by drinking something, getting some food, and going for a walk.

What is the Connection Between Addiction and Impulsive Behaviors?

For many people, impulsivity or impulsive behavior and risk-taking behavior go hand-in-hand with substance use disorder or “addiction”. This means that, even when completely sober, people with substance abuse problems are more likely to engage in impulsive decision-making, risk-taking behaviors, and otherwise very quickly jump to things. However, impulsive behaviors have a complex relationship with addiction and substance abuse.

For example, impulsive behaviors are one of the leading risk factors behind substance abuse. People who are impulsive are less able to say no, more likely to make risky decisions like substance use, and more likely to take actions that could put them in danger. At the same time, substance abuse can increase impulsivity and sensation-seeking by changing how the brain works, which means that impulsivity will get worse as you continue to use.

That’s further complicated by the fact that people who are very impulsive often have complications from trauma, stress, and adverse childhood experiences. This means that the same factors which increase the likelihood of addiction are also likely to increase impulsive behaviors.

Impulsivity and Pleasure-Seeking

The thing that most people think of when they think of impulsive behavior is pleasure-seeking. Here, impulsive people may have a hard time saying no to things that make them feel good. They may quickly and with little thought do high-risk activities that result in adrenaline and a rush of feeling good. Think impromptu car races, binge drinking, binge eating, skipping school or work, etc.

These kinds of behaviors are often driven by a desire to feel good, usually as a result of learning poor coping mechanisms, trauma as a child, or brain development.

In some cases, pleasure seeking can look fairly normal. In other cases, it can look like seeking out extreme experiences, akin to going after roller coaster rides and bungee jumping. More often, it means someone who drinks or uses drugs, goes out too much, and indulges in fast food, sugary drinks, and other chemical ways to feel good.

Eventually, that puts you at risk of substance use disorder, because it means you’re exposed to substances, sometimes very regularly.

Sensation Seeking after Exposure to Drugs and Alcohol

The more you use drugs and alcohol, the worse sensation seeking is likely to get. For many people, this means that substance abuse results in the brain reducing its production of serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. That means you feel less in response to whatever you’re doing. Therefore, you need more of the drug, the alcohol, or an even more gratifying experience to feel the same amount of pleasure from it. That quickly deteriorates into a pattern of escalation that can become dangerous.

As a result, using substances for sensation seeking very often results in a chronic condition with patterns of building tolerance, increasing usage, and dependence.

Stress Response

Impulsive people often use sensation seeking to manage stress and to feel good around negativity. As they use drugs and alcohol to do so, they reduce their ability to feel good in other ways, while increasing stress from mental and physical health problems, job stress, interpersonal relationship turbulence, and hangovers. That means an increase in stress and an increased need for sensation-seeking behavior.

As a result, people who are in this position often need to feel good more and more just to cope with daily life. The stress response refers to how the brain changes to adapt to drug use, which results in a vicious cycle where you feel bad and want to do something that feels good, but nothing feels as good as it used to, so you keep using more.

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Self-Medication

Self-medication is a very closely related phenomenon to both the stress response and sensation seeking. However, here, the individual is specifically drinking to feel “not bad” rather than to “feel good”. That makes this a different response. However, it is one that impulsive people are extremely vulnerable to. Here, people are very likely to:

Drink alcohol to destress
Take extra pills or more than their prescription in case of pain
Use medication outside of a prescription
Preemptively take painkillers or drink to prevent stress and pain
Feel like they need a substance to cope with a problem

People who use substances to self-medicate typically start out doing so on an impulsive basis. “I feel bad and I know this will make me feel better”. However, like with sensation-seeking, it can very easily get out of control. That’s especially true when people self-medicate for stress, chronic illness, or other frequently recurring issues. And, with stress, drinking or using to cope with it actively makes the situation worse, because drinking and using do eventually create more stress in terms of financial stress, relationship friction, fatigue, reduced capability at work, etc.

It also means that the people who are most likely to be vulnerable to impulsivity are also the people most likely to be vulnerable to substance use disorders. That means people with recurring, existing, or chronic mental health problems from stress, depression, anxiety, or a mental health disorder.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Impulsivity

The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study was conducted during the 90s, with over 17,000 participants at the Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study tracked how trauma at an early age impacted brain development as well as vulnerability to physical and mental health disorders. It found that more exposure to traumatic experiences resulted in an increase in impulsive and risk taking behavior. It also found that traumatic experiences before the age of 14 were significantly likely to impact physical and mental health problems, greatly increasing vulnerability to substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and even physical illnesses.

Therefore, the same factors that result in impulsive behaviors also result in substance use disorders.

In Short:

Impulsive behaviors increase risk of substance use disorder by increasing exposure to substances. They also make it harder to say no to further exposure because of sensation seeking and self-medicating patterns. People who are impulsive look for fast and easy fixes to stress, strong and negative emotions, and problems in their life. They also want to feel good, to experience highs, and to escape when they want to. That means impulsive people are very vulnerable to substance abuse. In addition, impulsivity gets worse as you use drugs and alcohol, which exacerbates the original issue further.

Getting Help

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, it’s important to reach out and get help. Today, your treatment options include behavioral therapy like CBT, which will help you to assess the underlying reasons behind addiction, to cope with stress in a healthy way, and to build healthy responses and behaviors that can help you to get in control of impulsivity, cravings, and difficulty managing substances in a healthy way. Addiction is a complicated disorder that’s impacted by hundreds of factors ranging from stress and environment to genetics and upbringing. At the same time, you can learn to manage it and you can get in control of your symptoms and your life. That may take months or even years of therapy, but having risk factors and having personality that contributes to a vulnerability to addiction does not mean you’re stuck with it. There is help and it will allow you to get your life back.

The Differences and Similarities Between Meth and Crack

Various-colorful-pills-and-syringe-on-black-background

The Differences and Similarities Between Meth and Crack

Recreational drug use is at an all-time high in the United States, with an estimated 48.7 million Americans struggling with a substance use disorder. Crack or crack cocaine and meth are two of the most common of those drugs, although both fall well behind opioids, sedatives, and tranquilizers like heroin, sleeping medication, prescription pain pills, and benzodiazepines in popularity. Crack and meth have many similarities on a surface level. For example, both are sold as “crystal” and both are called “rock” in some street language. And, both are often smoked using a glass pipe but can be injected. In fact, if you don’t know what you’re looking at, it can be difficult to tell the difference between the two when you catch someone using.

For many parents, crack was the concern when they were kids. Today, methamphetamine is the new drug of choice for kids, often because it’s accessible and cheap, rather than because it’s cheap. At the same time, it’s important to understand the differences, because both have different effects, different risks, and require different strategies to use safely.

What is Crack Cocaine?

Cocaine is a processed product from the coca plant, which is made by processing the leaves into a paste and then further processing it with ammonia to remove the pulp to create pure cocaine. Crack is cocaine that has been processed a third time with solvents to further remove any non-active ingredients, creating a hard, rock-like substance that is sold in chunks known as “rocks”. It’s also generally mixed with sodium bicarbonate, which allows it to be smoked at a lower temperature (cocaine doesn’t start to smoke until almost 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which also destroys the drug but bicarbonate smokes at 208 F, which doesn’t destroy the drug).

The result is a highly concentrated form of cocaine that offers a significant high and euphoria. Unlike cocaine, crack is also highly addictive. And, unlike cocaine, smoking it means it results in significant physical health risks including burns, damage to the lungs, tooth loss, and more. Cocaine also only lasts about 15 minutes, meaning that users frequently consistently pass a pipe around to stay high – resulting in increased risk of overdose and danger.

What is Meth?

Meth or “crystal meth” is an illicit drug that’s sold in a number of ways but most famously as crystals or “rock”. Methamphetamine is an amphetamine drug, similar to what you get if you buy Ritalin or Adderall. However, meth has more of the psychoactive amphetamine salt, meaning that it creates a more intense high, more euphoria, and more risks of side-effects.

Meth is typically made illicitly by distilling the active ingredients out of other products, such as cold and cough medicine. However, in other cases, it’s synthesized directly. In either case, the drug is typically sold as powder. In some cases, it’s solidified and sold as crystal meth, or dry rocks known as “rock”, “crystal” and sometimes “shatter” (although the latter is more often reserved for hash and concentrated THC products from marijuana.

Like crack, meth is a stimulant. However, it lasts 4-16 hours. In addition, it can be more noticeable than crack, as users may not sleep for the entire period they are high. For people who continue to smoke while high, that can mean periods of 32+ hours of being awake. Meth is also more common, with almost twice the number of regular users as crack cocaine.

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What are the Similarities Between Meth and Crack Cocaine?

Meth and crack cocaine have a lot in common. For example, they are both stimulant drugs. This means that both impact the central nervous system causing a high, euphoria, and feelings of being powerful. People using crack or meth will show signs of hyperactivity, wakefulness, and restlessness. They might not be able to sit still, talk at a normal pace, or they might talk with nervous energy or jitters.

Crack – Users are likely to experience euphoria and a high, with paranoia, hallucinations, anger, psychosis, and some hostility or aggression towards others.
Meth – Users are likely to experience euphoria and a high with paranoia, hallucinations, anger, psychosis, and some aggression and hostility towards themselves and others.

Crack cocaine and meth are also both schedule II-controlled substances. This means that they’re both illegal to poses or use in the United States. They’re classified as dangerous, and addictive and it can be a crime to be caught with either drug in your possession.

Crystal meth can also look very similar to crack cocaine. However, “standard” meth is more likely to be sold as a powder.

As stimulant, both also have similar long-term effects. For example:

Cracked and blistered lips from smoking
Weight loss
Tooth decay
Paranoia and psychosis

A heavy crack user will look similar to a heavy meth user in many ways. Both also have similar overdose risks and similar risks of cardiovascular and heart failure.

Both can be smoked or injected
Both are often consumed from glass pipes
Both cause a euphoric high with nervous energy

What are the Differences Between Meth and Crack Cocaine?

Crack and meth are very different drugs. As a result, there will be many differences. However, you’ll most often notice them in how long the drug acts and what the long-term side-effects are. Here, meth mostly stands out by lasting for longer. Users are also less likely to sleep and more likely to start showing ticks and psychosis over time.

Meth lasts for up to 16 hours while crack only lasts for about 15 minutes
Meth tends to result in a more haggard appearance over time and weight loss may be more extreme – because it causes more loss of sleep
Meth highs tend to result in sugar and junk food binges
Meth tends to result in more symptoms of psychosis over time, meaning that individuals are more likely to twitch, show paranoia, and to show side-effects even when not high.

Eventually, both meth and crack cocaine are dangerous drugs that can result in mental and physical health problems including overdose, death, and addiction. Of the two, methamphetamine is more popular. Today, an estimated 1% of the population use meth. About 0.4% of the population use crack cocaine. Therefore, if you’re not sure, you can generally assume that methamphetamine is more than twice as common.

Getting Help

Both crack cocaine and meth are dangerous, addictive, and potentially deadly drugs. Both cause long-term side-effects to mental and physical health. And both can have markedly similar side-effects and risks. Eventually, if you or a loved one is using either, it’s important to realize that you are putting yourself at risk every time you use. Stepping back and looking into getting help, detox assistance for getting clean, and long-term support and rehab to help with substance abuse recovery can be an important step. Here, modern drug addiction treatment means counseling and behavioral therapy to help you identify the underlying causes behind substance abuse, to find coping mechanisms for cravings, and to build life-skills that allow you to navigate life in a happy and healthy way without drugs.

Meth and crack are both extremely dangerous and addictive drugs. If you’re using them, it’s important to talk to your doctor, get help if you need it, and make sure you’re doing everything you can to stay safe.

The 7 Most Commonly Abused Drugs in College

alcohol, drugs, pills on a wooden background

The 7 Most Commonly Abused Drugs in College

For many college students, going to college is the first point in life when they have to be alone, self-sufficient, and responsible for themselves. That also means that for many, college is a time of self-exploration, creating and setting boundaries, and dealing with high levels of stress at the same time. As a result, nearly all college students will experiment with drugs at some point. For most, that means trying cannabis or even trying something like Ritalin. And, for many, it ends there. For others, that goes on to become a long-term problem.

College students drink and use drugs for a lot of reasons. Those include peer pressure, with students in sororities more likely to drink and binge drink and also more likely to have alcohol abuse problems later in life. They also include for stress management, with many college students using drugs to “self medicate” stress, to sleep despite stress, or to reduce anxiety. Others use “study drugs” like Ritalin to try to boost exam results. As a result, more than 22% of college students regularly use drugs and another 55% regularly drink, and heavily.

The following data covers the 7 most commonly used drugs in colleges.

Marijuana

Marijuana or Cannabis is one of the most commonly abused drugs in the United States. That’s partially driven by the fact that many people don’t see it as harmful. In other cases, it’s because students use it to self-medicate and reduce stress. At the same time, in 2016, 20% of full time college students used cannabis regularly. In 2021, 11% of college students reported using cannabis daily, up from 6% in 2011. This means that cannabis is more popular in colleges than ever, with more and more students using it every single day. Cannabis is most-often used to control anxiety and to de-stress. However, some students also use specific strains as a study drug, although this is less common.

In addition, while cannabis has a low abuse profile compared to some drugs like opioids, it’s still highly addictive, with an estimated 1 in 4 daily users suffering from addiction.

Ritalin

Ritalin is so well-known as a study drug that it’s sometimes more associated with college students and abuse than with ADHD treatment. Today, somewhere between 5 and 30% of all college students have used or are currently using the drug. This prescription stimulant is intended to reduce the symptoms of ADHD and ADD. However, college students use it to increase alertness, to improve focus, and to stay awake during study, lectures, and tests.

While not highly addictive, Ritalin is illegal to use outside of a prescription. It can also cause heart irregularities and may increase risk of heart attack. And, when mixed with alcohol and other drugs, Ritalin can significantly increase the risks of overdose.

Adderall

Adderall is another prescription stimulant that’s rapidly becoming more and more popular among college students as a study drug. This means that students are very likely to use it in the same capacity as Ritalin, as they are a very similar drug. Adderall lasts for either 6 hours or 14 hours, which means it’s more likely to still be active when students start drinking or using other drugs. In addition, college students are 3% more likely to use Adderall when age matched to non-college student populations.

Adderall is also illegal to use without a prescription. However, the risks are virtually identical to Ritalin.

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Hallucinogenic

MDMA, LSD, ecstasy, and other hallucinogenic drugs remain extremely popular on campuses across the United States. Often, this means these drugs are taken as party drugs. However, microdosing is also increasingly popular, as students take tiny doses of the drug to boost performance, reduce stress, or create subtle psychedelic effects. Most students think of microdosing as safer than taking a full dose, but over the course of the day, often build up higher levels of hallucinogenic in their system than by taking a single dose at once.

While the addiction profile for hallucinogenic is low, these drugs are still dangerous. Many have a risk of causing psychosis, months-long symptoms, and extreme reactions like vomiting that can be life-threatening. As a result, ER-related visits have gone up by close to 4.7% since 2011.

Cocaine

Cocaine was the fourth most commonly used drug on college campuses in 2017. In one study, 4% of full-time college students used cocaine. In others, cocaine is shown to be much more common, with as many as 13% of students in some universities using it. Cocaine is primarily used as a party drug, which is popular for being relatively safe and for wearing off quickly. However, cocaine still exposes users to significant risks including hypertension, mental health disorders, hyperactive disorder, heart problems, increases in paranoia, and increases in anxiety. As a result, students use the drug thinking it’s a relatively harmless party drug but end up facing significant side-effects and cravings at the same time as high stress and peer pressure.

Opioids

Today, an estimated half a million college-aged adults have an opioid use disorder. This means that 1.2% of all people in this age group are addicted to opioids, with many more using them. Changes in how opioids are prescribed to young people have also resulted in increasing reliance on street drugs like heroin and fentanyl, including mixes of fentanyl and Adderall, which pose significantly high risks of overdose. Opioids are primarily used as a party drug or self-medicating drug, with people using them to destress, to feel better, and to escape from the stress of college life. At the same time, these drugs pose a significant risk of addiction as well as of physical and mental health complications.

Alcohol

Alcohol is the single most abused drug on college campuses. While not traditionally though of as a drug, this intoxicating substance is abused by more than 55% of all college students. In fact, 39% of college students report binge drinking. Men in sororities are most vulnerable, with increased risk of binge drinking, substance use disorder, and later life substance use disorder. Alcohol creates risks of addiction, mental health problems, and physical health problems. For many students, it also makes it harder to study, harder to focus and stay alert in class, and harder to have the mental energy for study.

This means that alcohol abuse can significantly sabotage study and your ability to feel good around college. It can also mean making impulsive decisions like drinking too much, not doing homework, and staying up too late, which makes the rest of study harder.

Getting Help

If you or a loved one is struggling with drugs or alcohol, it’s important to reach out and get help. Today, most college campuses offer resources for students who need help. For example, you can often get therapy, work towards enrollment in a rehabilitation program, and get therapy right from campus. However, it’s also important to talk to your doctor, to figure out the underlying causes behind substance abuse, and to work towards building coping mechanisms and skills that will allow you to navigate college without turning to drugs and alcohol. For many college students that means going to therapy, getting longer-term treatment and support, and ensuring that you have a good support network in place, even when going off on your own to a college.

I Found Out I’m Dating an Addict – What Should I Do?

couple having trust issue because of drug addiction

I Found Out I’m Dating an Addict - What Should I Do?

For most of us, the picture of an addict brings up someone who doesn’t function, who perhaps doesn’t have a home, and who doesn’t have a job. So, learning that people in your life, including people you are dating, are struggling with addiction can be a massive shock.

Addiction is a normal part of life for 48.7 million Americans. That means that 17.3% of the population, or nearly 1 in 5 Americans, has an “addiction”. It’s perfectly normal to work with, date, and be intimate with people who have drug and alcohol addictions.

At the same time, figuring out what to do with that knowledge is a harder step. Do you break up with them? Do you try to get them into treatment? Is it your responsibility to take care of them? Should you be creating as much distance as you can? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers, but you can take a lot of steps that take both yourself and your partner into account.

Stay Safe

The first thing you should keep in mind is that people facing addictions can be unpredictable. If you aren’t sure how your partner is going to react, you should be careful. You should also take steps to ensure you’re taking care of your own mental health. That means:

Making space for yourself and your feelings
Not turning into a caretaker
Not making yourself uncomfortable for the sake of your partner
Not agreeing to lie or hide substance abuse for your partner
Taking time and space out when things get stressful
Breaking up if you feel uncomfortable dating an addict
Seeking out therapy and trauma therapy and thereby recognizing that this is a traumatic experience for you

If you find yourself over extending, taking on all of the responsibilities in the relationship, or constantly being unhappy because of your partner, it’s okay to break up. Even if you love them, you shouldn’t be ruining your life for someone else.

It’s also important to keep in mind that addiction changes people. Once someone goes to therapy and gets help, they are going to be a different person. Holding out for getting someone you used to know back or expecting that your partner is the same before and after therapy is only going to result in self-harm.

Understand Your Boundaries and Capabilities

You’ll have to set boundaries with your partner, decide if you want to stay with them, and decide if you can even be fair to them in a relationship. Before you do, you should figure out answers to questions like:

What are you comfortable with around drug and alcohol use?
Can you approach substance abuse from a perspective of nonjudgement? E.g., seeing it as a disorder and something that needs medical treatment?
Can you take an approach of harm reduction (my partner will use x substance so the important thing is that they use it as safely as possible until they can get treatment)
Decide how much addiction and the resulting behaviors make you uncomfortable

That can mean realizing that you see addiction as a shameful personal choice and that you can’t change that, and therefore can’t date this person. It can also mean realizing you don’t have the mental health or the stability to deal with someone who will be an emotional rollercoaster who needs a lot of extra support and care. It may mean realizing that you invest too much into caring for people and it’s not healthy for you. It may also mean realizing you have to set very good boundaries that may mean seeing your partner less or even breaking up with them.

Whatever that leads to, it’s important that you go at it from a perspective of understanding yourself and what you need and then figuring out how that works with what your partner needs in that time.

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Talk to Your Loved One

It’s important to talk to your loved one and set boundaries and expectations. That won’t be easy. It may also involve confronting your loved one with their addiction. That can be difficult, and it can end up being a very emotional and even confrontational conversation. At the same time, you need that conversation to decide what to do.

Set boundaries and state what you can take and why. Try to be gentle but be firm and clear about your needs. Set hard boundaries where you can follow up on them. E.g., if you say “I need you to not come home completely drunk” you have to be able to follow up and step out of the situation if your partner comes home completely drunk. Good boundaries look like “I need X to be able to be comfortable and happy”. E.g., “I need to have a partner I can rely on, and that means I need you to follow through on promises when you make them, if you can’t do that, I will stop accepting promises from you”.
Set communication guidelines. That can mean siting down and talking, sharing when your partner is off using or drinking, avoiding heated conversations, avoiding name-calling, etc.
Share any steps you are taking to protect yourself. E.g., “I won’t share finances with you”, or “I don’t feel you can be reliable with chores so I won’t share them with you or live with you”.
Try to be clear about what your wants for the future are, ask those from your partner, and try to create a plan for the future.
Try to stay calm. People who are addicted to substances can be avoidant, violent, moody, and irritable. They can respond to what seem like perfectly reasonable statements by being completely unreasonable. It’s important that you

Sitting down to have a discussion will help you both understand what to expect from the other. However, it’s important to keep in mind that addiction can make honesty around that difficult. You might find that you set clear expectations with your partner and they don’t follow up or act as though the conversation was never had.

Seek Out Help

Taking time to understand addiction, how it works and what help looks like is important if you want to stay with your partner. Even if you’re casually dating, you’ll want to know what addiction is and what treatment looks like. That means taking time to learn about addiction, to learn about treatment options, and to try to talk to your partner about them.

At the same time, it’s not your responsibility to get your partner into treatment. You also can’t make them make better choices or get help. You can offer to help, you can be supportive, and you can be nonjudgemental, but you can’t make them motivated to get clean or sober.

You’ll also want to consider getting help for yourself. Living with or dating someone with a substance use disorder can be highly traumatic. It’s not easy to invest in someone who can’t invest fully in you. Seeking out therapy, attending groups like Al-Anon, and otherwise working towards ensuring you have space for your own mental health will be important if you stay dating your partner.

Addiction is a behavioral disorder that legally qualifies as a temporary disability. The person you’re dating is very sick. You don’t have to stay with them, you don’t have to take responsibility, and you should make sure you take care of your own mental health and wellbeing if you stay with them. Dating an addict can be difficult and traumatic, however, there are no right answers except to try to approach the situation with nonjudgement, to make sure you’re taking care of yourself as well, and to ask for help for yourself and your partner wherever you can.