Drugs in the clubs of Britain
Drugs in the clubs of BritainDrugs work by changing chemicals in your brain that control your mood. Most drugs boost or imitate the behavior of chemicals (like adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin) which regulate our mood, well being and energy levels. These chemical messengers are part of what makes us feel happy.
The reason people continue doing drugs or become addicted is to do with a part of the brain called the reward pathway. It’s an area deep in the brain which makes us repeat experiences that feel good, be it having sex, dancing or doing another line. Dopamine is made in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and released in the nucleus accumbens and the pre-frontal cortex every time you have fun clubbing or canning it. (www.encarta.msn.com) Unfortunately, this is also the mechanism through which drugs do damage. Stimulants such as coke and E (ecstasy) raise the levels of feel good chemicals, but also stimulate the part of the nervous system that goes into action when we press the panic button. You’ll be energized, but your blood pressure will rise, pulse will race, pupils will dilate and you’ll get hot and sweaty. Do too many drugs at once and your heart will beat abnormally fast. If your blood pressure rises too high, blood vessels in the brain could pop; causing fits similar to those suffered by epileptics. Hyperthermia and dehydration are also dangers (Drugs & Medical Encyclopedia 1990). Highs are caused by a rise in transmitters; comedowns are the result of a temporary shortage of them. The most drugs you do the greater the lack of transmitters in your brain in the morning and the longer the comedown. The following is a survey covering all there is to know about consumption of drugs, focusing mainly in Britain’s club scene. What are the drugs clubbers use, and what are the effects.
After a month long survey over who is the average clubber, out came the following results. If you hang out in the British clubs, you usually take three to four E’s in a session (average 3.7). In 1999 this was 2.82 on average. You’re 23 years and ten months old. You smoke cannabis every other day, and reckon you’ve smoked 5884 spliffs in your life. You take E to feel euphoric and high. You go clubbing for the music to be with your friends and to dance. Two out of five of you listen to house and garage; two out of five listen to trance. You’ve probably never tried steroids, 2CB, methadone, crystal meth, Viagra, flatliners, heroin or crack. Less than a third of you have ever tried herbal highs, less than a quarter has tried GHB. You’ve been to 9.4 different clubs this year. 10.6% of you have been to 20 or more. You’ve tried speed, poppers, cocaine, acid, base speed (paste) and magic mushrooms, but you haven’t taken of them in the last month. You have a much better time...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.