Behavior: Pop Drugs: The High as a Way of Life

(6 of 10)

200 times the daily medical dosage usually prescribed for dieters. In rare cases—particularly when Methedrine is used—the jolt can raise blood pressure enough to cause immediate death; chronic use can lead to a psychosis that many doctors feel is more similar to schizophrenia than any of the psychotic symptoms brought on by other dangerous drugs. While a person is "up" on speed, his body runs down, making him easy prey to disease. Although amphetamines generally are not considered physically addictive, when a user comes down ("crashes") he is so tired and depressed that he is tempted to start again. His body builds up a tolerance.

LSD is 4,000 times as strong by weight as mescaline and psilocybin, the related substances found in nature. It gives trippers intense hallucinations. Waves of color and vibrations sweep through the head; reality dissolves. Imagining that they are birds, some users have plunged to death or serious injury while attempting to fly. Known medically as hallucinogenics or psychotogenics, these drugs are still subject to intense research. They seldom kill outright, and do not create the symptoms of physical dependency. Although earlier researchers found that they can be linked to permanent breaks in animal and human chromosomes, more recent studies have been unable to replicate these findings, and the long-term effects on genes are still unknown. Yet even in apparently stable personalities, the massive doses taken by most kids can bring to the surface long-buried psychoses that will remain as mental illness after the drug wears off.

MARIJUANA is also usually classed as hallucinogenic; its effects range from reddened eyes and relaxation to changed perception. It is not an aphrodisiac, but it can lower inhibitions and intensify sexual pleasure. It seems to make many users temporarily passive, in contrast to alcohol, which frequently releases aggression. "Everyone knows about barroom brawls," says Oakland, California Psychiatrist and Drug Researcher Tod Mikuriya, "but have you ever heard of a pot-room brawl?" Of course, it can be argued that there are worse things than barroom brawls.

Most researchers now classify the dangers of marijuana as on a par with those of alcohol. However, so far there is no scientific evidence on whether long-term use can produce effects comparable to alcohol's cirrhosis or tobacco's cancer and emphysema. Marijuana's active ingredients—chemicals known as tetrahydrocannabinols (THC)—can cause LSD-type psychotic hallucinations when administered in pure form. (Such a reaction can happen considerably more easily with hashish, a concentration of dried Cannabis resins some six times as powerful as marijuana.) Pot affects the sense of time, but not motor and perceptual skills. It is not a narcotic; unlike alcohol in heavy doses, it does not produce physical dependency. Users can, however, become psychologically dependent on it, spending most of their time turned on and talking about it.

Of the students who use marijuana, NIMH Director Yolles estimates that 65% quit after experimenting one to ten times; 25% become social users. Only around 10% become habitual users —a far cry from the level projected by alarmists, but still a serious number. Those in the last category, many of them subject to the depression and discouragement of slum life, often go