Essay about Amphetamines: Recreational or Instrumental

We got up in the morning and left for the airport. We had become professionals at packing and unpacking, exiting and entering hotels, jumping in cabs, trains, and planes. I felt like a world-class traveler.

“Instrumental drug use means that a person is taking a drug with a specific socially approved goal in mind... recreational use means that a person is taking the drug for the purpose of experiencing the effect of the drug itself” (Levinthal, 2012 p.6). A drug user putting substances into the body for reasons other than getting high is considered instrumental for example a person may take a drug that does not require a prescription these could be drugs used for sleep aids or weight loss. Recreational drug use is for the sole purpose of getting high to achieve a pleasurable satisfaction rather than for medical purposes. It is believed by the user that occasional use will not form a habit or addictive.

By 1919, Japan started producing methamphetamine which was cheaper and more potent than amphetamine. It was produced in a crystalline powder form and was able it to be dissolved in water, making it easier for it to be injected. This form of amphetamine is still legally produced in the US and is being sold under the name of Desoxyn. (Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 2010, para. 1-3)

The body of a human may appear to be aging like everyone else's, taking it day by day and getting hit with the details of age. Wrinkles will start to form in weird places and soon enough, grey hair will sprout from one's head. These little things prove that a person's life is being lived to its very last day. When the body is put through things that it wasn't made for, like the consumption of drugs, everything can seem fine on the outside, by the body can slowly be dying. The past month may become a blur and one minute your fine and the next you're angry at the world. Methamphetamine is a stimulant that is an addictive drug used by teens and young adults. It is a very dangerous drug that can be used and seen in many different ways. More often, people are not just taking a meth, they are using the binge and crash method due to the fact that the high starts and then fades quicker than most (“National

Finals week remains a stressful time for college students. A student may have three to five tests in a matter of four days. However, these tests, unlike most, can be worth up to twenty percent of a semester grade. That is a great amount of pressure on a student. With about six hours of sleep a night, eighteen hours of study never seems like enough. Then again, there may be a solution that allows the student to focus on the study so eighteen hours is enough. Better yet, maybe sleep is unnecessary. This is a reality for the 6.4 percent of college students that use unprescribed Adderall. College students all over the country take Adderall everyday to improve performance in school.

Firstly, many people argue for the legalization of hard drugs, even though drugs are addictive and stop people from being happy. According to Volkow’s article in addictscience.com, hard “drugs significantly overstimulate dopamine and cause long-lasting changes in the brain’s Limbic system. This over-stimulation has a cost; it depletes dopamine pathways long after the last dose”. (addictscience.com). The chemical released is called dopamine and it is a stimulate pleasure in the brain and with the usage of hard drugs dopamine gets released in large quantities, but gradually the pleasure experienced by the dopamine begins to fade. With the dopamine fading the user has to rely on a higher dosage of the hard drug to get the same effect that was experienced during the first high.

Addiction is the same irrespective of whether the drug is alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or nicotine. Every addictive substance induces pleasant states or relieves distress. Continue use of addictive substances induces adaptive changes in the brain that lead to tolerance, physical dependence, uncontrollable craving and, all too often, death. Dependence is at such a point that stopping is very difficult and causes severe physical and mental damage from withdrawal (William C. Shiel Jr, 2008). Individuals become homeless due to an addiction, but in other cases, people don't develop an addiction until after they start living on the

Methamphetamine is a stimulant that is used as a recreational drug that affects the central nervous system (CNS). In 1983, laws were passed in the United States prohibiting possession of precursors and equipment for methamphetamine production. But imagine if this addictive drug was as commonly sold in front yards as lemonade and Girl Scout cookies. Imagine if large neon signs and bold lettering titled “Drugs” and “Meth Lab Inside: Free Samples” were displayed in front of suburban homes with guests arriving to sample and purchase meth.

Crack Cocaine the drug that has impacted so many lives; especially the life of rappers. Crack Cocaine is the refined result of cocoa leaves. However, crack cocaine was not developed until the cocaine boom of 1970. Large shipments of this drug was now making its way into the inner cities of the United States, and the majority of residents living in those inner cities were African American. Black on black crime was now more common than ever, incarceration within the black community was skyrocketing, abandonment of children was typical and the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases was devastating. Many factors were playing a part of this, and Hip Hop was a big one. Hip hop from the golden ages of Grandmaster flash and to modern day Lil

The medical use of amphetamines was common in the 1950/60's when they were used to help cure depression and to help the user lose weight. An amphetamine is a drug that is a stimulant to the central nervous system. Amphetamines are colorless and may be inhaled, injected, or swallowed. Amphetamines are also used non-medically to avoid sleep, improve athletic performance, or to counter the effects of depressant drugs. Amphetamines are addictive. Because of this, when the user discontinues use or reduces the amount that they use, withdrawal symptoms may occur. Some withdrawal symptoms are as follows: severe exhaustion, deep sleep lasting from 24 to 48 hours, psychotic reaction, extreme hunger, deep depression, anxiety reactions, and long but

The abuse of methamphetamine is a very serious problem in the United States. According to one national survey, approximately 10 million people in the United States have tried methamphetamine at least once (Meth Abuse and Addiction, 2010). Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. Although most of the methamphetamine used in this country comes from foreign or domestic super labs, the drug is also easily made in small clandestine laboratories, with inexpensive over the counter ingredients. Methamphetamine is commonly known as “speed,” “meth,” and “chalk.” In its smoked form it is often referred to as “ice,” “crystal,” “crank,” and “glass.” It is a

The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.

The difference between recreational use and addiction occurs when people need alcohol/drugs in order to socialize (Henderson 24). The addict may associate the substance with positive social experiences, “I finally felt like I could fit in and socialize.” (24)

A)     Talks about how the military is not protected by ecstasy abuse. They may have a zero tolerance mentality about it but that still does not stop people from accessing it. The Navy found a medicine that makes hiding of having the trace of ecstasy on a person harder to hide. They found a better way to detect ecstasy with a certain drug exam that is ahead of technology. Instead if a normal test for amphetamines they found a new agent that can even trace the smallest amount of ecstasy on a person system. This medicine has been tested for the past two years and was tested

Recreational drug use by students in post-secondary institutions has been a troubling epidemic for many years in North America. Recreational drug use can be hard to track because many people who use drugs recreationally do not consider themselves drug users. Therefore many of these users become invisible to most research that involves drugs and the use of them. The term recreational drug user refers to someone who uses drugs to get high for reasons other than for a medical condition. Substances that most commonly fall under the recreational category are marijuana, cocaine, and MDMA. Even legal substances such as nicotine and alcohol can be considered recreational drugs.