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Legal highs are the colloquial name of psychoactive substances that are not on the list of measures controlled by the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction. We can find literally everything in the composition of designer drugs. Due to drug bans, the chemical composition of legal highs is constantly changing. That is why it is so difficult to predict what effect they will have on the body.
Legal highs keep changing their chemical composition
Legal highs are drugs that are 2.0 but they are more dangerous. While doctors are able to predict what will happen to a person who uses amphetamines, cocaine or even smokes marijuana, in the case of designer drugs, the reaction to active substances is unpredictable.
Legal highs contain substances such as mephedrone, cannabinoids, cathinones (pretending to be amphetamines) and synthetic opioids. If an ingredient of boosters is on the banned list, new ones appear in its place. Untested, of unknown origin and dangerous to our health.
Often there are several different psychoactive substances in designer drugs. This only intensifies their harmful effects. If a patient is hospitalized after taking legal highs, he is in a losing position. Until the doctors find out what type of substances he has taken, it will be hard to fight for his health.
Breakdown of boosters
Legal highs can be divided into three groups according to their origin:
- agents of mainly synthetic origin, which contain mixtures of various substances with a psychoactive effect (stimulants, opioids, dissociants, empathogens, hallucinogens, etc.). Most often they come in the form of a powder or tablets
- mainly plant-based agents, including synthetic cannabioids, usually in the form of incense sticks or dried smoking material
- synthetic products containing one specific substance that is not on the list of prohibited substances.
The latter are the least popular. Usually, legal highs consist of several different psychoactive substances in different proportions.
Psychoactive compounds in legal highs are divided into four subgroups:
- synthetic opioids mimicking the effects of morphine and heroin
- substances that mimic the effects of marijuana, synthetic cannabinomimetics
- psychostimulants which mimic the effects of amphetamine, cocaine or ecstasy
- natural psychodysleptic compounds
See also: Polish teenagers on boosters
How do boosters work?
Depending on what substances are part of the legal highs, their effect on the body varies. Synthetic opioids, although they constitute the least diverse group, are among the strongest and most dangerous substances. They act on the central nervous system and respiratory system. They cause shortness of breath, cardiac arrhythmias and constriction of the pupils. Synthetic opioids are very easy to overdose because the difference between a “safe” dose and a toxic dose is extremely small.
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Legal highs that use synthetic cannabinomimetics are known in Europe as “spice”. According to research, they belong to 14 different chemical classes. The person who takes them can become psychomotorally agitated, ceases to feel hungry and thirsty, becomes aggressive. Taking legal highs based on synthetic cannabinomimetics can exacerbate psychotic symptoms and even induce hidden mental illnesses.
When it comes to designer drugs containing psychostimulants, they evoke seemingly positive feelings: they increase work efficiency, reduce fatigue, improve mood, euphoria, facilitate interpersonal communication, but also cause loss of appetite and insomnia. The most popular psychostimulants are cathitones, which are similar to amphetamines, ecstasy and cocaine.
Psychodysleptic compounds are similar to hallucinogens. They cause natural psychosis. The senses of the person who took these substances become distorted. She has visual and auditory illusions – image waving, the feeling of animating objects, “hearing” colors. The senses are heightened, visions appear, and time seems to slow down. A person taking these substances may feel strong emotions – not only euphoria and bliss, but also panic fear or despair.
These are just some of the symptoms that may appear after taking legal highs from a particular group. It must be remembered that in addition to the above-mentioned afterburners, we also find other substances, often also mixtures of the above in different proportions. Taking legal highs can result in serious damage to health, and often death.
A handful of stats about boosters
According to the data of the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, 2018 people died in 162 as a result of poisoning with legal highs. In the same year, as many as 4260 cases of medical interventions related to poisoning with psychoactive substances and substitutes were recorded. People aged 16-18 most often needed the intervention.
The largest number of reports of poisoning with legal highs came from the Śląskie and Łódzkie voivodships. The Mazowieckie Province was also on the inglorious podium. The smallest number of notifications was in the Opolskie Voivodeship.
At the beginning of January 2020, charges of committing a total of 12 crimes (including managing an organized criminal group dealing with the trade in legal highs) were heard by Jan S. called “the king of designer drugs”. The legal highs he sold in his stores could be bought by up to 16. people, and the sales turnover amounted to PLN 1 million.
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