Source: Parnefjord, Ralph: The Drug Pocketbook. 2 ed. Stuttgart: Thieme, 2000
Amphetamines
| Synonyms | Speed, Pep, Amph, Crystal |
| Active substance | amphetamine, dextroamphetamine and metaamphetamine (collective term: amphetamines) |
| Substance | Introduced to the market around 1930 as a cold remedy. Discovery of stimulant properties; used in World War 2 by soldiers from USA, Japan and Germany. Widely used in medicine in the 1950s and 1960s (mainly to treat poor performance) with a high proportion of abusive prescriptions. No longer a medical indication today. Illegal use and trafficking since the 70s in various subcultures. |
| Mode of use | Intranasal and oral common; rarely smoked or intravenous use. |
| Effects | Stimulating stimulant effect; enhancement of intellectual and physical performance. After a few hours, the stimulating effect wears off. This is followed by a period of exhaustion and fatigue, with sleep being difficult or impossible. |
| Physical effect | Increased energy expenditure; dry mouth; decreased sensitivity to alcohol; restlessness to movement; slightly dilated pupils. Massive weight loss with chronic use. |
| Drug Screening | Detection possible for two to three days via urine |
Cannabis
| Synonyms | dope, weed, shit, stoner, hemp, marijuana |
| Active ingredient | THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) |
| Substance | The use of cannabis as a medicinal plant has been known since at least 7000 years BC. In the 18th century consumption as a stimulant in aristocratic circles. At the same time widespread use for the production of textiles and ropes. Around 1930, consumption became widespread, especially in America. This was followed by massive anti-cannabis campaigns by numerous governments worldwide. Since the 60s, worldwide spread of cannabis consumption in subcultural movements. |
| Mode of use | Cannabis is almost exclusively smoked; rarely eaten as a pastry |
| Effects | Euphoric mood changes. Slight perceptual changes. Increased auditory and visual sensitivity; logical thinking impaired; experience of time altered. Sporadic delusional ideation; occasional induction of psychosis. |
| Physical effects | Eye redness; increase in pulse rate; dry mouth; increased sense of hunger; fatigue. |
| Drug Screening | Up to 12 days in urine, months to years in hair analysis. |
Ecstasy
| Synonyms | E, X, XTC, Adam, Love Drug |
| Active ingredient | MDMA (methylene-dioxy-N-metalamphetamine) |
| Substance | Discovery of the active substance around 1910; use of the substance only in the 60s - in psychotherapy; illegalised since the 80s; widespread use especially in the acid and tekno scene. |
| Mode of application | tablets, capsules |
| Effect | After about 45 minutes slight change of perception; sensory impressions are experienced aesthetically and pleasurably. Egoism and hostility move into the background. The further effect is described either as stimulating, ecstatic and life-affirming (e.g. dancing) or as calming, pleasurable and helping to view painful memories in a distanced way. |
| Physical effect | Lockjaw, pupil dilation, increase in pulse rate and blood pressure; decrease in sexual performance; occasional muscle spasms; nystagmus; nausea; rarely fever. |
| Drug Screening | Detect in urine 3-4 days after use. |
Angel Trumpets
| Synonyms | Baumdatura |
| Active ingredient | scopolamine and hyoscyamine |
| Substance | Originally native to the tropics; in our country it can only be kept as a tub or conservatory plant because of its sensitivity to frost. The plant is sacred to the indigenous population of South America and is used for ritual acts. |
| How to use | The dried leaves are usually prepared as a tea. Dried leaves can also be smoked. |
| Effect | When smoked, the intoxication often resembles that of cannabis in duration and intensity. When consumed orally onset of effect after ½ hour; fever dream-like visions and illusions. User usually can no longer distinguish between intoxication and reality. Most common frightening, hallucinatory experiences can last from 3 hours to 2 days. Violent, physically strong acting behaviors may occur. After this arousal phase, twilight sleep often occurs. |
| Physical effect | Extreme dilation of pupils; difficulty swallowing and dryness of mucous membranes; hot and dry skin; hoarse rough speech; urinary retention; tachycardia; cardiac arrhythmia; ventricular fibrillation; Several deaths known in Europe and America from consumption of Angel Trumpet. |
| Drug Screening | Not possible |
Toadstool
| Synonyms | none |
| Active substance | 4-methyl-aminorex |
| Substance | Active ingredients are ibotenic acid and muscimol; July to November the fungus appears near birch and spruce trees. |
| Mode of application | Fresh or dried oral consumption; dried fly agaric can also be smoked. |
| Effect | ½ to 1 hour after oral consumption onset of intoxication; acoustic and visual perception intensified, possibly consumed; after about 3 hours the intoxication reaches its peak; usually strong tiredness, twilight sleep with vivid dreams; phases of strong excitement may occur. Memory gaps of intoxication possible. |
| Physical effects | Frequent vomiting; unsteadiness of gait; muscle paralysis. |
| Drug Screening | Not possible |
GHB
| Synonyms | Liquid Ecstasy, Gamma; liquid Ecstasy |
| Active ingredient | Gamma hydroxybutyrate |
| Substance | Gamma-hydroxybutyrate. Used as an antidepressant until the 1980s; sale has been illegal since the 1990s. |
| Mode of application | Taken orally as a liquid solution; tablets and capsules possible, but rather uncommon. |
| Effects | Euphoric; sensory impressions are intensified; increased need for contact. |
| Physical effect | Motor coordination impaired; partly life-threatening side effects in interaction with alcohol; memory disorders; possibly cerebral seizures. |
| Drug screening | Not possible |
Heroin
| Synonyms | Poison, H (English: "aitsch"), substance, tar, Hong-Kong-Rocks |
| Active ingredient | heroin (diacetylmorphine) |
| Substance | Around 1900 discovery of the active substance; use as a painkiller; 1920 recognition of the addictive potential and ousting from medical use. Heavy use among soldiers in the Vietnam War. New wave of popularity since the 1980s. |
| Mode of use | 80% of heroin is snorted; daily intravenous use by only a small proportion of users. If heroin is smoked, this is usually done by heating heroin on an aluminium leaf. The vapours are then inhaled through tubes. |
| Effect | Intoxication influenced by personal needs; heroin can be experienced as calming, inspiring, harmonising and stimulating; no hallucinations; daydreaming. |
| Physical effect | Nausea; dry mouth; drop in blood pressure and heart rate; gushing vomiting; slowing of metabolism; constipation; pupil constriction to the size of a pinhead; bacterial and viral infections are common with intravenous use under aseptic conditions; severe development of tolerance. |
| Overdose | Unconsciousness to coma; respiratory depression; reduction in pumping capacity of the heart; death from O2 deficiency. |
| Withdrawal syndrome | Malaise; restlessness; irritability; feeling weak; physical withdrawal symptoms (muscle aches, tearing, runny nose, sneezing, goose bumps, fever, sleep disturbances). Physical withdrawal begins after six to eight hours after the last opiate ingestion; symptoms peak on the second to third day; syndrome subsides after seven to ten days; however, a strong desire to use heroin remains for months / sometimes years. (Addiction pressure) |
| Drug screening | Detection in urine two to four days after last use |
Cocaine
| Synonyms | Coke; (Andean) snow; powder; coke |
| Active substance | Cocaine (methyl benzoyl ecgonine) |
| Substance | Obtained from the leaves of the coca bush; cultivation on the South and Central American continent as a cultivated plant since about 2500 BC; isolation of the alkaloid cocaine in the mid-18th century; use as a local anaesthetic and later as a psychotropic (psychoanalysis/Sigmund Freud). |
| Mode of administration | Nasal, snorted; intravenous and subcutaneous injection also possible. |
| Effect | Elevated mood; Increased drive; Accelerated thinking; Social disinhibition. The decaying cocaine intoxication is characterized by fatigue, exhaustion and depressive mood. |
| Physical effects | Increased respiratory rate; pupil dilation; local anesthetic effect. |
| Drug Screening | Detectable 2-4 days after use |
LSD
| Synonyms | Acis; Trips; Pappen; Blotters; Blots |
| Active ingredient | SD (lysergic acid diethylamide) |
| Substance | In 1940 LSD was developed by the Sandoz company. First tested as a heart and circulation stimulant, its psychoactive effects were soon discovered. Initially, attempts were made to use the psychotropic effect of LSD in psychotherapy. Due to questionable therapeutic benefits, LSD was taken off the market at the end of the 1960s. Since the 1960s, the use of LSD as a "mind-expanding" drug has shifted to subcultural scenes. |
| Mode of use | Oral; active substance applied to blotting paper or as a tablet |
| Effect | Colours and shapes are perceived as sharper and more peculiar; pronounced euphoria; visual pseudo-hallucinations; suspension of the sense of space and time. LSD intoxication is experienced as meaningful or religious; sensation of synesthesia (colors are heard, visual stimuli are felt). |
| Physical effects | Cold sensation; slight increase in temperature; dilation of pupils; increase in pulse rate and blood pressure. |
| Drug Screening | 1-4 days detectable in urine |
Psylocybin
| Synonyms | Magic mushrooms; mushrooms, psilos |
| Active ingredient | psylocybin, psylocin |
| Substance | Psylocybin and psylocin are psychoactive substances found in some mushroom genera. Findings from Africa, South America and Europe indicate that these mushrooms were consumed for spiritual purposes more than 2000 years ago. The most common mushroom of this genus here is the "pointy-headed bald". |
| Mode of application | Orally in the form of dried plants. |
| Effect | Onset of effect after 30 to 60 minutes. Dreamlike state, usually experienced as pleasant and euphoric. Distorted and heightened sensory perception; auditory hallucinations. |
| Physical effects | Initially, fatigue; nausea; feeling cold; dry mouth. Later: feeling of physical well-being and vitality. |
| Drug Screening | Detectable in urine for 1-3 days |
