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Street terms for marijuana: grass, pot, weed, bud, Mary Jane, dope, indo, hydro1
What does marijuana look like?
- A green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. ("Cannabis" refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant.)
- Other forms, less common in the United States, are hashish and hashish oil.
What are the methods of usage?
- Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint) or in a pipe or bong.
What are some consequences of marijuana use?
- May cause frequent respiratory infections, impaired memory and learning, increased heart rate, anxiety, panic attacks, tolerance, and physical dependence.2
- Use of marijuana during the first month of breast-feeding can impair infant motor development.3
- Chronic smokers may have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers including daily cough and phlegm, chronic bronchitis symptoms, frequent chest colds; chronic abuse can also lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissues.4
- A study of college students has shown that skills related to attention, memory, and learning are impaired among people who use marijuana heavily, even after discontinuing its use for at least 24 hours.5
Who uses marijuana?
- Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug.
- At least one-third of Americans have used marijuana sometime in their lives.6
How does marijuana get to the United States?
- Marijuana produced in Mexico and smuggled into the U.S. remains the most widely available.
- High-potency marijuana also enters the U.S. drug market from Canada.
- U.S. drug law enforcement reporting suggests increased availability of domestically grown marijuana.7
- The availability of marijuana from Southeast Asia generally is limited to the West Coast.
How much does marijuana cost?
- Prices for commercial-grade marijuana have remained relatively stable over the past decade, ranging from approximately $400 to $1,000 per pound in U.S. Southwest border areas to between $700 to $2000 per pound in the Midwest and northeastern United States.
- The national price range for sinsemilla, a higher quality marijuana usually grown domestically, is between $900 and $6,000 per pound.8
1Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade.
2Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Descriptions: Marijuana, May 2002.
3National Institute on Drug Abuse, Marijuana Infofax, October 2001.
4Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Descriptions: Marijuana, May 2002.
5National Institute on Drug Abuse, Marijuana Infofax, October 2001.
6Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, September 2001.
7Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Trafficking in the United States, September 2001.
8Ibid. |
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| Methamphetamine |
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(Amphetamine, dextroamphetamine, methamphetamine, and their various salts are collectively referred to as amphetamines. In fact, their chemical properties and actions are so similar that even experienced users have difficulty knowing which drug they have taken. Methamphetamine is the most commonly abused.)
Street terms for methamphetamine: Meth, poor man's cocaine, crystal meth, ice, glass, speed1
What Does Methamphetamine Look Like?
- Typically meth is a white powder that easily dissolves in water.
- Another form of meth, in clear chunky crystals, called crystal meth, or ice.
- Meth can also be in the form of small, brightly colored tablets. The pills are often called by their Thai name, yaba.
What are the methods of usage?
- Injecting
- Snorting
- Smoking
- Oral ingestion 2
Who uses methamphetamine and amphetamines?
- During 2000, 4% of the U.S. population reported trying methamphetamine at least once in their lifetime.3
- Abuse is concentrated in the western, southwestern, and midwestern United States.
How do methamphetamine and amphetamines get to the United States?
- Clandestine laboratories in California and Mexico are the primary sources of supply for methamphetamine available in the United States.
- Domestic labs that produce methamphetamine are dependent on supplies of the precursor chemical pseudoephedrine, which is sometimes diverted from legitimate sources. It is smuggled from Canada, and to a lesser extent from Mexico.
- Domestic independent laboratory operators, mostly in the western, southwestern, and midwestern United States, also produce and distribute methamphetamine but on a smaller scale.
- Yaba (meth in tablet form) is most often produced in Southeast Asia and sent by mail or courier to the United States.4
How much do methamphetamine and amphetamines cost?
- Prices for methamphetamine vary throughout different regions of the United States.
- At the distribution level, prices range from $3,500 per pound in parts of California and Texas to $21,000 per pound in southeastern and northeastern regions of the country. Retail prices range from $400 to $3,000 per ounce.5
What are some consequences of methamphetamine and amphetamine use?
- Effects of usage include addiction, psychotic behavior, and brain damage .6
- Withdrawal symptoms include depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression, and intense cravings. 7
- Chronic use can cause violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, delusions, and paranoia. 8
- Damage to the brain cause by meth usage is similar to Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and epilepsy.9
1Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade.
2Drug Enforcement Administration,Office of National Drug Control Policy, .Drug Enforcement Administration,The Forms Of Methamphetamine, April 2002
3Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, September 2001.
4Drug Enforcement Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, , September 2001.Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Trafficking in the United States, September 2001.
5Ibid.
6Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Facts: Methamphetamine, May, 2002.
7Ibid.
8Ibid.
9National Institute on Drug Abuse, Methamphetamine: Abuse and Addiction, April, 1998. What are the Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse? Ibid.Office of National Drug Control Policy, , May, 2002.Ibid.Ibid.National Institute on Drug Abuse, , April, 1998.
See additional information about Methamphetamine on this site under Crimestoppers. |
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| Reaction Vessle from Meth Lab |
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| Coleman Fuel used in Meth Production |
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| Abandoned Meth Lab materials found in a dumpster in Jacksonville. |
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| Cocaine/Crack Cocaine |
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Street terms for cocaine: blow, nose candy, snowball, tornado, wicky stick1
What are the different forms of cocaine?
- White crystalline powder
- "Crack" or "rock" cocaine is an off-white chunky material.
How is cocaine used?
- Powder cocaine is generally snorted or dissolved in water and injected.
- Crack cocaine is usually smoked.2
Who uses cocaine?
- Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in the United States.
- About 10 percent of Americans over the age of 12 have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetime, about 2 percent have tried crack, and nearly one percent is currently using cocaine.3
How does cocaine get to the United States?
- The United States-Mexico border is the primary point of entry for cocaine shipments being smuggled into the United States.
- Organized crime groups based in Colombia control the worldwide supply of cocaine.4
How much does cocaine cost?
- Cocaine prices depend upon the purity of the product.
- In 2001, cocaine purity declined by 8 percent, from 86 percent pure in 1998 to a 78 percent pure in 2001. The decrease in purity indicates a decrease in the supply of cocaine in the United States.5
- Cocaine remained low and stable, which suggests a steady supply to the United States.
- Nationwide, prices ranged from $12,000 to $35,000 per kilogram.6
What are some consequences of cocaine use?
- Cocaine is powerfully addictive.7
- Smoking crack can cause severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding.8
- The mixing of cocaine and alcohol create cocaethylene while increasing risk of sudden death.9
- Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.10
1Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade.
2National Institute on Drug Abuse, Infofax: Crack and Cocaine, October 2001.
3Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the
2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, September 2001.
4Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Trafficking in the United States, September 2001.
5Drug Enforcement Administration, STRIDE Report, August 2002.
6Office of National Drug Control Policy, Pulse Check: Trends in Drug Abuse, November 2001.
7Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Facts: Cocaine, May 2002.
8Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Descriptions: Cocaine.
9National Institute on Drug Abuse, Infofax: Crack and Cocaine, October 2001.
10Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Facts: Cocaine, May 2002. |
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Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the most potent hallucinogen known to science, as well as the most highly studied. LSD was originally synthesized in 1938 by Dr. Albert Hoffman. However, its hallucinogenic effects were unknown until 1943 when Hoffman accidentally consumed some LSD. It was later found that an oral dose of as little as 0.000025 grams (or 25 micrograms, equal in weight to a few grains of salt) is capable of producing rich and vivid hallucinations. LSD was popularized in the 1960s by individuals like Timothy Leary who encouraged American students to "turn on, tune in, and drop out." LSD use has varied over the years but it still remains a significant drug of abuse. In 1999, over 12 percent of high school seniors and college students reported that they had used LSD at least once in their lifetime.
Because of its structural similarity to a chemical present in the brain and its similarity in effects to certain aspects of psychosis, LSD was used as a research tool to study mental illness. The average effective oral dose is from 20 to 80 micrograms with the effects of higher doses lasting for 10 to 12 hours. LSD is usually sold in the form of impregnated paper (blotter acid), typically imprinted with colorful graphic designs. It has also been encountered in tablets (microdots), thin squares of gelatin (window panes), in sugar cubes and, rarely, in liquid form.
Physical reactions may include dilated pupils, lowered body temperature, nausea, "goose bumps," profuse perspiration, increased blood sugar, and rapid heart rate. During the first hour after ingestion, the user may experience visual changes with extreme changes in mood. In the hallucinatory state, the user may suffer impaired depth and time perception, accompanied by distorted perception of the size and shape of objects, movements, color; sound, touch, and the users own body image. During this period, the users' ability to perceive objects through the senses is distorted: they may describe "hearing colors" and "seeing sounds." The ability to make sensible judgments and see common dangers is impaired, making the user susceptible to personal injury. After an LSD "trip," the user may suffer acute anxiety or depression for a variable period of time. Flashbacks have been reported days or even months after taking the last dose.
TRAFFICKING
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) remains available in retail quantities in virtually every state. LSD production reportedly is centered on the West Coast, particularly in San Francisco, northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and recently the Midwest. Since the 1960s, LSD has been manufactured illegally within the United States. LSD production is a time-consuming and complex procedure. Several chemical recipes for synthesizing LSD are on the Internet, but clandestine production requires a high degree of chemical expertise. Chemists maintain tight control at the production level, but do not necessarily participate in the distribution of the drug. These chemists usually sell the crystal LSD product to one or two trusted associates, insulating themselves from the wholesale distributors.
Few LSD laboratories have ever been seized in the United States because of infrequent and irregular production cycles. In 2000, DEA seized one LSD laboratory that was located in a converted missile silo in Kansas. LSD is produced in crystal form that is converted to liquid and distributed primarily in the form of squares of blotter paper saturated with the liquid. To a lesser extent, LSD is sold as a liquid, contained in breath mint bottles and vials; in gelatin tab form ("window panes") of varying colors; and in pill form known as "microdots."
Distribution of LSD is unique within the drug culture. A proliferation of mail order sales has created a marketplace where the sellers are virtually unknown to the buyers, giving the highest level traffickers considerable insulation from drug law enforcement operations. The vast majority of users are middle-class adolescents and young adults attracted by its low prices. Rock concerts continue to be favorite distribution sites for LSD traffickers; however, distribution at raves throughout the United States is becoming more popular. Contacts made at raves and concerts are used to establish future transactions and shipments of larger quantities of LSD.
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What is OxyContin®?
OxyContin® is the brand name of a time-release formula of the analgesic chemical oxycodone. OxyContin®, which is produced by the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, is prescribed as a pain medication. Instances of abuse of this drug have increased in recent years.
Street terms for OxyContin®: Hillbilly heroin, Oxy, Oxycotton1
What does OxyContin® look like?
- OxyContin® comes in tablet form.
What are the methods of usage?
- Chewing the tablets
- Snorting crushed tablets
- Dissolving tablets in water and injecting
- These methods cause a faster, highly dangerous release of medication.
Who abuses OxyContin®?
- Abuse of OxyContin® in rural Maine, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia brought national attention to this problem.
- The areas most currently affected by OxyContin® abuse are eastern Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; southern Maine; Philadelphia and southwestern Pennsylvania; southwestern Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Phoenix, Arizona.2
- An increase in illegal use has been especially apparent on the East Coast.3
- 9% or 19.9 million Americans have used pain relievers illegally in their lifetime.4
How does OxyContin® get to the United States?
- Because it is a legal drug, OxyContin® is supplied across the country for legitimate medical purposes.
- Word of mouth has allowed users to devise illicit usage techniques.
- Pharmacy robberies, health care fraud, and international trafficking constitute illicit distribution ability.
How much does OxyContin® cost?
- When legally sold, a 10-mg tablet of OxyContin® will cost $1.25 and an 80-mg tablet will cost $6.
- When illegally sold, a 10-mg tablet of OxyContin® can cost between $5 and $10. An 80-mg tablet can cost between $65 and $80.5
What are some consequences of illicit OxyContin® use?
- Long-term usage can lead to physical dependence.6
- A large dosage can cause severe respiratory depression that can lead to death.7
- Withdrawal symptoms include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, and involuntary leg movements.8
1Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade.
2Drug Enforcement Administration, OxyContin ®;: Pharmaceutical Diversion, March 2002.
3DEA Congressional Testimony, December 11, 2001.
4Office of National Drug Control Policy, OxyContin® Fact Sheet.
5United States Department of Justice, OxyContin® Diversion and Abuse, January 2001.
6National Institute on Drug Abuse, Prescription Drugs: Abuse and Addiction, February 2002.
7Ibid.
8Ibid. |
Street terms for heroin: smack, thunder, hell dust, big H, nose drops1
What does heroin look like?
- Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste.
- Most illicit heroin varies in color from white to dark brown.
- "Black tar" heroin is sticky like roofing tar or hard like coal, and its color may vary from dark brown to black.
How is heroin used?
- Injecting
- Smoking
- Snorting
Who uses heroin?
- In the United States in 1999 there were 104,000 new heroin users.
- In 2000, approximately 1.2% of the population reported heroin use at least once in their lifetime.2
How does heroin get to the United States?
- The U.S. heroin market is supplied entirely from foreign sources of opium.
- Production occurs in South America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia.3
How much does heroin cost?
- Nationwide, in 2000, South American heroin ranged from $50,000 to $200,000 per kilogram. Southeast and Southwest Asian heroin ranged in price from $40,000 to $190,000 per kilogram. Wholesale-level prices for Mexican heroin were the lowest of any type, ranging from $13,200 to $175,000 per kilogram. The wide range in kilogram prices reflects variables such as buyer/seller relationships, quantities purchased, purchase frequencies, purity, and transportation costs.4
What are some consequences of heroin use?
- One of the most significant effects of heroin use is addiction. Once tolerance happens, higher does become necessary to achieve the desired effect, and physical dependence develops.5
- Chronic use may cause collapsed veins, infection of heart lining and valves, abscesses, liver disease, pulmonary complications, and various types of pneumonia.6
- May cause depression of central nervous system, cloudy mental functioning, and slowed breathing to the point of respiratory failure.7
- Heroin overdose may cause slow and shallow breathing, convulsions, coma, and possibly death.8
- Users put themselves at risk for contracting HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other viruses.9
1Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade.
2Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, September 2001.
3Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Trafficking in the United States, September 2001.
4Ibid.
5U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Infofax: Heroin, 2000.
6Ibid.
7U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Research Report: Heroin Abuse and Addiction, 1999.
8Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Descriptions: Heroin.
9Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Facts: Heroin. |
Street terms for MDMA/Ecstasy: XTC, go, X, Adam, hug drug1
What does Ecstasy look like?
- Ecstasy is distributed in tablet form. Individual tablets are often imprinted with graphic designs or commercial logos, and typically contain 100 mg of MDMA.
How is Ecstasy used?
- Ecstasy is usually ingested in tablet form, but can also be crushed and snorted, injected, or used in suppository form.
Who uses Ecstasy?
- In 2000, more than 6.4 million people age 12 and older reported that they have used Ecstasy at least once in their lives.2
- Ecstasy is popular among middle-class adolescents and young adults.
- Ecstasy is sold primarily at legitimate nightclubs and bars, at underground nightclubs sometimes called "acid houses," or at all-night parties known as "raves."
How does Ecstasy get to the United States?
- The vast majority of Ecstasy consumed domestically is produced in Europe.
- A limited number of Ecstasy laboratories operate in the United States.
- Law enforcement seized 17 clandestine Ecstasy laboratories in the United States in 2001 compared to 7 seized in 2000.3
How much does Ecstasy cost?
- It costs as little as 25 to 50 cents to manufacture an Ecstasy tablet in Europe, but the street value of that same Ecstasy tablet can be as high as $40, with a tablet typically selling for between $20 and $30.4
What are some of the consequences of using Ecstasy?
- In addition to chemical stimulation, the drug reportedly suppresses the need to eat, drink, or sleep.5
- When taken at raves, where all-night dancing usually occurs, the drug often leads to severe dehydration and heat stroke in the user since it has the effect of "short-circuiting" the body's temperature signals to the brain.6
- An Ecstasy overdose is characterized by a rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, faintness, muscle cramping, panic attacks, and, in more severe cases, loss of consciousness or seizures. One of the side effects of the drug is jaw muscle tension and teeth grinding. As a consequence, Ecstasy users will often suck on pacifiers to help relieve the tension.7
- Ecstasy may cause hyperthermia, muscle breakdown, seizures, stroke, kidney and cardiovascular system failure, possible permanent damage to sections of brain critical to thought and memory, and death.8
1Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade.
2Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, September 2001.
3Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Trafficking in the United States, September 2001.
4Ibid.
5Drug Enforcement Administration, Club Drugs: An Update, September 2001.
6Ibid.
7Ibid.
8National Institute on Drug Abuse, Infofax: MDMA (Ecstasy) |
"Club Drugs" has become a widely used term for a number of illicit drugs that are most commonly encountered at nightclubs and all-night parties called "raves." The three primary club drugs are Ecstasy, Ketamine, and GHB. Many other drugs are generally available in the club and rave circuit, however these three drugs are more closely associated with clubs because that is where they are most frequently used. http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/clubdrugs.html |
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