Although trending drugs in the US often have modern street names, there is a familiar presence making itself felt in drug crisis centers. A number of factors have combined to make heroin a more attractive drug of choice, not only in the back allies and nightclubs of America’s cities, but in the suburbs and in military circles.

According to Nick Miroff of the Washington Post, there are two main reasons why this is happening.

• The wholesale price of Marijuana has dropped because of the legality of recreational and medical marijuana, making it unprofitable for Mexican drug farmers to cultivate marijuana, and increasing the incentive to market the more lucrative opium products.
• With the crackdown on prescription pain-killer abuse, heroin is a cost-effective replacement. The Mexican drug cartels have found a receptive market for needle-based drugs in the homes of retiring baby-boomers who are aging, and in search of relief from pain. This augments existing markets for heroin. Other Ibero-American markets are responding in a similar fashion.

Although 90% of the heroin in the U.S. comes from south of the border, another hot-spot for heroin use that is connected to the United States is the poppy fields of Afghanistan, where American soldiers are exposed to this highly-addictive drug. This segment is highly under-reported, perhaps because illegal drug use by a U.S. soldier is a crime, and will result in dishonorable discharge. In his article forPsychiatric Times, Dr. Andrew J. Saxon discusses the high relationship between common head injuries and exposure to opiates as a pain killer, resulting in unreported addiction that can manifest when the soldier returns to the civilian population. This manifestation can often take years to emerge, when treatment is much more difficult.

Writing for Salon, Shaun McCanna describes how easy it is for an American to purchase Heroin in the Afghan markets just outside the military bases, and he suggests that an addiction problem, as well as a supply problem, is escaping the attention of regulatory forces. Afghanistan, he says, is the source of 90% of the world’s heroin.

It is rumored that much of the Afghanistan crop is being stockpiled, and that Russia and Europe are currently the main targets of this market. Nonetheless, this is a significant cradle for American addiction, and McCanna claims that a soldier’s purchase of a $30 bag can bring hundreds of dollars on the streets of any American city.

With these sources of heroin open to U.S. markets, the American cities have noticed, as well. Andrew Welsh-Huggins, writing for Associated Press, notes that several states, specifically California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Massachusetts, have expressed particular alarm at the growing number of deaths specifically related to heroin across all age groups.

Contact us for a continuing analysis of trending drugs in the United States.

In late September Middlebury Connecticut authorities were forced to call a mass casualty event in response to multiple drug overdoses during a local concert. Seven people were treated, with four requiring hospitalization. One male victim required CPR and the use of a defibrillator at the scene. The drug that was ingested was a little known hallucinogenic 2C-P.

2C-P is a synthetic hallucinogen whose manufacture sale and possession of was made illegal as a schedule 1 substance in 2012. First discovered in 1974 it has only been in the last three years that the use of this powerful drug has sky rocketed.

The drug is usually ingested orally, but sometimes snorted. The effects of 2C-P include open and closed eye hallucinations, auditory distortion and hallucinations, confusion, overwhelming visual disturbances, paranoia and anxiety.  These typical effects of a psychedelic are magnified as 2C-is considered the strongest compound in its class. The psychedelic effects are not only intense but also long lasting; with a duration of 15 to 20 hours being typical.

The physical effects of 2C-P include motor impairment, vasoconstriction, elevation in blood pressure as well as tachycardia, a rapid pulse exceeding 100 beats per minute. The physical dangers of 2C-P are dramatically increased because of two interlinked characteristics of the compound.

The dose to effect ratio of 2C-P is very narrow, in other words the effects of ingesting six milligrams of the drug are far more intense than ingesting just 5mg. Additionally 2C-P takes an extremely long time to act, often up to five hours. The combination of these two factors makes overdoses not only more likely but far more life threatening.

As a research drug 2C-P has no clinical history and no legitimate medical use.  The long term effects of its use are unknown, but it is clear to see from anecdotal evidence that this new and powerful hallucinogenic can take a serious toll on both the physical and psychological health of those that choose to use it.

Trending drugs in the US changed a great deal between the 1990s and today, as new drugs are constantly being developed and the popularity of the old “standbys” fluctuates with the times. The trends in drug use are based not only on changes in social culture, but on changes in the drugs themselves.

1990s

With the 1990s came “Raves”, high energy, all-night dance parties that attracted kids under the age of 21 due to being “alcohol-free.” Accompanying the Raves was a heterogeneous group of substances coined “club drugs” that were commonly taken to enhance the Rave experience of flashing lights and loud, hypnotic techno music. MDMA, or Ecstasy, was the most popular club drug, one that made shy persons uninhibited, engendered feelings of love and emotional warmth and enabled users stay awake all night.

Other trendy drugs of the time included GHB—“liquid ecstasy”–, Methamphetamine and the infamous “date rape” drugs Ketamine and Rohypnol (Roofies). LSD saw resurgence during this time; its estimated potency was 90% less than in the 1960s, rendering its effects more euphoric and less hallucinogenic

Finally, Heroin use rose significantly in the 90s as it became purer and cheaper, allowing it to be smoked or snorted and thus eliminating the stigma and fear of “needle drugs”. In popular culture “Heroin Chic” was the new fashion, characterized by pale skin, dark circles under the eyes and an overall emaciated appearance.

2000s

In the 2000s the War on Drugs continued to escalate, the Internet became a marketplace for mind-altering substances and “designer drugs” were ubiquitous. “Designer Drugs” are specifically made to fall outside of federal drug laws. They can either be new forms of older illegal drugs or a completely new chemical formulation; the most common designer drugs are created by making a derivative of an existing drug’s chemical structure. This variation allows the drug to have similar effects as the illicit drugs, but the drugs will not fall under the correct formula for many drug laws.

Most of the designer drugs produced during the decade were opioids, hallucinogens, or anabolic steroids.

Today

Much media attention has been focused on the “prescription pill epidemic” over the past five years, but according to treatment data for 2011 from the Department of Justice’s Drug Market Analyses, the current most popular recreational drugs are:

1-Marijuana

2-Crystal Meth

3-Alcohol

4-Pills – painkillers (such as Oxycontin and Hydrocodone) and benzodiazepines (such as Xanax)

5-Heroin and Cocaine

There has been a surge in heroin use in suburban areas during the past decade; experts believe that this is a consequence of the prescription pill epidemic: Persons who begin by taking prescription pain killers become addicted to them and later switch to heroin because it is far less expensive and easier to obtain.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuanause has increased since 2007, with the number of regular users rising from 5.8% to 7.3% of the US population aged 12 and older. In addition, drug use is increasing among people in their fifties—the baby boomers who have historically had the highest rates of drug use as compared to other generations. Most of the increase in illicit drug use over the last decade can be attributed to the rise in marijuana use.

Both Colorado and Washington state legalized marijuana in 2014 and other states seem prepared to follow this trend, so the use of marijuana is likely to continue to increase.

If you have questions or concerns regarding any drug-related topic, including actions and effects of specific drugs and drug-testing options, please contact us.

Every generation has its own trends in fashion, hairstyles, music, media…and drugs. Since recreational drug use exploded into the American consciousness with the rise of the 1960s counter culture, drugs have gone in and out of style along with all other aspects of popular culture—and their use is no longer part of a “counter” culture.

The following article looks at trending drugs in the US from the 1960s to the 1980s, and how these changing trends often serve as a reaction to the attitudes and events of the time.

1960s

In 1969—the first year of polling on drug use–a Gallup poll found that only 4% of American adults said they had tried marijuana. By 1973 that number had tripled, to 12 percent.

During the social unrest of the 1960s, young people sought increased liberation and equality, along with an end to the Viet Nam War and the political policies that led to it. Seeking peace, love and harmony, the use of psychedelic drugs became accepted as an important means of expanding one’s consciousness in order to create a better world. The use of recreational drugs also served as a symbol of rebellion against authority.

LSD gained widespread recognition with Harvard professor and psychologist Timothy Leary advocating its use to broaden users’ perception of the world.

On another front, heroin abuse became “rampant” among U.S. soldiers, with an estimated 10% to 15% of servicemen addicted to it.

1970s

As the utopian dreams of the 1960s faded, drugs were no longer viewed as a means of expanding one’s consciousness, but rather as a glamorous accessory to lives whose motto was “If it feels good do it”. The word “party” became a verb and people wanted to take drugs that would enhance their experience dancing under the mirror ball at the newly popular discotheques. Cocaine and Quaaludes were particularly fashionable, as both produced a loosening of inhibitions and in the case of Quaaludes, pleasant body effects.

The use of marijuana also continued to grow — in 1973, 12% of respondents to a Gallup poll said they had tried marijuana; that number had doubled by 1977.

1980s

Cocaine was the drugs of the 1980s, so common that in a 1986 poll, cocaine (including crack) surpassed alcohol as the most abused drug in the United States. At the time cocaine was believed to be a relatively benign non-addictive drug, as evidenced by a 1977 Newsweek story that stated, “Among hostesses in the smart sets of Los Angeles and New York, a little cocaine, like Dom Perignon and Beluga caviar, is now de rigueur at dinners. Party-givers pass it around along with the canapés on silver trays… the user experiences a feeling of potency, of confidence, of energy.”

As the times change, so do the popular drugs. The sixties saw a revolution of young people seeking to change the world, while the 1970s responded to their subsequent disillusionment with the desire to simply feel good. Following a number of overdose deaths by music icons including Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in the 1970s, cocaine came to be seen as a safe, respectable way to experience a feeling of well-being and euphoria.

If you’d like to learn more about drug use, the effects of legal and illegal substances or drug screening options, please contact us. We have a wealth of information on just about any drug question you may have.