Amphetamines
...rine. The stimulative effects of amphetamines are considerably longer than that of cocaine. The main psychic effect of the amphetamines include, wakefulness, alertness, a decreased sense of fatigue, mood elevation, increase in self confidence, and a decrease in appetite. Amphetamines do not create any extra physical or mental energy but simply distorts the user’s perception of reality and impairing judgments. This could cause an athlete to participate injured, possibly leading the athlete to a worse injury or injuring someone else. Amphetamines can be abused by athletes, to reduce body weight such as wrestlers, gymnasts and ballet dancers. Abrupt withdrawal of amphetamines may produce extreme fatigue, lethargy and depression. The health effects of amphetamines include two categories, acute side effects and chronic side effects. The acute side effects are; increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, reduced appetite and extreme weight loss, insomnia, dizziness, dilated pupils, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucination, fever, sweating, tremors, loss of coordination, dry mouth, paleness, blurred vision, collapse, headaches, convulsions, hallucinations and paranoia, death due to ruptured blood vessels in the brain heart attacks, heart rhythm abnormality and heatstroke. The chronic side effects are; uncontrollable and abnormal movements in the face and jaw muscles called dyskinesias, compulsive and repetitive behaviors, paranoid delusions similar to schizophrenia, death of blood vessels through out the body, and nerve damage. Amphetamines carry a high potential for tolerance and psychological dependency. Such test have been conducted on laboratory animals, which will self administer the amphetamine until they die. There is much debate over whether amphetamines are physically or psychologically addictive or both. What is certain though is that frequent chronic use of amphetamines erodes or wears away both physical and mental health. Most amphetamines sold illegally contain a mixture of pure amphetamines and other substances such as sugar, glucose, bi-carbonated soda, and ephedrine. These additives can be very poisonous. They can cause collapsed veins, tetanus, abscesses, and damage to the heart, lungs, liver and brain. And because the user doesn't know whether they are using 5 per cent or 50 per cent pure amphetamines, it is easy to accidentally overdose. Due to the unknown strength and mix of street amphetamines, some users have overdosed and experienced strokes, heart failure, seizures and high body temperature. Some have died as a result. Injecting runs a greater risk of overdosing due to large amounts of the drug entering the blood stream and quickly traveling to the brain. As the effects of speed wear off, a person may experience a range of problems including uncontrolled violence, tension, radical mood swings, depression and total exhaustion. The most common street names for amphetamines are "speed" and "uppers," but many others have been used over the years. Many of the names come from the appearance of the amphetamine tablets or capsules. Following is a partial list of amphetamines’ street names. The slang used for amphetamines in your area may include some of these terms, and may include totally new terms; Amp, Amped, Bennie, Benz, Benzidrine, Black and white...