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11 Results for search "Drugs: Illicit".

Wellness Library Results

What is GBL? GBL (gamma butyrolactone) is an industrial solvent used to degrease engines, remove stains, and strip wood. In the 1990s, GBL was also the key ingredient in a number of products that promised better sleep, more enjoyable sex, or bigger muscles. Unlike some supplements, GBL actually does something once it reaches the body: It changes to GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), a potent depressant...

Whether it's smoked, snorted, or injected, cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug. The first rush is so intense that many users come back for more. As the brain grows accustomed to the drug, it takes more and more hits to reach anything close to those early highs. People who think they can use cocaine once in a while or "recreationally" may find that eventually their entire lives center around the...

When Len Bias, a 22-year-old University of Maryland basketball star, died of cardiac arrest after a cocaine overdose in 1986, some observers felt the tragedy might warn other youth off this stimulant. Whether that happened is unclear. Soon after the basketball player's death, there was demand for a type of cocaine known on the street as "Len Bias." And cocaine was involved in 448,481 emergency roo...

What is human growth hormone? Human growth hormone (HGH) fuels the growth of our bodies during childhood and adolescence. Released from the pituitary gland when we sleep, the hormone has the chief function of lengthening bones and increasing the thickness of soft tissues such as skin. People who don't make enough HGH while they're young -- often because of genetic diseases or kidney failure -- ca...

Is substance abuse a problem among seniors? While the nation wages war on marijuana, cocaine, and other street drugs, roughly one out of five seniors struggles with a different kind of substance abuse. The drugs that have them in their grip -- prescription medications and alcohol -- are perfectly legal, but that doesn't make the addictions any less devastating to older people and their families. ...

Your liver keeps you alive by filtering dangerous toxins from your blood. So what are you doing to return the favor? It's up to you to protect your liver from viruses, poisons, and other serious threats. Take this short quiz to find out how much you know about keeping your liver healthy. 1. It won't hurt my liver to take more than the recommended amount of Tylenol if I have a really bad headach...

As the epidemic of meth use spreads across the country, two lessons have been learned countless times: Meth ruins lives. Treatment works. Users who seek treatment and commit themselves to recovery have an excellent chance at success. The challenge of withdrawal Meth is a stimulant that hooks users with feelings of euphoria and bursts of energy. It can also cause extreme agitation, hallucinations, ...

The cartoonish voice of someone who's just sucked helium from a party balloon, or the giggly feeling you get after the dentist gives you "laughing gas" (nitrous oxide) may be amusing, but recreational use of inhalants is far from harmless. Sniffing glue, "huffing" gasoline, and "bagging" gasoline octane booster are just some of the creative methods kids are using to get a quick high. In a 2008 sur...

"One pill makes you larger/and one pill makes you small But the ones that mother gives you/don't do anything at all Go ask Alice/when she's ten feet tall" --from "White Rabbit," as sung by Jefferson Airplane People who abuse drugs such as alcohol or narcotics are often trying to escape reality, but those who take hallucinogens sometimes do it to distort their ordinary reality and transcen...

In recent years, Ecstasy -- also known as "E," "X," "Adam," and "lover's speed" -- has sped to prominence, both in clubs and in medical journals. Known chemically as MDMA (short for methylenedioxymethamphetamine), Ecstasy is a psychoactive drug similar to both the stimulant amphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline. It's also a chemical cousin of the drug MDA (methylenedioxyamphetamine). The use ...

Are all herbal remedies safe? No. Many herbal remedies can improve your health when used wisely. But even some of these have the potential for harm, especially if you're taking large doses or a synthetic version. You should know that most herbal remedies and "natural" supplements have not been thoroughly tested, a fact that hasn't prevented some companies from putting exaggerated claims on the lab...