Boosters are psychoactive substances that are not on the list of substances controlled by the Act on counteracting drug addiction. Although the ban on the sale of legal highs has resulted in a decline in the number of users of these drugs, the number of people using these drugs has increased again in recent months.
Boosters , until recently sold legally (the ban was introduced in October 2010), seemed to be harmless preparations, but it quickly turned out that this is not the case. These products aredrugs , often containing three or four psychoactive substances - such a mix of synthetics can not only causeaddiction , but even kill.
Boosters as dangerous as amphetamines
- New psychoactive substances appear constantly. Over the past few years, more than 150 of them have hit the market. In 2008, there were two shops with legal highs in Poland, after two years there were over 1,400 of them! - says prof. Zbigniew Fijałek, head of the National Medicines Institute, dealing with the control of drugs and medicinal products. Controls carried out by the State Sanitary Inspection together with the police and the sale ban resulted in the collection of over 12,000. samples and the closure of 1,400 stores. In 2008, the sales in the world were as follows: cannabis was first, cocaine was second, amphetamines came second, and mephedrone was fourth.
- Amphetamine is one of the compounds whose structure began to be modified and new substances were created, uncontrolled by law, and showing similar, if not identical, action to amphetamine - explains prof. Zbigniew Fijałek. In 2008, mephedrone was in fourth place when it comes to the serious drugs that the whole world is struggling with - known as the substance that was very quickly placed on the controlled list. The problem with the control and testing of new synthetic drugs is large, because when it comes to old drugs, their composition, sources of synthesis or pollution have been known to us for years. On the other hand, the composition of new drugs is constantly changing, and the ingenuity of their creators is enormous - over 150 new substances have entered into use during literally the last few years.
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New boosters:tablets, capsules, stickers, powder or dry
The legal highs market has developed very quickly in recent years, more than 1,400 stores were established, where they were legally sold as collectors' items, plant nutrients or plant fertilizers, bath s alts. The Polish Sanitary Inspection in the fall of 2010, during a month, carried out over 3.5 thousand police checks with the police. inspections, as a result of which more than 1,400 stores were closed and over 12,000 were collected. samples of substances sold in these stores. 8 institutions in Poland were involved in testing the samples.
- To control, we need to know what we are looking for. We knew nothing about these materials, because what was stated on the packaging did not match the ingredients of the products. The challenge was huge - mainly scientific, because we didn't know what we were looking for. The psychoactive substances that entered the research were in the form of tablets, but also capsules, stickers, nasal powder or dried plants. Thanks to modern equipment, they were able to identify these substances: all samples contained psychoactive substances (at least one). There were no known narcotic plants on the controlled preparations list - all of the products contained sprayed synthetic compounds that acted like the compounds in cannabis. Almost 5 percent of the samples contained active pharmaceutical substances with an anesthetic effect and only 5 percent. it contained products from the controlled list, that is, already known and forbidden. More than half of the samples contained strong psychoactive substances with narcotic and addictive effects. Only 17 percent. of the respondents contained only one psychoactive substance - the others in the composition had two, three or four! In combination with alcohol, it is an explosive mixture, the more that these are substances with high genotoxic contamination. An interesting fact is that the substances that, after hitting the list of controlled preparations, immediately disappear from the market and are quickly replaced by unknown, new compounds.
Boosters and he alth
The harmfulness of legal highs is enormous, often even greater than that of other drugs, because their composition is unknown. If, additionally, one product contains several psychoactive substances - in toxicology departments, the only thing that doctors can do is to treat the patient symptomatically. The substances that can be found in legal highs include:
- BZP (N-benzylpiperazine) - a psychoactive substance. BZP has stimulating properties, causes euphoria, increases concentration, intensifies the reception of external stimuli, but also causes convulsions, elevated body temperature, nausea, feeling of being lost, psychosis, painheadaches or insomnia for up to 3 days after taking the dose. May be addictive and induce severe seizures,
- TFMPP - (3 - Trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine) - a psychoactive substance from the group of piperazine derivatives, has a stimulating effect. It causes migraines, headaches, loss of appetite, insomnia, and vomiting. It can be addictive and burden the circulatory system like BZP.
- Mephedrone causes: agitation, euphoria, openness, pupil dilation, facial flushing, hand tremors, sweating, changes in body temperature, increased blood pressure and heart rhythm disturbances, memory impairment, trismus, realistic dreams. The effects of taking are similar to those of amphetamines and its derivatives, especially ecstasy.
- MDPV - an organic chemical compound, a derivative of phenylethylamine. It has a psychoactive effect: it stimulates, increases concentration, causes insomnia, sexual arousal, anxiety, nervousness, increased heart rate, pressure surges, sweating, nausea. It sometimes causes panic attacks and chronic psychotic states.
- Cannabis - is a group of chemical compounds from the Cannabis sativa L. plant. The most chemically active representatives of this group are cannabiol, cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol (psychotropic substances). Their pharmacological action is based on the analgesic effect.
Krzysztof Jaryczewski, musician, composer, founder and first leader of the band. Closed Branch:
I know very well what addiction is, I got out of it myself. I live in a small 15,000. a town on the Polish-German border - there were 4 shops with designer drugs in the Polish part. This is a huge problem, especially since young people have started to treat designer drugs as something that is safe, such as beer or marijuana. As I was able to overcome the addiction, I started meeting young people - "Your life, your choice" is the slogan of my anti-drug campaign. I believe that legal regulations are very important here, prohibitions are probably also needed, but young people must first of all be reached through conversation and information, and not prohibitions and orders. I meet young people at schools, I am trustworthy for them, because I learned about the problem of drugs the hard way. We talk, I give them specific information and I take them seriously. After these meetings, discussions and reactions, I know there is a chance that many of these people will not use drugs.
Piotr Jabłoński, director of the National Bureau for Drug Prevention:
In order to counteract drug addiction, one must act in many fields. What is needed are social campaigns and campaigns to publicize the problem, as well as a program of activities in schools forparents and youth, mobilization of governmental and non-governmental organizations. And it is all done. But you also have to tell young people how to take care of their safety as much as possible, but when they decide to reach for designer drugs. First of all, that they do not experiment alone - have someone with them who will be able to help them, e.g. by calling an ambulance. It is also important that they do not throw away the packaging of the taken substance - the packaging that goes into the hands of the doctor can help save their lives!
Boosters: law in Poland and the European Union
Illegal drugs and new psychoactive substances have become a challenge for both the government and all those who deal with this issue on a daily basis.
Based on the amendment to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction passed at the end of last year Poland is forbidden to manufacture and sell any substances or products that can be used as narcotic drugs. If there is a justified suspicion that the product poses a threat to life or he alth, the sanitary inspector may close the store or warehouse for up to three months during which the substance will be tested. The provision of the presumed psychoactivity of the substance will make it possible to close the store if there is a suspicion that legal highs are being sold there.
Last year, the EU market recorded 41 new psychoactive substances sold legally, according to a report by the European Commission. Before these drugs are put on the list of prohibited production and sale, manufacturers develop a new composition and thus bypass the ban. The current system for detecting new substances is not efficient enough to cope with such a large increase in new substances on the market, says Viviane Reding, EU Justice Commissioner. Therefore, the rules must be strengthened so that young people do not fall into the trap of these dangerous drugs.
It is likely that the European Commission will change the procedures for the prohibition of the production and sale of psychoactive substances, thanks to which it will be possible to ban the production and sale of synthetic drugs much faster than before (currently it takes about a year).