What are stimulants?

Stimulants are drugs that speed up the messages between the brain and the body. They include medicines with mild stimulants like pseudoephedrine and illegal drugs like ‘speed’.

The danger of drugs such as speed and ecstasy is that they’re made illegally in backyard laboratories so the purity, strength and the substances the drug is cut with are often unknown. They can even include dangerous chemicals, which cause side effects such as vomiting, dizziness, confusion and damage to the heart, lungs, liver and brain.

As a user, you do not know whether these stimulants contain 5 per cent or 50 per cent pure ingredients - so the risk of unintentional overdose is heightened.

Every dose of stimulants increases your health problems. If you start taking drugs every time you drive, your body will need increased amounts to gain the same effect. The quantity you take can reach a stage where no further increase in the amount taken will produce the desired effect. The only effect on your body will be the increasingly dangerous side effects.

The effects of stimulants on your driving:

• You can have a false sense of confidence.
• You can make rash decisions that can lead to increased risk taking behaviour.
• Your visual perceptions can be distorted, which will make it difficult to judge distances.
• Your driving ability and co-ordination will be lessened.
• With the lack of sleep, you will actually feel more exhausted, affecting your reflexes and concentration.
• The risk of crashing will be greatly increased.

As the effects of the stimulants begin to wear off, you may experience a level of fatigue that is worse than when you first took the stimulant.

The long-term health effects of taking stimulants:

• Impotence
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
• Chronic sleep problems
• Extreme mood swings
• Compulsive repetition of actions
• Paranoia/anxiety/depression/irritability/suspiciousness
• Weight loss
• Panic attacks/seizures

Users sometimes take other drugs to cope with the undesirable effects of stimulants. This can lead to a 'roller coaster’ dependence on a range of drugs. Some people might take stimulants to combat the effects of fatigue and then take depressants to help them sleep at night. This type of dependence can lead to a variety of serious physical and psychological problems.