Stimulants abuse and addiction – foreword

Cocaine

Many strongly addictive chemical substances are natural compounds produced by plants. Opiates enclosed in opium (central nervous system depressants), some hallucinogenic agents found in fungi and cacti – they all are natural substances. And so does cocaine. Cocaine is inside Coca plant leaves from which it can be extracted to obtain chemically pure cocaine in white powder (crystalline form). However, chewing the coca leaves or smoking also leads to the same effects as injection of white cocaine, because cocaine molecules are freed during chewing or smoking and get through blood. Chewing and smoking are the major ways of using cocaine in countries where it's illegally cultivated.

Amphetamines

Amphetamines belong to stimulant class of drugs. These are fully-synthetic compounds produced via organic reaction in chemical laboratories. Amphetamine has some medical uses. In United Kingdom amphetamine based drugs were available without prescription until 1956. People used amphetamines to treat restless, epilepsy, migraine, depression, hyperactivity, asthma, to suppress appetite, to low blood pressure. Now it's rather limited and now only few amphetamine derivatives are available legally. Dexamphetamine sulphate is prescribed by doctors to treat narcolepsy. This drug is in tablets form and sold under trade name 'Dexedrine' and others. Other 'medical' amphetamine is methylphenidate, sold as Ritalin, for attention deficit syndrome treatment in children and Adderall, which is a mixture of four amphetamine salts with same purpose as Ritalin.