Meth is a powerful stimulant drug that increases brain activity. Short term effects, lasting up to 12 hours, include increased alertness, insomnia, hyperactivity, headache, decreased appetite, irritability, aggression, anxiety, nervousness, teeth grinding, convulsions and heart attack. Chronic abuse can lead to tooth decay, acne and skin sores (speed bumps), psychotic behavior, paranoia, hallucinations, rage, extreme violence, depression, fatal kidney and lung disorders and brain damage. Babies born to meth-using moms can be born addicted to meth and suffer birth defects, low birth weight, tremors and behavior disorders. Cocaine looks like a white crystalline powder. It is often sold in aluminum foil, plastic/paper packets, or small vials. The cocaine that is distributed on the street in two main forms: powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Crack is cocaine hydrochloride that has been processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water into a freebase cocaine — chips, chunks, or rocks. On the illicit market, crack is sold in small, inexpensive dosage units. For those in the upper ranks of heroin trafficking, business can be enormously lucrative. For decades the Mafia has been involved in heroin trafficking operations, including the “French Connection” of the 1950s and 1960s and the more recent “Pizza Connection,” which used pizza parlors as fronts. Other trafficking groups are more loosely based on ethnic or national ties; for example, groups of Chinese, Thai, Nigerian, or Mexican nationals have operated in different parts of the country. The history of heroin dates back as far or farther than the ancient Egyptians. Records indicate that opium was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The poppy even appears on Egyptian art dating back 6,000 years. Opium was imported to China around 800 A.D. By the 1600s, opium smoking was widespread throughout China. In 1680, a famous English physician named Thomas Syndenham introduced opium to the medical field. |
