Drug Trends Making Their Way into the United States Today

The Common Enemy
Cocaine, Marijuana and Meth have always been the common enemy of the law. They are the common drug trends that kids and young adults easily latch onto. They are also the most sought for illicit substance and a lot of high school and college students are learning that carrying marijuana or cocaine around is a sure ticket to the rehabilitation center or worse, to jail. More than 90% of people getting into jail because of drug possession were caught using any of the three aforementioned substances. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that well over thirty million Americans start using or attempting drugs like marijuana or cocaine at the age of twelve. About 75% of those people who try drugs will not quit and continue to use drugs until it becomes a physical, mental, and social problem. For those who do not get help from a rehabilitation center, only one out of every four drug users will ever quit on their own will.

New Drug Trends
To avoid getting caught but still able to keep the high, a lot of students have developed new drug trends that are not yet complete illegal across the board but are guaranteed to grant them a decent high. Look into these drug trends and you may have a wider range of things to look out for amongst the activities of your children.

Vicodin and OxyContin - when students can't get their hands on old-school marijuana they turn to over the counter drugs. The most common of the medical drugs that high school students turn to, especially twelfth graders, are Vicodin and Oxycontin. Both of them are pain relief drugs. They are supposed to be used in treating mild pain such as headaches and wound pains yet students are discovering that they can also deliver the hallucinating high that marijuana can also deliver.

Bath Salts - while high school students have discovered a way to get past marijuana with over the counter drugs, college students on the other hand have discovered another way to get the same high they achieve with cocaine. Bath salts may have ingredients that are all legal and controllable but the effect of snorting the product will produce the same pleasure stimulation that a person will get when they ingest either meth or cocaine. As a matter of fact these drug trends have caught the attention of several states. Bath salts are now banned in Louisiana, Florida and North Dakota.

Nutmeg - that's right, the spice you add in your drinks and pie can become a drug alternative. This may be the worst of current drug trends because while you can get a hallucination high that is very similar to the effects of LSD, there are a lot of horrible side effects that come with it. You could enjoy the colorful images for thirty minutes but once the kick dies down you'll also experience stomach pains, vomiting and nausea. That is just the opening statement though because people using nutmeg to achieve a high will also experience nerve problems and heart problems, making it very dangerous for people with heart ailments and blood complications.

Ritalin and Adderall - these medical drugs are also over the counter drugs and are becoming a cultural norm for college students who cram their studies before exams. The drug is meant to help people suffering from attention disorders and this is why students use them to help them study when under pressure. Unfortunately it has also gained popularity as a stimulating drug and has already caused three football players to hit the hospital because of drug overdose.

Dimethyltryptamine - commonly known as DMT, the homemade drug is the college student's answer to getting artificial meth. The drug can give a very short psychedelic and hallucination high that is very similar to the effects of taking meth and LSD. While it may seem much safer than meth in regards to health concerns, taking DMT can still raise a person's heartbeat and it is also known for causing severe paranoia. The nation is already on the trail to stopping DMT from getting any larger than it has. A DMT lab was shut down in a college dorm where three students were manufacturing their own supply.

Relaxation Drinks - also referred to as anti-energy products these drinks may actually contain a level or a variance of marijuana, thus giving them severe sedative effects. A lot of advertisements give away the idea that these might be safe drinks to take on a regular basis but they may contain very high amounts of sedatives and could cause severe complications for people with heart ailments and problems with their blood pressure. As a matter of fact the issue has already caught the attention of CNN and researchers are now looking into the ethical and legal aspect of these anti-energy drinks.

Marijuana - marijuana is still the reigning champion in current drug trends. As a matter of fact, a study conducted in 2010 proved that over a period of thirty day, a total of twenty one percent of high school students had smoked marijuana while only nineteen percent of students smoked cigarettes. The trend to using marijuana reaches its highest population during the 10th grade and is at its highest amongst twelfth graders. The majority of students who participated in surveys and high school drug observations had admitted that getting marijuana, cocaine and meth was actually much easier than getting a decent grade in class.

The Circle of Drug Trends
The circle is very simple. As the law discovers what substances should be penalized and made illegal the community of drug users, especially students, will find newer drug trends that will continue to give them the same stimulation and high. While the law can only do as much as they can to prevent these rising drug trends from spreading students will continue to find new ways to achieve their hallucination and stimulation. It is always best to study the activities of your children and see what medications they constantly carry or what suspicious substance they may hold. Even legal substances could be abused and turned into a new form addiction that fall under new drug trends.