By Vanessa Cort

WHILE the international trade in illicit and abused prescription drugs rakes in billions of dollars for traders and manufacturers, the users often end up penniless, addicted, suffering and dying.
This is certainly true of illicit drug users, whose health deteriorates as their cash runs down, while they feed an addiction growing stronger each day.
In recent years, the use of opioids (painkillers) has led to a prescription drug crisis and addiction rate that has not only caused depleted bank accounts but also resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide over the past two decades.
It was declared a public health emergency in the US back in the late 1990s, when pharmaceutical companies heavily marketed opioids like OxyContin, assuring doctors they were non-addictive.
Contrary to this assertion, the drugs were found to be highly addictive and the subsequent overprescribing of opioids led to widespread physical dependence.
By 2010, as governments clamped down on prescription painkillers and costs became prohibitive, people turned to the equally addictive but cheaper heroin.
Three years later, the crisis had shifted to illegally manufactured synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine or heroin.
While medical fentanyl is highly effective for treating pain, the illicit form is cheap, synthesised in ‘labs’ and often added to heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
The result has been a high mortality rate from overdoses, especially among young people who access the drug online without their parents.
Meanwhile, the trade in illicit narcotics continues unabated, despite drug enforcement efforts worldwide. And the recent boom in cocaine production and enhanced distribution networks has meant that the drug is more widely available.
A particularly potent and highly addictive form of cocaine is crack, which hit the streets in the late 1970s and presented the world with an unprecedented drug problem.
Some referred to it as a “fast food” form of cocaine, where the powder is converted to solid ‘rocks’, using baking soda and water. This can then be heated and smoked in specially designed pipes, making a distinct crackling sound, leading to its name.
Cheaper than powdered cocaine, crack delivers an almost instantaneous high to the brain. But the intense, euphoric ‘rush’ is short-lived, lasting five or ten minutes, leaving the user craving more.
Guyana is a major transit point for narco-trafficking because of its porous borders and cocaine is moved across the region in a variety of ways.
However, while the powder generally passes through the country, crack cocaine has been peddled here for decades. The result has been widespread abuse, financial hardship, homelessness, severe illness and death in extreme cases.
Young people are at risk, especially in deprived areas and among low-income earners. Many of the porters and helpers in our nation’s markets, for instance, are crack smokers.
But crack use is not limited to this section of the population. It crosses all socioeconomic and ethnic lines and has brought many of the wealthy ‘to their knees’, selling belongings, including cars and houses, to feed their habit.
The drug acts by rapidly enhancing dopamine levels in the brain, which in turn causes intense pleasure and can lead to addiction as early as the first time it is smoked.
Crack use can result in heart failure, stroke and potential death from respiratory failure and users may display heightened aggression, restlessness, anxiety and loss of appetite.
Now, synthetic drugs like methamphetamine or MDMA, popularly known as ‘Molly’ and Ecstasy, are also available locally, deepening the drug problem. Many users are unaware of the destructive nature of these substances, which are closely aligned.
Molly usually refers to the drug in a pure powder or purplish crystalline form, while Ecstasy refers to the drug in its pill form. Both are stimulants and hallucinogens, which distort time and perception.
Known as the ‘party drugs’, young adults and adolescents favour them because they reduce inhibitions and promote feelings of closeness, empathy and sexuality.
These drugs also have a host of side effects on the body, including increased heart rate and blood pressure, tremors, nausea, teeth clenching, paranoia and confusion.
In high doses, they can result in liver, kidney and cardiovascular failure, swelling of the brain and even death. TO BE CONTINUED…
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.