Teens and Synthetic Drugs
As a result of their easy accessibility and non-detectability in standard drug tests, combined with little public awareness about their dangers, designer drugs pose the greatest threat to adolescents and first-time drug users. Designer drugs such as Spice and bath salts are sold legally on the Internet, are easy to purchase and bear no risks of criminal prosecution. Further problematic is that adolescents’ brains and bodies are still developing, and drug use during this stage can cause irreparable damage and impairment to development. Additionally, drug use beginning in adolescence has been shown to increase dependency in adulthood, especially when drugs such as stimulants and inhalants are involved. Subsequent drug abuse in adulthood can lead to various health consequences, and can cause a negative ripple effect in one’s social and occupational life.
Lack of Regulation and Understanding of Effects
One of the largest issues surrounding designer drugs is that there is no quality control or regulation surrounding their production and distribution. Making matters worse, since many designer drugs are new to the market, there is not much testing or research performed. Further, the incidence of overdose and seriousness of side effects are hard to calculate, for a couple of reasons. For one, synthetic drugs are often not detectable by standard drug tests; for another, autopsies don’t generally test for these chemicals.
For some of the same reasons, the short-term and long-term effects of synthetic drugs are also unclear. So far, the side effects of designer drugs have been found to be as potent, if not more potent, than the original drug they are created to mimic or enhance. Unpredictable effects on brain function and unknown interactions with other medications and drugs are also a cause for concern with these newly developed and constantly evolving drugs. Designer drugs such as Spice and bath salts are especially harmful, because they are the most accessible and the most likely to be falsely advertised as harmless and natural.
More education and prevention efforts, resulting in greater public awareness of the dangers of designer drugs, are one way to halt the escalating abuse of these drugs. Greater regulation is another. A few states have reportedly passed laws restricting marketing, display, labeling and advertising of these substances, for example, by appealing to consumer protection laws and/or labeling such activities as deceptive trade practices. So far, however, efforts to restrict the supply of synthetic drugs are often complicated by the unique challenges these drugs pose to law enforcement.
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