By Gangsters Inc. Editors
Drugs get you high – or low – but, most importantly, they make organized crime a lot of money. Despite the cost for society and families the world over, narcotics continue to be in high demand. From partygoers and students to soccer moms and Wall Street Gordon Gecko wannabes; people just long for that high.
But what drugs are there and what do they do? Gangsters Inc. made a list – one that we will continue to add new types of narcotics to as supply expands.
Our advice? Don’t do drugs. Reality is enough of a trip as it is. And those that use drugs more often than not turn their reality into pure hell. If you feel you or a loved one is having abuse issues as a result of drugs, contact a doctor.
List is in alphabetical order.
Amphetamines
Also known as Bennies, Black Beauties, Crank, Ice, Speed, Uppers
Users tend to take amphetamines when they need an extra push. It helps them stay awake longer, continue working for longer and harder, and focus at the task at hand. Truck drivers that have a long way to travel sometimes use it to keep their eyes open and on the road. There have been instances in war where soldiers were given amphetamines so they could stay awake while standing guard or were able to fight for longer periods.
Recently, students have been found using them to stay awake to study for exams. Usually, they use prescription stimulants used to treat Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is prescribed as Adderall®, Concerta®, Dexedrine®, Focalin®, Metadate®, Methylin®, Ritalin®.
Users take it orally, inject it or smoke it.
Bath Salts
Also known as: Flakka, Gravel, Bliss, Blue Silk, Cloud Nine, Drone, Energy-1, Ivory Wave, Lunar Wave, Meow Meow, Meph, Ocean Burst, Pure Ivory, Purple Wave, Red Dove, Snow Leopard, Stardust, Vanilla Sky, White Dove, White Knight, White Lightning.
We usually hear about bath salts when those who used it go on some crazy binge. Bath salts are synthetic stimulants that are sold online, at convenience stores and “head shops” under various brand names. They resemble Epsom salts and are clearly labeled “Not for human consumption.” Of course, most users don’t give two fucks about any of that.
Flakka (alpha-PVP), is a dangerous drug that is similar to bath salts. Flakka is typically white or pink in color, and is found in crystal form. Users go into a deep state of paranoia or have hallucinations that may lead to violent aggression and self-injury.
Users can snort or sniff it, smoke it or mix it into a solution and inject it. Afterwards you can read all about your “trip” in the papers. Usually from behind steel bars.
Cocaine
Also known as Coca, Coke, Crack, Crank, Flake, Rock, Snow, Soda Cot, Blow
Cocaine is – and has been – the hottest drug on the market since it shot to stardom in the 1980s. It is derived from coca leaves, usually farmed and processed in South America, and in its most common form is white powder. Cocaine base (better known as crack) looks like small, irregularly shaped white rocks.
Users snort cocaine in powder form, but some opt to dissolve it in water and inject it. Crack cocaine is smoked. Smoking or injection creates an intense euphoric “rush”, but after that users quickly build a tolerance and go from being the “life of the party” to being paranoid, aggressive junkies, who go on binges that last until the coke runs out.
Ecstasy or MDMA
Also known as: Molly, Adam, Beans, Biscuit, Clarity, Disco Biscuit, E, Eve, Go, Hug Drug, Lover’s Speed, MDMA, Peace, STP, X, XTC
As rave parties became popular, ecstasy became the drug of choice among those in attendance. Drug producers in the Netherlands and Belgium perfected the formula and have long been seen as the world’s premier suppliers.
Ecstasy comes in pill or powder form, the pill being the most common and popular. It has a variety of logos and colors. Manufacturers tend to joke around with logos, stamping them with the Heineken logo or car logos like Rolls Royce and Mitsubishi. This type of branding helps sell it to users, who will ask for a particular type if it has been recommended.
Users describe an intense high that gives them energy and hallucinations. The next day they wake up with a depressed feeling as the brain copes with reality and regular waves flowing through its circuits.
Fentanyl
Also known as: Apace, China Girl, China Town, China White, Dance Fever, Goodfellas, Great Bear, He-Man, Poison and Tango & Cash
Fentanyl is one of the most dangerous and deadly drugs on the planet. It’s a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical fentanyl was developed for pain management treatment of cancer patients, applied in a patch on the skin.
People love a good painkiller. And because fentanyl is so potent, drug producers love it as well. A small batch can be used to give a kick to a heroin dose. It can also be disguised as highly potent heroin. Many users believe that they are purchasing heroin and actually don’t know that they are purchasing fentanyl – which often results in overdose deaths.
Drug cartels in Mexico have taken over the market for clandestinely-produced fentanyl, which mostly goes to users in the United States and Canada.
GHB - Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid
Also known as: G, Georgia Home Boy, Goop, Grievous Bodily Harm, Liquid X, Scoop, Liquid Ecstasy
GHB is more commonly known as the “date rape drug” as it is used frequently by individuals who want to drug their date so they become easy to manipulate and control and have sex with.
It comes in a liquid or as a white powder that is dissolved in water, juice, or alcohol. In liquid form, GHB is clear and colorless and slightly salty in taste. It is notoriously hard to get off GHB and has to be done under strict supervision of medical personnel.
Heroin
Also known as: Big H, Black Tar, Chiva, Hell Dust, Horse, Negra, Smack, Thunder, Dope, China White
Heroin is one of those drugs that has a bad rep even among users. Images of run-down hookers and homeless people looking for their shot instantly come to mind. However, it continues to attract its share of users, especially since the opioid epidemic gave rise to a new group of addicts.
Heroin is an opiate drug processed from morphine and extracted from certain poppy plants. It comes in a white or brownish powder, or a black sticky substance known as “black tar heroin.” It is usually injected, but can also be smoked or snorted.
Drug dealers often cut the heroin with other drugs or substances such as sugar or powdered milk. The user won’t find out about this until using the heroin. By then, he either finds out it is worthless or that this was his last hit and he will die from an overdose.
Ketamine
Also known as: Special K, Cat Valium, Kit Kat, K, Super Acid, Super K, Purple, Special La Coke, Jet, Vitamin K
Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects. Sometimes used to facilitate sexual assault crimes. It can be injected, smoked, snorted or placed in a drink.
Khat
Also known as: Abyssinian Tea, African Salad, Catha, Chat, Kat, Miraa, Oat, Qat, Quaadka
Khat is a plant-based drug that originated in Africa, where it is most commonly used in Somalia. It is a stimulant made from the leaves and twigs, evergreen shrub. Active ingredients are cathine and cathinone.
Users chew on it for long periods of time. It is also used in tea or in food. Users can also smoke it.
Kratom
Also known as: Thang, kakuam, thom, ketum, and biak
Leaves from the tropical tree Kratom in Southeast Asia which causes stimulant and sedative effects in different doses. More commonly abused in the Asia Pacific region than the United States. In pill form it is swallowed or crushed and smoked. It can be brewed as a tea or users chew on the raw leaves.
LSD
Also known as: Acid, Blotter Acid, Dots, Mellow Yellow, Window Pane
LSD is a very strong hallucinogen sold on streets that is odorless and colorless with high potential for abuse. It was used as a recreational drug, but also in (government) experiments. Just ask Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger.
Marijuana
Also known as: Aunt Mary, BC Bud, Chronic, Dope, Gangster, Ganja, Grass, Hash, Herb, Joint, Mary Jane, Mota, Pot, Reefer, Sinsemilla, Skunk, Smoke, Weed, Yerba
One of the most popular drugs around the world and one on the verge of being legalized everywhere. Critics admit the drug itself may not be as dangerous as they say, but warn that it is also a gateway drug that will push users towards more harmful drugs.
Marijuana is a mind-altering psychoactive drug. It is made from dry, shredded, green/brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds and leaves from the cannabis sativa plant. THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main ingredient that produces the psychoactive effect.
Users smoke it as a cigarette or in a pipe or bong. It can also be mixed with food (edibles) or brewed as tea. Since the drug has been legalized in many countries around the world, a new line of products was created. From oils to gummy bear edibles, users can enjoy their marijuana high like they would a harmless sugar high.
Methamphetamine
Also known as: Meth, Speed, Ice, Shards, Bikers Coffee, Stove Top, Tweak, Yaba, Trash, Chalk, Crystal, Crank, Shabu
Cheap and easy to make and hard to stay away from once a person has used it; that’s meth. Made famous around the world by popular tv series Breaking Bad, crystal meth is a highly addictive drug that ravages a user’s body and mind.
Producing low quality meth is easy and cheap and many have done it. It is not without dangers and many have died while trying. Either by blowing themselves up or poisoning themselves by inhaling toxic fumes.
In the United States, the drug was primarily produced and trafficked by outlaw biker gangs and white supremacist gangs. More recently, Mexican drug cartels have taken over production and set up professional labs in Mexico as well as in places in the United States and Europe.
Crystal meth resembles glass fragments and can be smoked, snorted or injected.
Methadone
Also known as: Amidone, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Fizzies, Maria, Pastora, Salvia, Street Methadone, Water
Synthetic opioid prescribed as Methadose® and Dolphine®. Tablet, capsule, and liquid, used for detoxification and maintenance of opioid addiction and as a pain reliever for moderate to severe pain.
Swallowed as pill or liquid or injected.
Morphine
Also known as: Dreamer, Emsel, First Line, God’s Drug, Hows, MS, Mister Blue, Morpho, Unkie
Morphine is a non-synthetic narcotic made from opium. It is most commonly used by medical professionals in the appropriate setting. They prescribed it as Kadian®,MS-Contin®, Oramorph SR®, MSIR®, RMS®, Roxanol®. It is very effective for pain relief, but as is usual with such drugs, it has a high potential for abuse.
Users can take the drugs orally or by injecting it.
Opium
Also known as: Aunti, Aunti Emma, Big O, Black pill, Chandu, Chinese Molasses, Dopium, Dream Gun, Fi-do-nie, Gee, Guma, Midnight Oil, Zero
The granddaddy of heroin. Opium is a non-synthetic narcotic extracted from the poppy plant, made into a liquid, powder or solid. Opium poppy is a key source for many narcotics. Like heroin it can be smoked, injected or taken orally.
Establishments where users could enjoy the drug were known as opium dens. These were popular in the early 19th century. They originated in Asia and quickly spread out around the globe.
Peyote And Mescaline
Also known as: Buttons, Cactus, Mesc, Peyoto
Small spineless cactus with active ingredient mescaline, a hallucinogen. Has disc-shaped “buttons” that are cut off and either chewed on when they are fresh or after drying them first.
Rohypnol
Also known as: Circles, Forget Me Pill, La Rocha, Lunch Money Drug, Mexican Valium, Pingus, R2, Roach 2, Ruffies, Rophies, Wolfies
Another “date rape” drug. Who said drugs were all about fun? Rohypnol is a depressant and benzodiazepine with generic name Flunitrazepam. It is not approved for medical use in the United States. It causes drowsiness, amnesia, sleep, loss of coordination, and relaxes the muscles.
It’s an oblong olive green tablet, which can be swallowed, crushed and snorted or dissolved in liquids. When placed in a light-colored drink, will dye it blue.
Spice/ K2, Synthetic Marijuana
Also known as: Bliss, Black Mamba, Blaze, Bombay Blue, Fake Weed, Legal Weed, Genie, Zohai, Red X, Dawn Scooby Skunk, Snax
Spice is a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. K2/Spice is a mixture of plant material sprayed with synthetic psychoactive chemicals.
It often looks like potpourri and is typically labeled “not for human consumption." The ingredients and strength of products containing synthetic cannabinoids are almost impossible for the user to know. This increases the risk of convulsions, organ damage or even death.
Smoked using “joints”, pipes or E-cigarettes and sometimes mixed with a beverage.
U-47700
Also known as: Pinky, Pink or U4
U-47700, nicknamed “U4,” “pink,” or “pinky,” is a highly potent synthetic opioid that looks like a white or light pink powder. A lot of times, it is often either sold in baggies or pressed into pills to look like legal painkillers. Abuse of this drug is similar to heroin, and prescription and designer opioids.
This drug is usually snorted, swallowed or injected.
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