i'm about to state the obvious, but i feel if you need to ask, it needs to be said.
"legal highs" are far, far riskier to take than otherwise "illegal" drugs. there are many reasons for this.
for one, as previously stated, you don't know what's in them.
this means that you can't make an informed choice in regard to dosage, what's safe to mix with it (for example if you get anxious and want to take a benzo or have a beer - is it safe? who knows?!) and of course if things get heavy and you have to present to the emergency room, they're not necessarily going to know how to help you. at least the 'mainstream' illicit chems on the (black) market are fairly well-known to medical professionals.
also, the 'old-school' drugs (i'm talking amphetamine, mdma, cannabis, lsd, shrooms, coke, opiates etc) have all been used by people (legally or not) for decades, if not millennia. even if not totally 'safe', they are at least well understood.
the same cannot be said for "legal highs".
"legal highs" are also referred to as "research chemicals" - not because they have been researched, but because they have
not.
who is researching? well, the people who take them, of course.
a lot of these substances have only been very, very recently created.
i came across an academic journal called "drugnet europe" (newsletter of the european monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction) earlier this year.
its front-page article was a story about how "new psychoactive substances are becoming widely available at an 'unprecedented pace'" - and notes that in the year 2010, 41 brand new drugs entered the european
market. this is quite a staggering amount - the largest recorded yearly increase in history.
i'd be surprised if the figures don't continue to rise, but anyway - what this means is that there are dozens of substances being sold and consumed that have not been tested. not on animals, not on people, not in laboratory trials - not in any way.
will these cause strange side effects? will they have extremely toxic metabolites?
only time will tell, i suppose.
now, research chemicals that are ordered online are pretty risky.
but even riskier is purchasing packaged, branded chems online that do not even tell you what the active ingredients are.
at least if you know you are taking mdpv or whatever, you can read other people's reports and heed any warnings you come across. it is possible to make an informed decision about consuming research chems.
if you're just buying "ivory wave" or whatever (to use an old, media thrashed example), you have a lot less to go on.
sure, you can read other people's reviews; but how are you supposed to know if they're legit or just trying to peddle their mysterious random shit?
i'm not saying not to take "legal highs", but just try and be as informed as you can before you order or consume something.
personally, i tried a couple of pills from a well known jovial "herb" vendor a few years ago when these things were still fairly new on the market. i've tried some heinous poor-man's-drugs in my time, but this was easily the worst.
the thing with stimulants is that they tend to put you on edge. even some of the best and smoothest (cocaine and meth) can be a bit jarring and edgy.
but when you're taking some random ecstasy-lookalike pill, advertised as giving you a "buzz" or whatever - it is very, very unlikely to be smooth. or pleasant.
the things i had were horrible - i felt wired, odd tingly sensations; but not right. i wanted it to end, and it didn't. what rang alarm bells for me was that i went to sleep after a night out, and it was
still there when i woke up, i could still feel it. not my idea of a good time.
i have no idea what this shit was, but i vowed never to touch that crap again.
a lot of these vendors are just cashing in on people's desire to get high but not break any laws.
i feel sorry for people that are lead down these routes because they don't have the social connects to score better drugs. "legal highs" aren't even necessarily cheaper - in the case of kronic, it was even more expensive that real pot.
if you did have access to the "tried and tested" drugs, you'd be mad to choose "legal highs" stimulants. if you don't have sources for drugs, just keep trying. obviously we can't even give you any tips on how to source illegal drugs, but there are many ways to meet those sorts of people. be creative
now, i don't know if this thread is a wind-up or something, but if you're going to take legal highs / research chems, PLEASE do your homework if you want to avoid jeopardising your mental and physical health.
also be aware that many of these drugs are not actually legal, so you may be committing an offence by ordering/importing them.
be safe, and remember that information is power. read as much as you can - don't just take one person's word as truth (especially 60 minutes!!!)
