Drug Streetname: Silver Bullet

Piperazines

Category: Stimulant

Also know as:

BZP, Fast lane, Happy Pills, Party Pills, Pep, Silver Bullet, Smiley’s

Summary

Piperazines are a broad class of chemical compounds used widely in human and veterinary medicines. The best-known recreational stimulants are BZP (Benzylpiperazine), TFMPP, DBZP and mCPP, which mimic the effects of ecstasy. They are also used in industry to make plastics, resins, pesticides, brake fluid and a variety of materials and products. Some piperazine compounds act as effective worming agents for pets and farm animals.

How it is taken

BZP can come in different coloured pill form and is also sold as an off-white powder, in capsules and as a liquid. It is therefore usually swallowed.

Effects

The stimulant effects of BZP are similar to ecstasy but dose for dose BZP is not as potent. Effects can last for 6 – 8 hours. With decreased appetite and sleeplessness. Users often suffer a severe hangover-like reaction that can last for up to 24 hours.

Risks

Short term:

Agitation, vomiting, stomach pain, fits, irregular heart rhythms, diarrhoea, allergic reactions and fever have all been reported.

Long term:

BZP is a stimulant drug, which makes it particularly risky if taken by anyone suffering from high blood pressure or heart condition. Perfectly healthy young people can have a fit or heart attack after taking stimulant drugs. And you may not know that you have a pre-existing heart condition.

Mixing BZP with amphetamines (like ecstasy and speed) and alcohol can be very dangerous. In rare cases users may suffer from serotonin syndrome, which can cause high blood pressure and may be fatal.

Legal Status

Benzylpiperazine (BZP) and related compounds such as mCPP, DBZP, TFMPP and others are Class C controlled drugs. This means that it is against the law to possess them, to give them away or to sell them. Possession can get you up to two years in prison and/or an unlimited fine. Supplying someone else, even your friends, can get you up to fourteen years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.

Legal Highs

Category: Depressant, Hallucinogen, Stimulant

Also know as:

5-IAI, Bath Salts, Dimethocaine, Eric 3, MDAT, New Drugs, New Psychoactive Substances, NPS, Silver Bullet

Summary

New psychoactive substances (NPS), often known as ‘legal highs’ or ‘illegal highs’, are substances designed to produce the same, or similar effects, to drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy, but are structurally different enough to avoid being controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act. In the past they were often sold in the shops as research chemicals and advertised as ‘not for human consumption’ to get round the law. In some cases, NPS are just as dangerous as controlled drugs.

NPS are normally sold as powders, pills or capsules. The powders can range from white to brown to yellow in colour and from flour-like to little crystals in consistency. While the pills and capsules can range in size, shape and colour.

The smoking mixtures tend to come in colourful packaging, often with labels describing the contents as incense or herbal smoking mixture, and the contents look like dried herbs or plant cuttings. Although they look herbal, they are actually plant material sprayed with potent chemicals.

How it is taken

NPS tend to be snorted or swallowed, but there have been reports of some people injecting NPS, which is the most dangerous way of using. NPS smoking mixtures are either smoked in a ‘joint’ or by using a pipe/bong.

Effects

`The main effects and risks of almost all ‘psychoactive’ drugs, including NPS, can be described using three main categories:

  • stimulants
  • ‘downers’ or sedatives
  • psychedelics or hallucinogens.

Whilst drugs in each of the categories will have similarities in the kinds of effects they produce, they will have widely different strengths.

Stimulant NPS act like amphetamines (‘speed’), cocaine, or ecstasy, in that they can make you feel energised, physically active, fast-thinking, very chatty and euphoric.

‘Downer’ or sedative NPS act like benzodiazepines (drugs like diazepam or Valium), and like cannabis or GHB/GBL, in that they can make you feel euphoric, relaxed or sleepy and reduce inhibitions and concentration, making you feel forgetful, and slowing down your reactions.

Psychedelic or hallucinogenic NPS act like LSD, magic mushrooms and ketamine. They create altered perceptions and can make you hallucinate (seeing and/or hearing things that aren’t there). They can also induce feelings of euphoria, warmth, ‘enlightenment’ and being detached from the world around you.

Risk

One of the difficulties around NPS is that we can’t say for certain what’s in the product. Even when we can, the chemical may not have been used for human consumption before and its short or long-term effects are likely to be unknown. There has been limited research into the short, medium and long- term risks of the various NPS. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that they are far from harmless and can have similar health risks to drugs like cocaine, ecstasy and speed.

Risks of NPS include reduced inhibitions, drowsiness, excited or paranoid states, psychosis, hallucinations, dizziness, sickness, overheating, coma and seizures. Many NPS have been directly linked to emergency hospital admissions and, in some cases, deaths. Risks and side effects are increased if used with alcohol or other drugs. One type of substance can also be much stronger than another and this has often led to accidental overdosing.

Stimulant NPS can make you overconfident and disinhibited, and can induce feelings of anxiety, panic, confusion, paranoia and can even cause psychosis. They can put a strain on your heart and nervous system. They can affect your immune system so you might get more colds, flu, sore throats or infections. You may feel quite low for a while after you stop using them.

‘Downers’ can make you feel lethargic, or forgetful, and can make you physically unsteady and at risk of accidents. They may cause unconsciousness, coma and death, particularly when mixed with alcohol and/or with other ‘downer’ drugs. Some people feel very anxious soon after they stop taking ‘downers’, and if a severe withdrawal syndrome develops in a heavy drug user, it can be particularly dangerous and may need medical treatment.

Psychedelic or hallucinogenic NPS can make you hallucinate. Some strong hallucinatory reactions (‘bad trips’) can lead to the person acting erratically, sometimes without regard for their safety. Some psychedelic drugs create strong dissociative effects, which make you feel like your mind and body are separated. Both of which can Interfere with your judgement, which could put you at risk of acting carelessly, dangerously, or hurting yourself or others, particularly in an unsafe environment.

Legal status

It is an offence to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, import or export (including over the internet) any psychoactive substances. Possession of a psychoactive substance is not an offence, except in a ‘custodial institution’ such as a prison or young offenders institution. Supplying NPS to someone else, including your friends, or buying them from internet sites based abroad to be delivered here, can mean you can get a prison sentence and/or a fine. The maximum custodial sentence available in a solemn prosecution under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 is 7 years.

Talk to us

Talk to one of our advisers free and confidentially today or find help and support near you.