Kornel

 Drug overdose is one of the most common causes of death, especially in USA. But actually, the most dangerous drugs are not the most lethal ones. Actually lethality of drugs is not the biggest harm which they cause, they may cause a lot of physical and psychological damage without killing the user. By using 16 parameters of how much harm does the most common recreational drugs cause, a group of experts in UK found out that the most dangerous drug to an individual is heroin. Heroin is one of the strongest and the most addictive opioids which by attaching to opioid receptors, create a surge of pleasurable sensations, that actually makes heroin so popular recreational drug. By its strong addictive properties, this substance can destroy the life of the addict, making them completely dependent. The user of heroin starts to feel intense withdrawal symptoms like insomnia, muscle and bone pain, and nausea just a few hours after using.  But actually, by looking also at the harm that dr...

 Ayahuasca is a strong psychoactive drink, which is actually a mix of two hallucinogenic plants with water; Psychotria viridis   and Banisteriopsis caapi. These two ingredients can be found in the Amazonia jungle. The name "ayahuasca" is commonly translated as a "vine of a soul". This substance is considered the oldest psychedelic substance in the world. For thousands of years, people in South America were using it in religious ceremonies, tribal rituals, and even as healing medicine. Ayahuasca is still popular and legal in tribal rituals in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia, where people from all over the world travel to participate in these strange rituals and try ayahuasca. The psychoactive effects of this drink are caused by the Psychotria Viridis plant, which contains a really strong hallucinogenic substance named DMT. After drinking ayahuasca, people experience a lot of realistic hallucinations and sensations, feeling euphoria, but also feel anxiety, paranoi...

Hallucinogens, also called psychedelic drugs are the specific type of drugs that alter our perception, causing strong hallucinations and sensations. Hallucinogenic substances can be found in many plants or mushrooms, but they can also be made by humans. The most popular hallucinogens are LSD, psilocybin (can be founded in mushrooms), mescaline, and DMT (the main component of ayahuasca). They have been used since ancient times by many cultures across the world for their mystical and spiritual associations. Hallucinogens by disrupting communication between our brain's chemical systems, cause weird, unrealistic sensations. The user of psychedelic drugs can hear voices and see images that aren't real, they can have different perceptions of time and colors or mixed sensory experiences, like seeing sounds. Some hallucinogens can be addictive, but they are not the most addictive type of drugs. Many of them are not considered addictive, because they do not cause uncontrollable drug-see...

Today, drugs are used in many different ways. But the most often people use drugs for two purposes. Recreationally, to intoxicate themselves and have fun, or as a medicine, some drugs support the organism with fighting many illnesses. Most of us didn't know that drugs are also used in the military. Apart from using it to help soldiers with injures, relaxation, and socialization, drugs were used in many wars to make soldiers stronger, remain alert, and fight longer. Because of that wars bring with them a lot of addiction cases. When the civil war ended, about 400.000 soldiers were addicted to morphine, which was used there as a painkiller and as a cure for diarrhea. During World War 2 the most popular was amphetamine, which was popularized by germans who were giving it to their soldiers to enhance their energy and performance. The use of stimulants in the military is still a big problem today. It turns out that soldiers actually consume more intoxicating substances than civilians. A...

 Today, most of us have contact with some stimulants on a daily basis. Some of us drink coffee every day, we see people smoking cigarettes on the street, people drinking alcohol in every restaurant on every even small event and we hear about many cases of drug abuse and consumption. But are we the only species on this planet, which likes stimulants? Actually, stimulants were "discovered" by animals first. There's a legend about "the dancing goats" which says that the coffee beans have been discovered in Ethiopia by some goat herder, who saw that his goats are acting weirdly after consuming some red berries with coffee beans inside, they were dancing and running around, curious goat herder decided to try this strange berries he had more energy than ever, and that's how the coffee beans where discovered. In South Africa, local legend says that elephants like to drink slightly fermented juice to intoxicate themselves, and it was researched in 1830 by French nat...