Glossary
2-CB
A synthetic hallucinogen. Produces milder hallucinations than LSD, but stronger ones than ecstasy. Has very strong effects on the body – either a pleasant body high or an unpleasant body load. Often sold as ecstasy in the USA – this may or may not take place in New Zealand.
Amphetamines
A class of drugs that have stimulant effects. Ecstasy and methamphetamine are types of amphetamine. Amphetamine can also be used to mean amphetamine sulphate.
Amphetamine sulphate
A type of amphetamine. Commonly sold as 'speed'.
Body high
Feeling of physical pleasure caused by some drugs. Dosage dependent, in that a user taking too high a dose is likely to experience a body load instead.
Body load
Unpleasant sensation caused by some drugs. Similar to the feeling of being drunk or hungover or having a cold or flu.
BZP (Benzylpiperazine)
One of the key ingredients in social tonics. Illegal in the USA and Australia. Has a stimulant effect that is intended to be similar to the effects of amphetamines – providing users with energy and reducing fatigue. May also enhance talkativeness and feelings of well-being.
Class (of drugs)
Under New Zealand law, drugs are classified as either Class A, B, or C. The classification depends on their potential to cause harm, with A being the most serious, and including drugs such as heroin, LSD and (recently) methamphetamine. Class B includes drugs such as ecstasy and amphetamine, and Class C includes cannabis. Police have greater powers to act against drugs with higher classifications, and penalties for possession, supply or manufacture of higher Class drugs are greater. This explains the recent re-classification of methamphetamine (and attempts to re-classify ecstasy). The Misuse of Drugs Amendment (No 3) Bill proposes the creation of a Class D, for substances carrying the risk of minimal harm, which would include BZP. The classification laws still carry anomalies, notably the classification of MDEA at Class C, equivalent to cannabis, while MDMA is Class B and MDA Class A. It is difficult to see these classifications as consistent – the law essentially says that the difference between MDEA and MDA is equivalent to the difference between cannabis and heroin.
Cocaine
A stimulant. Effects are broadly similar to those of methamphetamine, though much shorter lasting. Cocaine also induces an intense feeling of personal prowess.
Crystal methamphetamine
Manufactured from powder methamphetamine in the same way that crack is manufactured from cocaine. Smokeable. Gives an intense, but short-lived, high. Highly addictive. Known as P in New Zealand (though 'P' can also mean regular methamphetamine).
Crystal rock
Identical to crystal methamphetamine and ice. Media reports have wrongly identified it as a new substance.
Dance party
The generic term used by this bibliography for raves, club nights, dance parties and similar events. Essentially an event at which predominately electronic dance music is played, mainly by DJ's but with some artists performing live. They often last all night when they take place in clubs or indoor venues, but may go on for several days when they take place outdoors. Many attendees consume drugs such as ecstasy, P, and BZP to enhance the experience and to enable them to dance for hours at a time.
Designer drugs
An imprecise term sometimes used to refer to synthetic recreational drugs (as opposed to those derived from plants, such as cannabis, cocaine, and opium, or those with medical uses such as heroin). The term should properly only be applied to those drugs that have been created to circumvent legal restrictions on other drugs. Laws banning drugs traditionally banned drugs by name. Manufacturers could therefore create new substances, which were chemically similar, but not identical, to banned drugs. The new substances would have similar effects to the illegal ones, but would be legal. Such drugs are termed designer drugs, because they have been designed to get around the law. The term is now essentially meaningless, as the wording of drug laws has changed so that novel derivatives of already illegal drugs are also considered illegal. The term is misapplied to mean synthetic recreational drugs, especially, perhaps, those used by non-traditional drug users (professionals, the middle-class, ravers). Possibly because 'designer' is being used in the same sense as 'designer clothes', to indicate something fashionable and expensive. (See Henderson 1988)
Ecstasy (MDMA)
An illegal empathogen and entactogen which has both stimulant and (mild) hallucinogenic properties. Sold pressed into pills, which typically are 'branded' with well-known logos or symbols (car logos, such as Mitsubishi and Ferrari, are one example). (In other countries, especially the USA, it may be sold as a powder, possibly inside gel caps). It can prevent fatigue, enhances energy, provides feelings of well-being and intense love towards and empathy with others, whether strangers or friends, and a body high, as well as enhancing talkativeness. Side effects can include increased irritability, heightened blood pressure and heart rate, dilated pupils, involuntary teeth-grinding and a body load. Long-term effects can include paranoia, depression, memory loss and (rarely) psychosis. The high typically lasts for 4-6 hours (increasing the dosage will only extend this a little), and may be followed by 2-3 days of enhanced mood followed by a “comedown” in mood lasting another 2-3 days (so much so that the term “Suicide Tuesday” has entered the vocabulary of some users, to refer to the depressed feeling often experienced on a Tuesday or Wednesday after using ecstasy on the weekend.
A tiny minority of users have died from ecstasy, due to conditions such as heatstroke, water intoxication, or the consumption of a combination of drugs. Because of its illegal status it is difficult to tell whether a drug sold as ecstasy is in fact MDMA. MDA and MDEA are closely related substances. MDA is considered to have more hallucinogenic effects and lasts longer. MDEA is somewhat weaker, and may have a more 'intoxicating' effect – users may lose coordination or be less likely to want to dance. It may also induce weaker feelings of emotional closeness than MDMA does.
Ecstasy carries some risk of addiction, though usage tends to peak a few months after first usage, and then decline over time.
Electronic dance music (sometimes EDM)
Music characterised by the use of synthesisers and drum machines, repetitive rhythms and beats, often with no or few vocals, often lacking the structural elements of a conventional song (verse, bridge, chorus), and often several times longer than the conventional 3-minute pop song. Records are typically mixed into each other by a DJ playing two or more records at once, and the DJ may slow down, speed up, or repeat elements of a given record. The effect is that each DJ creates something new when they play. Genres include house, drum 'n' bass, and techno.
Empathogen
A drug that causes feelings of empathy and love.
Entactogen
A drug provoking the desire to touch and be touched, physically and emotionally.
GHB (Gamma-hydroxybutyrate)
Known as fantasy (in New Zealand only), and sometimes called 'liquid ecstasy', though chemically it is unrelated to MDMA. Produces feelings of well-being and relaxation. A central nervous system depressant. Has been known to cause users to pass out or (in extreme cases) stop breathing. This has caused several deaths. Legal in New Zealand until 2002.
Hallucinogen
A drug that causes perceptual distortions or hallucinations, which may take a visual, auditory, olfactory or tactile nature; and may be experienced as either pleasant or unpleasant by the user (depending on mood and environment).
Harm reduction
An approach to health promotion in relation to drugs (or sexuality etc). Recognises that people will choose to take drugs, and aims to minimise the potential risk by providing advice on safe use. In the case of ecstasy this would involve advising users to keep cool, to drink water regularly, etc. Harm reduction is the dominant approach to drug policy in New Zealand and most other Western countries. Compare just say no.
Heroin
A depressant that causes feelings of well-being and relaxation, as well as a body high. Very addictive. Typically injected. Health risks include contracting disease through sharing needles, and the risk of overdose as the strength of the drug varies from batch to batch.
Herbal highs
See Social tonics.
Ice
Crystal methamphetamine. Media reports have wrongly described it as a ‘new’ drug, distinct from P. Ice and P are the same substance (although P can also mean non-smokeable methamphetamine).
Just say no
An approach to health promotion in relation to drugs (or sexuality etc). Takes the view that abstinence is the only effective way of avoiding harm. Therefore advises individuals not to take drugs, full stop. Often based on a moral belief that drug use (or sexual intercourse) is morally wrong. Just say no is the dominant approach to drug policy in the United States, where it is linked with a more punitive approach to drug users and suppliers. Compare harm reduction.
Ketamine
An anaesthetic and dissociative drug used in medicine (typically on animals, though New Zealand is among the countries where it is approved for human use). When used recreationally it has hallucinogenic effects. Not actually illegal, little is known about long-term effects.
LD 50
Lethal dose 50. The dosage of a drug that has been determined to be lethal to 50% of the population.
Legal highs
See Social tonics.
LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)
A hallucinogen. Relatively common in New Zealand since the 1960s. Produces visual and auditory hallucinations (users see and hear things that are not actually there). Can produce feelings of happiness. High typically lasts for up to 12 hours. Unlikely to cause addiction or serious physical effects, but overuse can cause mental problems.
MDA (Methylenedioxyamphetamine)
See Ecstasy
MDEA (methylenedioxyethylamphetamine)
See Ecstasy
MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine)
See Ecstasy
MDxx
Term used to indicate any of the variants of ecstasy – MDA, MDEA, or MDMA.
Methamphetamine
An illegal stimulant related to (but stronger than) amphetamine sulphate. Sold as a powder, and either inhaled, swallowed, or smoked. Known sometimes as speed, sometimes as P, sometimes by other names.
P
New Zealand slang term for methamphetamine. P is supposedly “pure” methamphetamine, although users have no obvious way to determine this, or whether it has been “cut”. There is no one set definition of P – some consider it to be a very pure version of methamphetamine (methamphetamine was traditionally sold at about 10% purity and called speed; P is considered to be anywhere from 60% to 100% pure methamphetamine). Some consider it to mean only the smokeable version of methamphetamine (crystal methamphetamine). Some consider it to mean either.
Smoking P greatly enhances the effects (both positive and negative) of the drug. It prevents fatigue, enhances energy, provides a feeling of well-being and a body high, as well as enhancing talkativeness. Side effects include increased irritability, heightened blood pressure and heart rate, dilated pupils, involuntary teeth-grinding. Long-term effects can include aggressiveness, paranoia and psychosis. The high can last for days (if repeated doses are taken) and is typically followed by a “comedown” in mood which is generally short-lived but unpleasant (paranoia is a common feature of this comedown). Addiction is a high possibility in frequent users.
Psychoactive
A drug that affects the brain.
Rave
See Dance party.
Social tonics
Currently legal (in New Zealand) stimulants consisting of a combination of BZP (and sometimes TMFPP) with other substances (pepper extracts, caffeine, etc). Intended to produce effects similar to either methamphetamine or ecstasy, but without the same negative side effects, risk of addiction, risk of death, and legal problems. There are a variety of brands on sale in New Zealand, with different mixtures of BZP, TMFPP and other ingredients. Effects tend to include enhanced feelings of well-being, talkativeness and sociability, as well as enhanced energy and an inability to sleep. Raised blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature are also common, and dehydration can occur. Nausea is relatively common (especially if the drugs are mixed with alcohol), and some users have reported anxiety attacks, or 'comedowns', low moods in the days following use.
Stimulant
A broad term for the drugs that enhances energy and reduces fatigue. Includes cocaine and amphetamines (including ecstasy and methamphetamine). Could also be considered to include social tonics, and even caffeine.
TMFPP
One of the active ingredients in some brands of social tonics. It is intended to mimic the effects of ecstasy, and enhance feelings of sociability and well-being in the user.