Drugs are a part of almost everyone's life. Most people take, or at one time has taken, vitamins, aspirin, or cold relief medicine. These drugs, however, rarely produce an altered state and aren't considered psychoactive.
Psychoactive drugs are those that influence a person's emotions, behavior, and perceptions. If you've ever had a cup of coffee or a beer, you've taken a psychoactive drug. However, most psychoactive drugs are more harmful. Psychoactive drugs can be broken down into four classes.
Stimulates are drugs that cause a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscular tension. Caffeine is the most common stimulate. The major effects of caffeine are an increase in attentiveness and a decrease in reaction time. People can even build up a biological dependence on caffeine.
Other, more harmful, stimulates include cocaine and amphetamines. These drugs produce increased confidence, mood enhancement, and a sense of energy and alertness. A person under the influence of these drugs may also have a decreased appetite, experience anxiety, irritability, and insomnia. With either of these drugs if taken in too large a quantity death can occur.
Depressants, on the other hand, have an adverse effect. Depressants reduce anxiety, create dramatic mood swings, slow mental and physical functioning, and sometimes produce bizarre thoughts of suicide. Alcohol is the most common depressant, and the drug used by more people than any other drug. According to those who use alcohol it releases tension and stress and gives them feelings of happiness. However, as doses increase people may feel emotionally and physically unstable. They also show poor judgment, speech impairment, and may act aggressively. If enough alcohol is consumed in a short time, a person can die of alcohol poisoning. .
Other depressants can be classified as barbiturates. These are frequently prescribed be physicians to induce sleep or to reduce stress.