Essay On Cocaine Vs Amphetamine

Drugs can be categorized into various types ranging from stimulants to depressants. Heroin is categorized as a type of opioid drug that usually appears as a white powder. Cocaine is a very addictive stimulant drug that produces short term bursts of energy and has dangerous effects such as raising the heart rate. Alcohol is classified as a depressant drug because it slows down the central nervous system causing a decrease in reaction time and intellectual performance. LSD is referred to as a hallucinogen drug for the effects it produces on the mind. The prescription drug known as Prozac falls under the category of antidepressant as it is meant to treat depression.
The name LD50 is an abbreviation for Lethal Dose fifty percent or median lethal dose. It is the amount of the substance required to kill fifty percent of the test population. …show more content…
However cocaine is a metabolite which takes much longer to get cleaned out from the body. There is also benzoylecgonine which is the main metabolite of cocaine. Many factors come together in order to determine how quickly it gets cleared from the body.
The use of cocaine and amphetamine will result in both similarities and differences in terms of the toxicity that they produce. The use of cocaine results in simulations or convulsions as well as cardiac arrest or paranoid psychosis. This increases the irritability and restlessness of the user. The amphetamine causes paranoia, increased feeling of power and sleep deprivation.
Methamphetamine and amphetamine are both very similar and different in their chemical makeup as well as the behavioral effects that result in usage. Methamphetamine is very similar to amphetamine except for the fact that methyl has been added to the basic amphetamine structure. The addition of methyl seems to make the molecule cross the blood brain barrier therefore increasing the potency of the