What are drugs?

A drug is anything that causes a change in how your body works or how you think. Some drugs are legal – like alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and most medicines. While legal, there are usually still some laws around their use – like minimum age requirements, only being able to buy a certain amount at a time, or needing a prescription from your doctor. However, there are many more drugs that are considered unsafe and addictive which have been made illegal to discourage people from taking them and so that people who make or sell them can be stopped. 

You might have heard of drugs being categorised into ‘classes’. This is roughly based on the harm they can do to your body and consequently, on the penalty you could face if you’re found with them on you. There are two different penalties: for possession, which means you’re using the drug in question, and for distribution, where you’re providing it to others. Be aware that distribution even covers you buying drugs for a friend, and that police can charge you with distribution if they think you’re carrying too much for your personal use. 

Class A drugs are the most dangerous available. These include, heroin, cocaine, methadone, ecstasy/MDMA, LSD, methamphetamine, fentanyl and magic mushrooms. You can get up to seven years in prison for possession and a life sentence if you plan to give or sell them to someone else. 

Class B drugs include amphetamines, cannabis and synthetic cannabis-like drugs, ketamine, mephedrone and similar drugs and barbiturates. Possession is punishable by up to five years in prison, while distribution carries a sentence of up to fourteen years. 

Class C drugs usually have a legitimate use in medicine but are considered illegal if you don’t have a prescription. These include drugs such as benzodiazepines (a type of sedative, such as diazepam) and anabolic steroids. Distribution is still punishable by up to fourteen years in prison, but possession carries a sentence of up to two years in prison if you don’t have a valid prescription or reason for use. 

You also might have heard of so-called ‘legal highs’. These are synthetic drugs that are made to mimic the effects of illegal drugs, and new ones can be developed faster than laws can be changed or written to ban them. A law came out in 2016 to prevent the sale of any psychoactive substances, that is, anything that alters how your brain works to cause a change in mood or perception. Supplying any substance not already covered by drug classes but that acts like a drug are punishable by seven years in prison. 

No drug is completely safe to take or misuse. The reason most drugs are illegal or controlled is because they pose some kind of danger to your health. 

The actual drug content can vary wildly from one dose to the next, because of bad manufacturing or being diluted with other substances, so you can never be entirely sure what exactly you’re taking. 

Drug overdose or misuse causes around 16% of all deaths in people under 40, and deaths due to drug use are increasing every year, because the strength of the drugs being sold keeps increasing.

Not every drug being sold is what it’s claiming to be. The Loop, a charity which tests illegal drugs at festivals and events, finds that an average of 10% of the drugs they test turns out to be something completely different from what they were sold as.