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"My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get'"-Forrest Gump

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"My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get'"-Forrest Gump

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Opiates (which can include heroin, oxycodone and hydrocodone) combined with alcohol or benzodiazepines (which include Valium and Xanax) can lead to someone seeming more incapacitated. They may appear sleepy, have slurred speech or be off-balance.

Stimulants combined with alcohol or opiates can result in someone seeming less intoxicated, which can result in further consumption of drugs and alcohol.

MDMA (also called Molly and Ecstasy) combined with marijuana can cause paranoia and unexpected hallucinations.

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Combined drug intoxication (CDI)

Polydrug intoxication

Multiple drug intake (MDI)

Co-occurring drug intake

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Celebrities and Combined Drug Intoxication

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Celebrities and Combined Drug Intoxication

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Futures of Palm Beach FL Addiction Treatment, Rehab, and Detox Center

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The dangers of drug addiction are well detailed and documented, but that still doesn't stop thousands, even millions of people, from experimenting with controlled substances. The thrill of the illegal activity and the powerful sensations brought on by stimulants and psychoactive drugs keep a billion-dollar, multinational enterprise well oiled. For some people, though, simply taking a drug - or even a lot of a drug - isn't enough. So deep into the throes of their addiction that even a regular high isn't enough for them, they look for ways to make the experience even more intense and even more powerful.

One such way they can do this is by combining two or more drugs together, in what is known as poly-drug use. Poly-drug use and the inherent addictions can still be treated, but they are even more lethal than "standard" drug intake.

Why Do People Mix Drugs?

Given that there is a wealth of information to educate people on the dangers of simply taking drugs, what would compel someone to actually take a combination of drugs?

To answer this question, it's important to understand the effect that drugs have on the brain. Once smoked, snorted or injected, they are quickly absorbed into the blood and carried to the brain, where they trigger the release of dopamine. Dopamine is a hormone that is naturally associated with rewards and pleasure. When we do something we enjoy - exercising, eating a good meal, or having sex - we feel good. That sensation is the brain releasing dopamine, which we mentally associate as a reward. When we are presented with a future opportunity to engage in this pleasurable activity, we remember how good it made us feel, and we are tempted with the knowledge that we will feel good again, all because we made that association: activity to reward to pleasure. For a sober, non-addicted person, the brain reabsorbs dopamine, and our mood and thoughts go back to normal. Drugs and alcohol work by preventing this reabsorption, hooking the user into taking more of the substance to prolong the feeling. However, with drugs like cocaine, the effect diminishes with every hit, so users can either try to score more cocaine, or they can mix the drug with another drug or substance to make the high last longer, or to try to recapture the feeling of the first hit. Another way that someone can think poly-drug use is a good idea is because drugs and related substances lower inhibition. Cocaine is known for making users more sexually promiscuous and prone to taking risks, and one such risk is overlooking the very real danger of mixing drugs in favor of increasing the euphoric high. In an environment where drugs are in abundance, a user might feel peer pressured to partake in more drugs, overriding any concerns about mixing substances. A third reason drugs are mixed might actually be to mitigate the effects of harder substances. Marijuana, known for inducing a lethargy and drowsiness, is sometimes smoked to ease what's known as the "comedown" - the gradual declination of the drug high - of cocaine or Ecstasy. More dangerously, some drug users take Xanax (a muscle relaxant and sedative) when trying to control the high they receive from methamphetamines.

What Are the Risks of Poly-Drug Use?

While standalone drugs carry their own risks, combining substances adds even more risks and side effects. Cocaine and alcohol together can cause cardiotoxicity, weakening the heart and preventing it from effectively pumping blood around the body. The danger with using alcohol and other stimulants in combination is that the stimulants recreate feelings of sobriety, meaning that users may not feel high or intoxicated, even though the substances are having the expected physiological effect. Similarly, the alcohol can obscure the signs and effects of a drug overdose, prompting the user to continue to take the substances because he or she is oblivious to any of the warning signs. Not all poly-drug use is with the intention of achieving new levels of a drug high. The effects of Xanax (the brand name for alprazolam) are comparable to those of alcohol, leading some people to combine the two in the hope that their calming, tranquilizing effects will be doubled. Instead, Xanax and alcohol together drastically slows down the brain, impacting other vital bodily functions, such as blood pressure, temperature, breathing rate and heart rate, and putting the addict at grave risk of death.

Learn More+

If users attempt to combine stimulants and depressants - Xanax and methamphetamines, as mentioned above, or Ritalin and heroin, Adderall and Percocet - the effects on the heart can be devastating. Stimulants tell the heart to speed up, and depressants try to slow it down, putting the addict at risk for heart failure. Users often make the mistake that the two substances will cancel each other out, letting them enjoy the effects without feeling any of the consequences. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Similar to combining stimulants with alcohol, stimulants with depressants can mask the effects of an overdose, leading the user to feel that he or she is in the clear to take more of the combination. Other side effects of mixing stimulants and depressants could be:

Respiratory failure, due to nasal and lung tissue being destroyed

Blood circulation problems, resulting from the effect the combined drugs have on the heart

Uncontrollable mood swings

Fatality, in extreme cases of poly-drug abuse

One of the most well-known combinations of stimulants and depressants is mixing cocaine and heroin, a process known as "speedballing." As with other stimulant and depressant mixes, the drugs both work in tandem, but the user does not feel the effects, believing that they can continue to take one or both of the drugs. This culminates in an opioid overdose, a decrease in breathing because of the damage done to the user's lungs and nasal passages (respiratory depression), and ultimately death.

How Popular Is Poly-Drug Use?

Most of the people who abuse drugs do so in combination with other substances. Throughout the 1980s, more than half the people pulled over for drunk driving in large American cities were found to have at least one other substance in their system. In an Australian study, 71 percent of users of the drug Ecstasy (the colloquial term for the drug MDMA) reported using methamphetamines in conjunction with Ecstasy, as well as engaging in heavy drinking. And in 2002, the US Department of Health and Human Services found that over 50 percent of all admissions to public drug treatment facilities were due to addictions to multiple substances, including but not limited to:

Alcohol: 76 percent

Marijuana: 55 percent

Cocaine: 48 percent

Opiates, such as Vicodin, Codeine and Demerol: 27 percent

Other drugs: 26 percent

Treating a Poly-Drug Use Habit

A complication in weaning someone off the multiple drugs they take is that treatment programs are usually specific to one form of addiction. Detoxification, the long "forced withdrawal" process, may be necessary to break a user's physical dependence on one drug before psychological and/or psychiatric programs, that would address the reasons behind the user's mental and emotional need for drugs, can be started. Despite the extreme dangers of a poly-drug habit, patients can be effectively treated. At Futures of Palm Beach, we offer a widespread therapeutic regimen that is specifically tailored to our patients' needs. Our staff will work closely with patients and their families to develop a comprehensive and exhaustive program that examines the reasons that led the patient to experiment with and abuse drugs, and from there, construct a way back to health and recovery. Call our toll-free number today to begin the process of healing.

Paying for Treatment at Futures

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Poly-Drug Use- Best Inpatient Drug Rehab Center in Florida

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The dangers of drug addiction are well detailed and documented, but that still doesn't stop thousands, even millions of people, from experimenting with controlled substances. The thrill of the illegal activity and the powerful sensations brought on by stimulants and psychoactive drugs keep a billion-dollar, multinational enterprise well oiled.

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Problems with treating poly drug abusers

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Problems with treating poly drug abusers

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A complication in weaning someone off the multiple drugs they take is that treatment programs are usually specific to one form of addiction

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US Department of Health and Human Services found that over 50 percent of all admissions to public drug treatment facilities were due to addictions to multiple substances, including but not limited to:

Alcohol: 76 percent

Marijuana: 55 percent

Cocaine: 48 percent

Opiates, such as Vicodin, Codeine and Demerol: 27 percent

Other drugs: 26 percent

https://www.futuresofpalmbeach.com/addiction-treatment/addictions/poly-drug-use/

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A film commissioned by Oxfordshire DAAT, to highlight the risks of mixing drugs and alcohol.

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A clip of one doctor's explanation of the dangers of mixing prescription drugs. Mixing prescription drugs creates synergism or an exaggeration of each drug's effects. The result often is severe and can lead to death.

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Users are more resistant to help. Higher levels of addiction often mean more resistant addicts. The saying “the first step is admitting you have a problem” is true and those who aren’t open to getting help usually won’t. Unfortunately, many polydrug users will die before they reach that point.

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Drugs play off one another to cause heightened reactions, as well as more addictive dependency. Combining drugs often makes quitting any of them more difficult to accomplish

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"If we're at home we'll usually just smoke ice and have a few drinks, maybe some pot later to sleep."

"Sometimes if you have a bit of K with a pill it enhances it or you have a bit of G with a pill, there's so many different combinations."

"On Saturday night I had everything except cocaine and heroin. I started off smoking Ice, then got to the party and took 5 pills then I had ½ a gram of K and then I had vials of G before I went home."

"If someone offered me speed I would probably take it as well. I can't say I've ever said no to someone offering me drugs."

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/phd-npi-methamphetamine-report-feb09-l~polydruguse

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What Mixing Different Substances Can do to Your Body

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What Mixing Different Substances Can do to Your Body

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http://www.narconon.org/drug-abuse/polydrug/reports.html

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Here are reports on polydrug abuse covering why it's so dangerous, death rates and patterns of use among teens and adults and some of the effects of polydrug use.