Rave, drugs, a fatal attraction

New Delhi: Pune’s big rave party made headlines this week, with the police making an unprecedented round of arrests. And it is not just Pune, rave parties are notorious for drug users and abusers.

Club drugs including ecstasy are usually thought to be relatively harmless. They are meant to improve your mood and help you keep dancing all night.

However, the flipside lies in side effects including paranoia, amnesia, nausea, hypertension, and of course, hallucinations.

“The psychogenics that we see in the hospitals is when the addicts get into hallucinations,” says director, critical care. Fortis, Dr Amit Varma.

Another commonly abused drug is LSD or acid immortalised by rock stars. It is however, slightly less glamorous in real life. Acid can be taken in the form of tablets, capsules, and liquid or on absorbent paper.

It causes unpredictable behaviour and can have severe side-effects including numbness or weakness, nausea, increased heart rate, lack of appetite, as well as flashbacks and even sleeplessness.

Mixing club drugs with alcohol is also a serious concern. It can rapidly lead to dehydration, among other effects. But this is something that doctors in Indian cities are seeing more of.

““The patients who show up in the hospitals are the younger spending group,” says Varma.

And there are also long-term health issues to worry about as well including an impaired memory, anxiety and depression.

Sometimes all it takes is one hit for a fatal reaction.

(With inputs from Amrita Tripathi)

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