Flakka Drug: What It Is, Effects, and Nicknames

DEA labeled flakka a Schedule 1 drug, which means there’s no currently accepted use of it in the U.S., Forbes reported. Flakka is increasingly sending users to rehab and the emergency room, the Miami Herald reported. A new drug that gives people superhuman strength, but leads to violent delusions, is gaining attention.

Likewise, adverse effects become increasingly likely with higher doses and may include addiction, severe injury, or death ☠. A treatment center will attempt to verify your health insurance benefits and/or necessary authorizations on your behalf. Please note, this is only a quote of benefits and/or authorization. We cannot guarantee payment or verification eligibility as conveyed by your health insurance provider will be accurate and complete. Payment of benefits are subject to all terms, conditions, limitations, and exclusions of the member’s contract at time of service. Unlike most drugs in this class which simply have an excitatory effect on the central nervous system, this one also has psychoactive effects, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the zombie drug.

Detection in body fluids

Not only does the drug sit on neurons, it could also destroy them, Hall said. And because flakka, like bath salts, hang around in the brain for longer than cocaine, the extent of the destruction could be greater. Despite the DEA’s efforts to ban flakka, the drug is still being manufactured and sold illegally, often through online vendors.

• However, unlike other stimulants like cocaine or methamphetamines, there is a psychoactive component to α-PVP.
• Flakka blocks a user’s dopamine and norepinephrine transporter proteins from functioning properly in the brain.
• The result of the cellular products and proteins released during rhabdomyolysis and dehydration can impair the filtering function of the kidneys, leading to renal failure and death.
• Emergency visits linking back to Flakka abuse increased tenfold in the last year.
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After effects

Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse at Nova Southeastern University, told NBC News. It is sold as pink or white crystals (“Gravel”) and may be swallowed, snorted, injected, or vaporized in e-cigarettes. The what is flakka drug wikipedia information contained on this website is not intended to be a substitute for, or to be relied upon as, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. It has the molecular formula of C15H21NO, a cathione that is structurally related to methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and pyrovalerone.

Both chemicals have been known to affect the body’s dopamine and norepinephrine level. Withdrawal can be very painful and uncomfortable, and it is important be under medical supervision so that the symptoms are monitored and managed. Scientists have shown that Flakka is as addictive as bath salts in rodent studies, however. Even after the scientists made the drug difficult for the rats to obtain, they persisted in pushing a lever several times that administered the drug if they failed to get it from the scientists first. The effects of the comedown from Flakka (the period when the drug leaves the body) include fatigue and depression.

Flakka Effects

For those unfamiliar with flakka, here’s what you should know about the designer drug, its make-up and what it can do to a person. An inpatient benefits from around-the-clock monitoring and treatment, and also keeps them away from the sources and stressors that result in drug use outside. Outpatient treatment is best for people who cannot put a stop to their everyday lives or may prefer to stay at home.

Short-Term Effects of Flakka Use

Flakka is dose-specific that even a minute amount will give the user his desired effect. Motivational incentives offer rewards to patients who remain substance-free. Flakka is a dangerous drug that has many bad side effects, mostly including changes in behavior or mood. Flakka was also very inexpensive, costing as little as $5 for a dose. This caused people most at risk, poor desperate drug addicts and homeless people, to use it instead of more expensive drugs like cocaine or methamphetamines. It is a more potent inhibitor of DAT and NET than the classical stimulants cocaine and amphetamine.

The high feeling that one gets after using flakka can last up to three hours. Flakka is part of a group of drugs referred to as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). They are made to imitate other illegal drugs like LSD, ecstasy, and cocaine. If you or a loved one are struggling with mental health or substance abuse, we can help.

Because one can buy Flakka for as little as three dollars a dose, the target market is typically young, poor people looking for an easy high. While it can be purchased online, it’s unclear if the designer drug has made its way into Canada yet. Health Canada says that cathinone is in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and therefore illegal. In another incident, a Palm Beach resident stood from a rooftop, waving a gun. He was naked and shouting that he was hallucinating, according to the Broward Palm Beach New Times.

In the case of flakka, the new chemical is called alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone or alpha-PVP. Drug users take flakka to get a feeling of euphoria, a heightened sense of awareness, stimulation, and energy. In the United States, flakka is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs are defined as substances with a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.

• Individuals with flakka overdose were isolated to a few geographic regions of the country.
• Flakka, a street name for the inexpensive and dangerous “designer drug” Alpha-PVP, is one such newcomer.
• For individuals trying to stop abusing flakka drugs, it can be hard to do so due to withdrawal symptoms.
• These urine drug tests are called a bath salt drug test kit or Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) urine drug test.
• In many states, the use of flakka drug rapidly rose, before crashing just as fast.
• When someone is addicted to flakka, they can experience withdrawal symptoms without it.
• Ark Behavioral Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs.

On the other hand, flakka costs $5, whereas one gram of cocaine can approximately cost up to $80, and most Individuals like the homeless, some college students cannot afford cocaine. They, therefore, opt for flakka, which stimulates a relatively long and intense high. It is also reported that flakka is ten times more powerful than cocaine.

We are dedicated to transforming the despair of addiction into a purposeful life of confidence, self-respect and happiness. We want to give recovering addicts the tools to return to the outside world completely substance-free and successful. Ark Behavioral Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs. As with other stimulant drugs, Flakka greatly increases the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This trips the brain’s reward pathway, causing a euphoric high and priming a person to feel cravings to repeat the experience in the future. While terminology varies, and those who purchase illicit drugs can rarely be 100% sure of the product they purchase, Flakka generally refers to Alpha-PVP, a specific synthetic cathinone.