The Effects of Stimulants on Your Consciousness
             A stimulant is a drug that stimulates your body and mind activity. Some of the most commonly used stimulants are caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, and Ecstasy (MDMA, methylenedioxyamphetamines). Out of the above listed caffeine is the most widely used and has very mild side effects. Caffeine is found in coffee, teas, soda, and chocolate. Since we all know a lot about caffeine I will not be discussing it. However I will be covering my two personal favorites (just joking), cocaine and Ecstasy.
             Cocaine is a highly addictive stimulant derived from Coca leaf found in many South-American countries. Cocaine can be injected, smoked, snorted, taken orally or free-based. Upon using the user receives an extremely euphoric feeling that usually lasts about a half-hour. Cocaine-induced euphoria is precipitated by blocking the normal flow of the chemical messenger dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that carries messages from one nerve cell, or neuron, to another or from one functional section of the brain to another. This neurotransmitter is associated with body movement, awareness, judgment, motivation, and pleasure. Dopamine flows from neurons into the synapses, or spaces between neurons, to form a temporary link that serves to transmit signals between neurons. Then, normally, after it has transmitted its signal to the neighboring neuron, it vacates these spaces, returning to the same neuron that released it in a recycling process called reuptake. Dopamine moves from the synaptic gap back inside the neuron by attaching to transporter molecules on the neuron's surface. Cocaine, however, attaches to the same transporter binding sites as dopamine. This means that, when cocaine is introduced,
             dopamine cannot bind to the dopamine transporter and is stranded in the synapses. Thus, cocaine's blocking action leads to an increase of dopamine levels in the synapses that
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