Ice, the comedown and overdose risks Coming down from ice is ‘living hell’, according to Ashton from Perth. Ashton used ice intravenously for four years, and says he often relied on other drugs, like benzodiazepines, cannabis, and opioids to combat the comedown.
“After you’ve been awake for four, five, six, however many days, you need something to take the edge off. It’s like torture; your body aches, your brain is scrambled. You need something to help you down after you’ve been awake for a while,” he says.
who use drugs like to get the combined effects to get more and more out of the high,” Shane says.
Ashton isn’t alone – polydrug use is common for people who use drugs, and it’s a dangerous practice that significantly increases the risk of overdose, says National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) researcher, Professor Shane Darke.
“One of the most dangerous of these combinations is mixing depressant drugs - like opiates and benzodiazepines - with methamphetamine. Depressant drugs reduce respiration, whereas when you’re using a stimulant like meth, your heart needs more oxygen. So, essentially, you’re sending two conflicting messages to the brain and the body doesn’t know how to react.”
“Polydrug use is the norm for almost all people who use drugs. It’s very rare people will stick to just one drug. People
The number of people overdosing on methamphetamine has doubled in the past seven years, an NDARC study has
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