Meth is a very serious stimulant that can cause tolerance then addiction very fast for some people. Many drug users prefer meth because the euphoria and other effects last for quite a long time compared to a lot of other street drugs, sometimes as long as 12 hours. Not only can a person become addicted to meth easily this drug destroys a person's health, appearance, and eventually their life if they don't get help. Most people who abuse meth frequently are in need of intense treatment because this is one street drug that's not easy to overcome when you're addicted to it.

At one time the local production of methamphetamine in North Carolina was a bigger problem than it is now. Even though local meth labs are declining in North Carolina when it's apparent someone's cooking meth their Law Enforcement sees to it that it's shut down. Crystal meth is referred to as 'ice' among drug dealers and many meth users in North Carolina. Ice that's produced in Mexico is easily found in North Carolina in the bigger metropolitan areas of the state and is beginning to increase in the rural areas.

Cocaine is another very powerful street drug that is used to get high that's easily found in North Carolina. Crack cocaine is a form of cocaine that's preferred by many cocaine users because it's easily found, smoked, and doesn't take long to create euphoric effects. In rural towns and in the bigger cities crack cocaine isn't very hard to find.

Cocaine no matter what form is very addictive and causes serious mental and physical health issues for anyone that abuses this drug. Not only can cocaine use cause addiction but it can lead to a heart attack or stroke among other serious health problems. In spite of the serious consequences involved with cocaine use people still use this stimulant drug and the demand is high in many areas throughout the United States so illegal cocaine drug trafficking isn't going to stop.

Fortunately the use of heroin isn't very prevalent in the state of North Carolina. There are a few areas where heroin is problematic but not a big problem throughout the state. Heroin is a very dangerous and addictive drug and in many other states, is widely abused. Even though heroin use isn't extremely prevalent in North Carolina there are some that do abuse the drug and eventually get caught.

Some of the drugs that fall into the 'club drug' category include GHB, LSD, and Ecstasy, these drugs are primarily abused by young people and many college students throughout the United States. Ecstasy is very popular among young people especially when used at rock concerts, dance clubs and party scenes. Young people like the fact that using ecstasy helps them stay awake and they feel much less inhibited or self-conscious. If a person continues to use ecstasy on a frequent basis they can become addicted but fortunately many don't because of the unpleasant side effects of the drug. Never the less, ecstasy is a dangerous drug and there are many young people in North Carolina that ecstasy use is popular among.

The use of marijuana is very high in North Carolina as it is throughout the United States. There isn't a problem finding marijuana in North Carolina either between local sources and cannabis that's smuggled across the border from Mexico and brought into the state. Out of all drugs of abuse, marijuana is the most commonly abused in the state of North Carolina.

As in many states marijuana is illegally grown by some people for their own personal use and for intentions to sell. Illegal grow operations in North Carolina are sometimes discovered and fortunately shut down.

Medications that are prescribed for the managing pain like Vicodin and OxyContin are becoming drugs of abuse among young and older people and are extremely addictive and dangerous when misused. Medications that are used to treat anxiety and problems sleeping are also being abused to get high. Abusing prescription drugs are dangerous enough by them self but there are a lot of people that combine them with other drugs or alcohol to intensify the effects and risk serious health consequences including death.

North Carolina as well as many other states has a monitoring program to help monitor these controlled substances called PDMP. A PDMP is an electronic prescription drug monitoring program to help monitor and deter prescription drug abuse and diversion.