During the first week of April The Nebraska DRE sent out a request, via the National DRE e-mail service, asking Drug Recognition Experts from around country what drugs are they seeing most frequently in their evaluations. The edited responses provide readers interesting information on drug trends around the nation.

According to our drug busts, and the results of blood tests from fatal traffic wrecks, the three most common drugs here are (in order of prominence) marijuana, cocaine and benzodiazepines (prominent in blood test results as opposed to drug seizures). Up and coming is methamphetamine, which is becoming more popular here.

Here are a few drug trends from around California:

Liquid and crystal PCP is popular. The crystal PCP is sprinkled onto a marijuana, or parsley, and hand rolled cigarette. The crystal PCP has no odor, and only a small amount is needed to get high. Officers should be aware in order to get a positive presumptive field test for PCP, the substance needs to be isolated and separated. The contents of the cigarette may have to be removed, to locate these small crystal PCP flakes. Testing just the marijuana, or parsley, may not give a positive presumptive field test for PCP. Caution should be taken when separating PCP cigarettes (liquid or crystal), and officers should use protective gloves and glasses.

We often see methamphetamine that is cooked up to look like rock cocaine. Although it will look like a piece of rock cocaine the presumptive field test will be negative for coke. If there is a negative test for cocaine, officers should do a presumptive field test for amphetamine. When there is a shortage of cocaine, drug dealers will rock up methamphetamine, to keep their business going, and staying alive by not selling bogus dope.

A popular combination is hand rolled marijuana and cocaine cigarettes. Street names used are cavi or cavy (champagne and caviar). The marijuana is sprinkled with cocaine and rolled into a cigarette. Most everyone arrested is willing to cop-out to smoking a marijuana joint, since there is such a big push to decriminalize the drug. DRE officers will observe additive affects. Before the presumptive field test is performed, the hand rolled cigarette contents should be removed and examined for small white pieces of cocaine or methamphetamine.

We are seeing heroin being used by spraying it into the nostrils or utilized by suppository. It is often administered via a hypodermic syringe, with the needle removed. The heroin addict relates that they cook up the dope as usual and spray it instead of injecting. The benefit is that there are no recent puncture wound and less risk of AIDS.

We see heroin, methamphetamine and rock cocaine about 99% of the time. Due to our large geographical area of the county and over 20 patrol stations, I can only speak for the Temple Statioin territory.

In the City of Los Angeles cocaine is probably the #1 drug, with heroin and methamphetamine not far behind. The old speedball (heroin and cocaine) is the most common "hard drug" combination

Here in San Diego (downtown metropolitan area) the order of abused drugs is rock cocaine, methamphetamine and tar heroin.

The primary drug of choice around here is methamphetamine (speed, glass and crank). It is most commonly found "combined" with "marijuana", but due to the high levels of THC in some of the MJ (such as Crypt and or Chronic) we are seeing a decrease in this type of "combo". Several "speed" users have advised the high level THC from of MJ "stimulates" and therefore defeats the purpose of using it as a "Combo".

We are starting to see an increase around here with the use of Depressants such as "Soma" (Carisaprodol) and Valium. It appears some teenagers have been going south of the border (Mexico) to obtain these drugs and are taking them with a couple of beers so that they enhance the feeling of "drunkenness" without a "hangover".

Recently we have also seen quite a few MDMA, (Ecstasy) LSD and GHB (Gamma-HydroxyButyrate) influences and possessions.

A large amount of my influence evaluations are for methamphetamine. The methamphetamine is often found in combination with marijuana, alcohol and occasionally heroin. By far the drug of choice for San Bernardino County is methamphetamine.

Just methamphetamine and marijuana here in the city. We are however, starting to have problems with "legal drugs" especially Methadone, as addicts may use three or four days' worth in a single day.

The usual drugs of choice that were seeing in Des Moines are methamphetamine, and marijuana. Occasionally we do see the cocaine, and sporadically PCP and cannabis in combination.

Here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, I have encountered marijuana, cocaine (Crack and Powder), and methamphetamine most often. I also know that a segment of our population is using heroin, and another segment is using a lot of inhalants. There seems to be a lot of geographical specificity when it comes to the drug of choice, and I work in the Western suburbs most of the time.

I think you know that you can count us in for methamphetamine and marijuana! Some things never change.

In Salem the most common drugs I'm seeing is methamphetamine, marijuana, and tar heroin. We occasionally see cocaine but it's not nearly as popular as the methamphetamine. If you go 40 miles north to Portland Oregon, you get a lot more crack cocaine. We get some, but not much, crack cocaine here in Salem. PCP is almost nonexistent here and what little we see is usually brought here from Southern California. Marijuana is very big here, as Oregon seems to be a huge grower of quality weed. I get cannabis signs that look almost identical to methamphetamine indicators, including HUGE pupils.

I personally am seeing more and more prescription drug evaluations. Most of these are for Prozac, although a few have been for Xanax. Of course, marijuana is still quite popular.

In our Department it has been a close tie between marijuana and methamphetamine in our assessments. Many evaluations are a combination of the two drugs.

Roughly 70 to 80% of our evaluations involved marijuana, either by itself or in combination with other drugs. Methamphetamine and cocaine are also very popular.

I am interested in printing supplementary data from around the state, and nation, concerning current drug trends. What drugs you are encountering? Send your responses to cmatson@radiks.net or mail The Nebraska DRE at 13531 Redwood St., Omaha, NE 68138.

Inside our Brain neurotransmitters travel between the neurons to route tiny electrical signals, until all the connections needed to process and store a message is made. This allows us to see an image, hear a sound, have a thought, or feel a sensation.

Neurons that crave glucose, mediate balance, and regulate the perception of time; colors and sounds, have receptors that easily bind with THC. When the THC binds with those neurons there is a distortion in the brain's information processing system. The marijuana users' perception of time will be altered, sounds will be amplified, and there will be a disfiguring of visual images.

The "high" a cannabis user feels is the intracellular signals of the THC with the brain receptors. Continued use of marijuana will lead to a tolerance of the drug. In order for the user to get his or her "normal" high they will need more and more of the drug.

The THC will suppress the neurons of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is where short-term memories are processed and sent to other areas of the brain for storage.

This speaks to the fact that regular cannabis users often appear to lack the ability to learn and to remember the events that lead to their arrest.

Are adults in denial about the amount of drugs juveniles are using? According to a national study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America the baby boomers generation grossly underestimates how often their kids are exposed to drug usage.

A recently released survey by the Partnership reveled the following:

• Among parents, 21 percent thought that their children could have experimented with marijuana; 44 percent of the teens said they actually had.
• Among parents, 33 percent thought that their kids viewed marijuana as harmful; among teens, 18 percent - less than one in five - felt that smoking marijuana was risky.
• Among parents, 43 percent believed that their teens could find marijuana easily; 58 percent of children said pot was readily available.
• Among parents, 45 percent felt that their teen had a friend who smoked marijuana; 71 percent of the teens said they had a friend who had used marijuana.

When we breathe our lungs are taking in needed oxygen, and eliminating carbon dioxide. When the human body slows down and becomes tired it does not effectively purge the body of carbon dioxide and your brain, via the nervous system, sends the signal to yawn. When you yawn you're taking in an expansive breath of oxygen-rich air and eradicating the over abundance of carbon dioxide.

Sometimes just seeing another person yawn, or reading about yawning, can make you yawn.