Nitrous Oxide ingested as whippets, is also abused by students, according to Dawn Mielke, a physician with Student Health. These drugs directly and indirectly pose a danger to the student's health. Most of the immediate fatalities from drugs are caused by cardiovascular or central nervous system complications. They may also stop breathing altogether, and that of course leads to a very quick death, within five minutes. A significant problem that can result in physical damage is that many drugs are cut, or diluted, with other substances.
People inject sawdust into their arms thinking it is heroin.
Lowery said this problem is worsened by the fact that many Emory students are unable to recognize when a drug has been altered. I think our population is particularly susceptible to get duped into taking something that they don't know what's in it. Other medical consequences of drugs include psychotic episodes which may require a student to be temporarily committed to the psychiatric ward, Moore noted. He added there has been an increase in the occurrence of drug-induced psychoses this year. Lowery remarked that there is another group of patients who may not experience direct physical harm from drugs but do still put their health and life in jeopardy.