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Getting Off Doda: Why It's Not Worth The High Tuesday January 27, 2009 CityNews.ca Staff On Monday, we told you about a dangerous and easily available drug called doda being sold in some stores that cater to the South Asian community. The substance is derived from the same poppy plant that produces heroin or opium and while its relative is far less well known, it's no less dangerous. There are so many insidious things about doda that the danger is multiplied. The fact that it seems to be relatively cheap and easy to obtain is one concern. So is the reality that many people don't realize it's illegal in Canada and they can go to jail or face hefty fines for possessing or using it. Unlike the other derivatives, which can require a needle or smoking, it can be easily used in public without detection by simply dissolving the powder in water and carrying it around like a soft drink. But of all its hazards, the biggest remains how addictive it can be. Getting high on doda is easy. Getting off it isn't. That's something a former addict we'll call "Bob" found out the hard way. "You feel good and you don't get tired easily," he recalls. "You can work 12-14 hours, no problem." But the euphoria and the energy was quickly replaced by dependence. And like all drugs, he needed more and more of it to make it keep working. Fed up, Bob finally took steps to get himself into treatment. But what followed were days of agony as he purged the substance from his system. The drug is one of the hardest to kick both physically and psychologically. Withdrawal symptoms can occur within six to eight hours after the last ingestion, with the worst symptoms setting in within two to three days after removing the drug from an abuser's system. It can take a full week or more to get over the flu-from-hell-like reaction your body will go through to detoxify. And almost every moment will be agony. Among the symptoms: * Dilated pupils * Watery eyes * Runny nose * Yawning * Loss of appetite * Tremours * Panic * Chills * Nausea * Muscle cramps * Insomnia * Stomach cramps * Diarrhea * Vomiting * Shaking * Profuse sweating * Irritability * Jitters That's just a small list and doesn't include the craving for the drug, which may never entirely disappear. Bob recalls feeling like he was dying as he tried to kick it. "Your body is in so much pain," he recalls. "Like all the time, that's all you're thinking about all the time. You try to get off it but it won't let you get off." Dr. Stephen Black of the Malton Medical Group has treated Bob and other members of the GTA's South Asian community. But he's noticing a disturbing change. "It's spreading right into a different sector of the population. I heard a few days ago that some of the non-Indian kids out there have started to buy it too. Which really worries me." Bob's advice to those thinking of taking the drug? You'll live to regret it. "Whatever I have been through, I don't want people to go through that," he laments. "Don't even think about taking it once ... Because if you take it once, I'm 100 per cent sure you'll take it next time." And that will lead to a lot more next times that will inevitably cost you dearly.

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