How Bad Are These Drugs Exactly? Ranking the Most Popular Narcotics Based on Their Side Effects

People use drugs for a bunch of different reasons—to curb depression, to increase the experience of listening to music, just to have a good old time. Sometimes, it's because you're up all night, trying to get lucky. Fact of the matter is, drugs for the most part are all bad for you in one way shape or form. It's not a cake walk with drugs, whether they come out of the ground or if they're made in a laboratory. Some are worse than others, though. So, from coffee to meth to weed to molly, here's a list of some of the most common drugs and a ranking of which are the worst based on their side effects. Stay safe kids!

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions here do not necessarily reflect the views of Complex City Guide. This post is not meant to condone the use of drugs.

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Why you like it: Coffee helps you prepare for your work day. It smells delicious and it's the perfect thing to drink with donuts, scones, bacon and eggs.

Side effects: According to Erowid, caffeine makes you focus, increases productivity, decreases fatigue, improves performance during menial and boring tasks, increases gastronomic reflexes (keeps you regular), and increases the production of stomach acid and urine.

Verdict: Coffee really isn't all that bad for you, especially when used in moderation. It can turn addicts into raging lunatics, but it can also help prepare you to put out fires in the work place.

Why you like it: It makes you think that people are interested in talking about those Errol Morris documentaries you watched on Netflix.

Side effects: According to WebMD marijuana can cause “dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, dry or red eyes, heart and blood pressure problems, lung problems, impaired mental functioning, headache, dizziness, numbness, panic reactions, hallucinations, flashbacks, depression, and sexual problems.”

Verdict: If you can get addicted to shopping for clothes or watching porn, you can get addicted to weed. That's just simple logic, but it somehow escapes potheads. Smoking weed is mostly harmless, which is why it's being legalized, but obviously inhaling a fire is not good for your lungs and throat and can cause serious health problems down the road. Other methods, like using a vaporizer, make pot considerably safer. In the end, weed isn't all that bad.

Why you like it: The social lubricant helps you survive small talk with the in-laws, it helps you power through your Tinder date, and it makes food taste better.

Side effects: Side effects include impaired vision, slurred speech, loss of comprehension, staggering, emotional instability, and loss of inhibition. Long-term effects include heart and liver disease, and a beer belly. In 2012, more than 10,000 people died in alcohol—impaired driving crashes—one every 51 minutes.

Verdict: Kendrick was right when he said you don't have to get drunk to have fun. But, alcohol can make you act a true fool. This is dangerous. It really shouldn't be legal, but it's a ton of fun. Keep drinking, bro.

Why you like it: Smoking cigarettes makes you look very European, they give you an excuse to go outside and take a break from work, and it goes great with binge drinking. Also, without coffee and cigarettes, we would never have this scene of GZA, RZA and Bill Murray.

Side effects: According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., causing roughly 480,000 deaths each year. It increases the chances of heart disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and lung cancer.

Verdict: This is a death plant. The top six tobacco companies net about $35.1 billion. It is dangerous, but the widespread industry contributes to the astronomical numbers for disease and death. Do not take tobacco products. Everybody knows that tobacco is bad for you. Cigarettes and snuff are the worst, and yet millions of people still smoke and dip or chew tobacco because people are idiots. Don't be an idiot.

Why you like it: It makes you feel like you're part of a community of hippies that understands the greater meaning of life. You want to feel at one with the universe and see shit that other people can't see. You've also read Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and have listened to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Side effects: According to WebMD, LSD users can experience "vivid images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem real but are not." Users can also experience delusion, psychiatric conditions, increased heart rate and blood pressure. The LSD high can last around 12 hours. Depending on the user, LSD can cause a "bad trip" which triggers terrifying thoughts, which is basically a long nightmare that's not exactly technicolor or neon.

Verdict: Taking hard-core hallucinogenics seems like a pretty bad idea. That's not a pony, it's a motorcycle. That isn't an ocean, it's concrete and you're three stories up. Do not jump. Deaths associated with LSD are rare, and the drug does not cause "life-threatening changes in cardiovascular, renal, or hepatic function." However, the strong hallucinogenic effects are a danger to the user and others. It's not a good look.

Why you like it: Because it's not crack, but also, it pretty much is crack. It makes your heart rate insane and helps you appreciate the full-blown sonic assaults on Yeezus.

Side effects: Users gain energy, alertness, elevated mood, a feeling of supremacy, irritability, paranoia, restlessness, and anxiety. It can cause heart attacks, heart disease, an abnormal heart rate, strokes, sudden kidney failure, and possible death. Crack and cocaine are more similar than Ronald Reagan ever wanted us to believe. More or less, it’s the same drug, taken a different way, that gives a slightly quicker and more intense high.The Washington Post explains, it’s like how “vodka will get you drunk faster than wine.” The cocaine high is relatively short—around 40 minutes when snorted and roughly 20 minutes when smoked—which increases chances of addiction.

Verdict: Cocaine is a drug with serious side effects, but they're not as harsh as expected. Of course, if you take a lot of a drug, you'll die and the short high cocaine offers makes that risk increased. It's also expensive. At least it's not crack, though. (Unless it is crack.)

Why you like it: It makes you happy even though you hate everyone.

Side effects: Gives the user a sense of euphoria, peacefulness, pleasure, self confidence, damages serotonin neurons (natural happy chemical), confusion, depression, sleep problems, anxiety, paranoia, increased heart rate and blood pressure, teeth-clenching, nausea, blurred vision, and of course sweatin'. Possibility of death.

Verdict: People like to praise Molly as more pure than ecstasy, but the shit is basically the same exact drug. The main difference is that Molly may not include weird chemicals intended to clean your bathroom. The worst thing here is that it makes you depressed as an aftermath because your brain has lost its happy juice. That's pretty dangerous. Figure out a better way to enjoy life.

Why you like it: Because your favorite rapper says it's the best way to get high.

Side effects: Euphoria, motor-skill impairment, lethargy, drowsiness, and a possibility of death by overdose. In order to obtain a high, users must take well above the intended dosage. According to The Daily Beast, sometimes the recommended dosage can be exceeded by up to 25 times.

Verdict: It's extremely dangerous to take large amounts of a drug that slows your body down. This is the heroin of rap music and not safe at all unless you're using it to actually get rid of a cough. Considering the fact that doctors prescribe this sedative to people to get them to stop coughing, it doesn't seem like an ideal recreational drug. Maybe just start a bubble bath, light some candles, and read a book if you need to relax that badly. Stay off the purple drank.

Why you like it: You're a fan of Breaking Bad.

Side effects: According to WebMD, the highly addictive drug meth can increase physical activity, increase wakefulness, and decrease appetite in small doses. In high doses, it can increase body temperature to fatal levels and cause seizures. When meth increases heart rate and blood pressure, it can permanently damage blood vessels in the brain, which causing strokes. Methamphetamine users can feel anxious, confused, violent, develop serious psychological effects, such as paranoia, and hallucinations.

Verdict: The health risks associated with methamphetamine are vast, and the cosmetic risks, "damage to gums, teeth," make it "risky" at the very, very least. It will fuck up your face. Not a good look, bro.

Why you like it: You've seen Trainspotting and it makes you feel like you're floating around like that trash bag from American Beauty.

Side effects: Heroin is known to cause euphoria, sedation, dizziness, vomiting, constipation and death. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention heroin related deaths in 2010 reached 3,094 in 2010, Heroin can cause death by respiratory failure. It can also cause death due to overdose. Heroin users find an increase in tolerance and end up taking dangerous amounts to obtain a desired high.

Verdict: Heroin is not a joke. It’s astounding that people make it out of using this alive. You will die. This shit ain’t safe.