What it is mixed with: Illegal drugs are not always what they are sold as. For example, some people have bought dog-worming tablets or fish tank cleaning tablets thinking it is ecstasy. Drugs sold in powdered form are often mixed with other powders of similar appearance. Washing powder has even been used. These ´decoys´ can have negative effects on your body. On the other hand, if drugs are sold in their pure form, they can be too strong and cause overdose. Some drugs are sold in place of the drug that has been requested. Some people have been given heroin in place of cannabis for example. If two drugs are mixed or if the wrong drug is taken while drinking alcohol, the effect can be fatal. All in all it is a very risky business. You never quite know what you are taking, or how much. How often it is taken: Obviously, the more often you take a drug the greater the risk, not only to your immediate health, but also in terms of becoming drug dependent in one way or another. Many people begin taking drugs just to try them out, or perhaps use them just when they go out, never thinking they will become dependent upon them. But just when you think you are in control, suddenly it is the drug that is doing the controlling. Dependency on drugs seriously affects your life. How it is taken: Some methods of taking drugs vastly increase the risks. Drugs may be sniffed, snorted, eaten, swallowed, drunk, smoked or injected. Of all these injecting is the most dangerous method, and introduces additional risks of infections entering the body, such as HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C. Also, injecting substances which are intended to be swallowed, or substances which have been mixed with something else, can cause abscesses and ultimately loss of limbs, and can put your life at risk.