Street Smarts is a section detailing about the dangers of nightlife, how to keep yourself out of trouble, and some wise tips in getting around D.C. Here are some thoughts to make sure that everyone has a safe and fun time downtown. Click the images below.

• Do not accept a drink from a stranger unless you have watched the bartender make it. There is a small chance it could be drugged or poisoned to make it easier for you to be raped or robbed.
  
  
• Understand that hard liquor and mixed drinks are much stronger than beer or wine. A few shots of something like Goldschlager or straight vodka or a few glasses of mixed drink can be equal in their intoxicating effect to three, four, or even five beers. Also, understand that shots are taken so quickly that it may take a little while for you to feel their full effect. This is why many people who do shots drink too many of them even though they didn't feel they were pushing their limit at the time. At many bars and clubs, there are a few drinks for which the number that can be sold to a single person is limited. Usually among these are Zombie, Long Island Iced Tea, and Kamikaze. The reason behind this is that these mixes are incredibly potent and three or four of them is enough to make the average person quite drunk. Drinking a large amount of liquor in a short time can sometimes lead to a person becoming ill or even dying.
  
  
• Do not put a friend who is passed out or vomiting compulsively to bed. Most people think this is the right thing to do, but, it can be deadly. A person who has become un- or semi-conscious from drinking, especially if he/she has been getting sick, should be placed on their side with their head elevated and watched over as long as possible. Anyone who has passed out from drinking has consumed a dangerous amount of alcohol and this can lead to poisoning. A person who chokes on his own vomit while he/she is sleeping or immobile can die from asphyxiation.
  
  
• Know your limit when it comes to drinking. And don't force others to exceed their own limits. Not everyone handles alohol the same way. Generally, large people handle it better than small ones, men better than women, and experienced drinkers better than newbies. What could lead to a pleasant, tipsy feeling for you could lead to misery for someone else.

• Understand that all illegal drugs, even marijuana, are illegal and therefore, if you are caught with them, you are subject to criminal prosecution. Every time you possess drugs, particularly in a public setting like a club where there are lots of cops around, you are risking arrest. Being caught with certain substances or certain amounts of substances could translate into you serving hard time.
  
  
• Please realize that, despite what the Say No To Drugs camp that we all grew up listening to in the '80s tried to tell us, you cannot lump all illegal drugs together because they are not the same. Some are extremely addictive (heroin, cocaine, crystal meth), some have to be taken a certain way (ecstasy users must drink water to ward off dehydration or heat stroke, anything that is snorted is done so in tiny increments, usually enough to fill a lady's pinky finger), some carry a significant risk of overdose (heroin, ketamine), and some have a more powerful or frightening-looking intoxication than others(PCP can literally make people psychotic, ketamine users often fall into immobile, catatonic states and communicate internally with "alien" beings or have out-of-body experiences, heroin and GHB often make people pass out or "nod off"). So, just because you have smoked a little weed in your life, do not think that means you can handle something else.
  
  
• If you are thinking about trying a drug, learn about it. And, I'm not talking about asking your buddy at the club before the deal goes down. Read, surf the net, ask serious questions of experienced users and, find out the legal penalties involved well before the situation even comes up. Also, if you are trying something new, it would be wise to have someone with experience with you. They can let you know that that pinky full of cocaine is enough instead of standing by your grave three days after you Hoover down a whole gram. *Please do not mix drugs, including alcohol. Especially remember that two drugs with roughly the same effect, like Valium and alcohol or cocaine and speed, are most likely to give you problems or even kill you because they either lower or elevate your heart rate to dangerous levels.
  
  
• Realize that almost all drugs have at least some negative side effects. For example, ecstasy can cause jaw clenching and teeth grinding and leave you with a mild to moderate depression 2-3 days after use, heroin often makes people vomit during use and get diharrhea when they're coming down, and methamphetamine can leave you unable to sleep for days. Hedonism comes at a price.
  
  
• Never buy drugs from someone who comes out and offers them to you. At the very least, they could be counterfeit and at the worst, they could be a substance your body cannot handle.
  
  
• Understand that you could be sold something under a false label. There are, for example, many accounts of people being sold ketamine advertised as ecstasy.
  
  
• So that you are not fooled, here is a short list of some of the more commonly abused illegal drugs on the club scene and their nicknames and associated slang.
  
  
  1. MDMA- "Ecstasy", "E", "X", "The hug drug". Being high on ecstasy is sometimes referred to as "Rolling" or "Groovin'". Ecstasy comes in many different "brands", with some of the more common being "Mitsubishis", "Doves", "Hearts", "Dolphins", "Elephants", and "Tweety Birds".
     
     
  2. COCAINE- "Coke", "Powders". Cocaine is usually sucked up through the nose or "snorted" from a fingernail, a miniature spoon, or from fine "lines" separated out on a flat surface, often a mirror.
     
     
  3. KETAMINE- "K", "Special K". Ketamine is usually snorted in tiny portions called "bumps" from a fingernail a key, or something else with ridges. When someone falls into a dissasociative state after doing a large amount of ketamine, it is called a "K hole".
     
     
  4. MARIJUANA- "Weed", "Pot", "Method", "Bud", and many more. Marijuana is usually either smoked out of a small white cigarette-type thing called a "joint", a fat cigar called a "blunt", a small pipe called a "bowl", or inhaled from a tube contraption called a "bong". To get high on marijuana is sometimes referred to as "smoking up", "puffing", or "getting stoned". Marijuana is often "laced" or spiked with other drugs, such as PCP or cocaine.
     
     
  5. LSD- "Acid". LSD is usually licked or absorbed through the skin off of a tiny tab of "blotter paper". To be under the influence of LSD is to "trip". Combining LSD and MDMA is called "candyflipping".
     
     
  6. GHB- "Liquid Ecstasy" "Date Rape Drug". GHB almost always comes in the form of a clear liquid that is often mistaken for water.
     
     
  7. METHAMPHETAMINE- "Meth", "Speed". To be high on methamphetamine is to "tweak". A meth addict is a "tweaker". A potent, crystallized form of methamphetamine is "crystal meth", also called "crank" or "glass".
     
     
  8. HEROIN- "Smack", "Horse", "Junk", "H" and many more. On the club scene, heroin is usually snorted, but, sometimes it is "mainlined" or injected with a syringe. Falling into a dreamful sleep after taking heroin is called "nodding". A heroin addict is often reffered to as a "junkie". Mixing heroin and cocaine is called "speedballing"