1.3 The Use and Abuse of Drugs Flashcards
What is a drug?
A substance which alters the chemical reactions in your body so that they become addicted to it and suffer withdrawal symptons without them
What are new drugs tested for?
Toxicity, efficacy and dose
What are the stages in new drug testing?
- In laboratory using cells and tissues
- Live animals
- Clinical trials
What does testing drugs on live animals acheive?
You can find out:
- If the drug works
- How harmful it is (its toxicity)
- The best dosage
What are the steps in clinical trials? Explain them
- Healthy volunteers. In order to find harmful side effects with a healthy body. A very low dose is given which is slowly increased
- Volunteers suffering from the target illness. The optimun dosage is found
- Double Blind trials. patients are split into 2 groups. One is given the new drug and the other is given a placebo. The patients and the doctors don’t know which drug is which. This allows for the placebo affect and for doctors being subconciously influenced by their knowledge.
What are statins used for?
Lowering the risk of heart and ciculatory disease.
What was thalidomide intended to be used for?
A sleeping pill
What was thalidomide found to be useful for?
Relieving morning sickness
What did thalidomide cause?
Abnormal limb development in fetuses
What is thalidomide being used for now?
Treatment of leprosy and some cancers
What are the effects of smoking?
- Disease of the heart, blood vessels and lungs
- Cancer
- Addictive
What are the effects of alcohol?
- Slows down bodies reactions, nervous system
- Poor coordination
- Liver disease
- Brain damage
- Addictive
What can cannabis cause?
Mental illness
What has the greater health impact? legal or illegal drugs
Legal drugs because more people use them
How are performance enhancing drugs prohibited?
Some are banned by law, some are available on prescription, all are banned by sporting regulations
