B1.3 The Use and Abuse of Drugs

Question 1

What are drugs?

Answer 1

Substances that interfere with the chemical reactions occurring in the body - sometimes for the better, sometimes not

Question 2

What can the chemical changes caused by drugs lead to? What happens if the drug isn’t taken?

Answer 2

The body becoming dependent on the drug (addicted) and if the drug isn’t taken, an addict can suffer withdrawal symptoms

Question 3

What are the three different types of drugs?

Answer 3

Medicinal, recreational and performance-enhancing drugs

Question 4

What are medicinal drugs used for? How can you get them?

Answer 4

They are medically useful, like antibiotics. Some need a prescription because they can be dangerous if misused, but others don’t need a prescription

Question 5

What are recreational drugs used for?

Answer 5

For fun

Question 6

What are performance-enhancing drugs used for?

Answer 6

To improve a person’s performance in sport

Question 7

What are examples of performance-enhancing drugs? How do they help? (2)

Answer 7

Anabolic steroids - increase muscle size making the athlete stronger
Stimulants - increase heart rate so glucose + oxygen are transported to muscles faster giving them more energy

Question 8

What negative health effects do performance-enhancing drugs have?

Answer 8

Steroids can cause high blood pressure and stimulants can cause an irregular heartbeat

Question 9

Are performance-enhancing drugs illegal?

Answer 9

Some are, some are prescription-only, but all are banned in sports

Question 10

What ethical problems are there with performance-enhancing drugs? (3)

Answer 10

Unfair advantage, athletes may be unaware of the health risks and whereas athletes from wealthier countries can afford them, poorer countries can’t

Question 11

What ethical arguments for performance-enhancing drugs? (3)

Answer 11

It’s the athletes body, they can do what they want, drug-free sport isn’t fair anyway, different have better training facilities so drugs make it fairer and it avoids athletes being punished from taking a drug which they were not aware of

Question 12

What process does a drug need to go through in order to be released to the public? (5)

Answer 12

Laboratory testing - Testing on cells and tissues, live animal testing
Clinical trials - Placebos and blind/double-blind trials

Question 13

When testing a drug, what happens in the first step in laboratory testing?

Answer 13

The drug is tested on human cells and tissues, this doesn’t test how the drug affects the whole body

Question 14

When testing a drug, what happens in the second step in laboratory testing?

Answer 14

The drug is tested on live animals, to see how harmful it is and what the best dosage is - in Britain, the drug must be tested on at least 2 mammals

Question 15

What ethical problems are there in the second step of testing a drug in a lab? (2) Why is it still done?

Answer 15

People think it is cruel to test drugs on animals and others think it’s pointless as animals are so different from humans - but it is the safest way to test a drug

Question 16

When testing a drug, what happens in the first step of the clinical trials?

Answer 16

The clinical trials, the drugs are tested on healthy human volunteers to test if they have any harmful side effects, it starts a low dosage and slowly increases

Question 17

When testing a drug, what happens in the second/third of the clinical trials?

Answer 17

After the clinical trial, the drug is tested on a sufferer of the illness - the optimum dose is found

Question 18

When testing a drug, what happens in the fourth step of the clinical trials?

Answer 18

Placebos, a group of patients are given the drug, another is given a fake version of the drug which doesn’t actually do anything, this is to test if the drug actually has benefits or if it is useless

Question 19

When testing a drug, what happens in the fifth step of the clinical trials?

Answer 19

Clinical trials are blind, the patient doesn’t know if they are getting the drug or a placebo - clinical trials are often double-blind which means neither the doctor or patient knows if it is a placebo or not, this is to assure that the doctor isn’t influenced by their knowledge

Question 20

What is the importance of testing a drug?

Answer 20

A drug needs to be tested thoroughly to know if they are safe or not.

Question 21

Can you give an example where a drug wasn’t tested properly?

Answer 21

Thalidomide was originally intended to be a sleeping pill, but it was found effective in relieving morning sickness in preg’ women - this use wasn’t tested properly and it was later found the babies were born with birth defects e.g. no arms

Question 22

What is difference between illegal ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ drugs?

Answer 22

Hard drugs are usually more addictive and harmful than soft drugs - but these are not scientific descriptions

Question 23

What can recreational drugs cause?

Answer 23

Heroin, E and tree can all cause heart and circulatory system problems

Question 24

Why do people take recreational drugs? (4)

Answer 24

Relaxation, stress relief, enjoyment, inspiration

Question 25

What is the progression of soft drugs to hard drugs?

Answer 25

Weed is a ‘stepping stone’ - it creates effects which create a desire to try harder drugs
Weed is a ‘gateway drug’ - it brings people into contact with drug dealers
Genetics - some people are more like to take drugs

Question 26

What examples are there of legal recreational drugs?

Answer 26

Nicotine, alcohol and caffeine

Question 27

What effects does smoking have on a person’s health? (3)

Answer 27

Disease of the heart, blood vessels and lungs, cancer and it’s very addictive so it’s hard to stop

Question 28

What effects does alcohol have on a person’s health? (3)

Answer 28

Affects the nervous system and slows down the body’s reactions, liver disease and brain damage, addictive and you can get drunk which results in poor coordination and unconsciousness

Question 29

What results do legal recreational drugs have on society? (3)

Answer 29

NHS spends lots of money on helping people with lung disease, same with alcohol, but alcohol is regularly associated with crime