Drugs Flashcards
What are drugs?
Substances that change chemical reactions in your body
What is drug addiction?
When your body chemistry is changed so you become dependant on a drug and can cause withdrawal symptoms
What types of drugs are there?
- Hallucinogens (LSD)
- Painkillers (Heroin)
- Depressants (Alcohol)
- Stimulants (Caffeine)
What are performance-enhancing drugs?
Improve a persons performance in sport
What are the arguments for and against performance enhancing drugs?
For-athletes have the right to make their own decision, and drug free sport isn’t really fair
Against-can cause high blood pressure and aggression, unfair in sport
What are statins used for?
To lower the risk of heart and circulatory disease
What are the main stages of drug testing?
- Human cells and tissues in lab
- Testing on live animals
- Tested on healthy human volunteers
- Testing on humans with that illness
- Lastly tested on a large scale of humans
Why are drugs tested?
To see what the side effects are
To see what dosage is most effective
To find out about toxicity
What was thalidomide first intended to be used for?
Sleeping pill and then to relieve morning sickness
What did thalidomide do to pregnant women?
Babies were born with abnormal limbs
What is thalidomide used to treat now?
Leprosy and some cancers
What health problems are caused by smoking?
Heart, blood vessels and lungs disease
Causes some cancers
It is addictive
What health problems are caused from alcohol?
Nervous system slows down
Impaired judgment and poor coordination
Addictive
Liver disease and brain damage
What is a placebo?
A ‘dummy drug’, one that looks like a real drug but doesn’t do anything
What is a blind trial?
Patients doesn’t know if they are getting real drug or placebo
