Drugs Test Flashcards
What is a drug?
A substance that affects body chemistry and the way your body works.
Depressants
Slows down nerve and brain activity, can relieve feelings of anxiety.
e.g. Alcohol, cannabis, solvents,tranquilisers, sleeping pills
Stimulants
Increase nerve and brain activity, make you feel more awake and alert and may produce feelings of extreme wellbeing.
e.g. Nicotine, caffeine, ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamine (speed)
Hallucinogens
Alter what we see and hear changing a person’s perception of reality.
e.g. LSD
Painkillers (analgesics)
Block nerve impulses.
e.g. paracetamol, aspirin, heroin
Performancd enhancing
Improve muscle development.
e.g. anabolic steroids
Medicinal drugs
Some medicinal drugs can be obtained without a prescription.
Eg. Aspirin, paracetamol.
Others require a prescription.
e.g. antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, salbutamol used in asthma inhalers, pain killers such as aspirin and paracetamol.
Recreational drugs
drugs can also be taken for pleasure, perhaps an individual likes how th edrug makes them feel. Recreation drugs affext the way the nervous system and brain works (psychoactive). It is theze chmages that people enjoy. Some recrational drugs are legal (with age restrictions)
e.g. alcohol and tobacco
others are illegal
e.g. cannabis, cocaine, heroin, ketamine, LAD, ecstasy/MDMA.
Some medicines are prescription only- when taken without a prescription (for recreational use) they become illegal.
Who discovered penicillin?
Alexander Fleming
What does penicillin help to treat?
bacterial infections
What was Alexander Fleming’s warning?
The development of resistant strains. Overuse of antibiotics has resulted in antibiotic resistance and the threat that widespread resistance poses.
When was penicillin discovered?
28th September 1928
What trials have to take place in order for a specific drug to be licensed?
New medicinal drugs need to go through rigorous drug trials before they can be licensed for use in patients.
Tests called placebo trials take place when testing for a new drug. Instead of a real pill, sugar pills are given to one person eho is doing the test so that they do not have the effect that makes you think you feel better when you might not. You are unaware whether you have the real or placebo pill.
The double blind test means that neither the doctor or the patient knows who has the sugar pill.
How can you get addicted to a specific drug
When you take a drug, you may experience feelings of pleasure (which mostly does not last very long) and when you have this feeling of pleasure, your brain is hardwired to do it again. It is also because when a drug wears off, you frequently get bad side effects without it.
How can drug addiction occur?
Some drugs change the chemical processes in brain so you may become addicted to them. For example, they may affect the release and uptake of dopamine, thr pleasure chemicsl in the brain. Over the brain can undergo physical changes. Once addicted, you may need larger doses to get the same effect. Ehen addicts try to stop they get withdrawal symptoms which may include:
aches and pains, sweating, shaking, headaches, cravings for the drug.