The Use and Abuse of Drugs Flashcards
What are drugs?
Drugs are chemicals that change the way our body works. It can change metabolism and behaviour.
How can you be addictive to a drug?
Some of the chemicals changes caused by drugs can lead to the body becoming addicted to the drug.
Name the three different groups of drugs.
1) Medicinal
2) Recreational
3) Performance - enhancing
State two examples of performance-enhancing
drugs and describe what they do.
- Stimulants increase the heart rate.
- Anabolic steroids increase muscle growth.
Ethical impacts against performance - enhancing drugs…
- It is unfair if people gain an advantage by taking drugs and not just through training.
- Athletes may not be fully informed of the serious health risks of the drug they take.
Ethical impacts for performance - enhancing drugs…
- Athletes have the right to make their own choices about whether taking drugs is worth it or not.
- Drug-free sport isn’t really fair anyway. Different athletes have access to different training facilities.
What are statins?
Statins are drugs that lower cholesterol in the blood and stop the liver producing too much cholesterol. Patients should also have a healthy diet. This educes the risk of heart disease.
What is the first stage in the testing of new drugs?
New drugs are first tested on cells, tissues and animals. This is to make sure that they work, that they are not toxic and to determine the best dose.
Who is the drug tested on in the clinical trials?
1) First on healthy human volunteers to make sure it doesn’t have any harmful side effects when the body is working normally.
2) Secondly it is tested on people suffering from the illness to find the optimum dose - the dose that is most effective and has the fewest side effects.
When drugs are first tested on humans they are given in very low doses. Explain why.
When drugs are first tested on humans, they are given in very low doses to check that they are safe. Once we know they are safe, further human trials determine the best dose.
What is meant by a placebo?
A placebo is a tablet or injection which looks exactly
like a treatment but has no active drug.
What is meant by a double-blind drug trial?
In a double-blind drug trial, neither the patient nor the doctors know which patient is receiving the active drug and which patient is receiving the placebo.
What was thalidomide originally developed for?
Thalidomide was first developed as a sleeping pill.
It was then found to reduce morning sickness in pregnant women.
What was the problem with thalidomide?
Thalidomide had never been tested on pregnant women (or pregnant animals). Many babies born to mothers who had taken thalidomide were born with limb abnormalities.
What is thalidomide used to treat now?
Now thalidomide is used to treat leprosy and other diseases.