How are the different drugs classified?
How would you define the word, drug?
A DRUG is a substance, other than food, that changes the structure or function of the body or mind.
Types of Drugs
o Medicine: legal drugs that help the body fight injury, illness or disease
Over the counter- purchased legally without a prescription
Prescription- written consent by a physician needed
o Psychoactive drugs: Chemicals that affect the activity of brain cells and alter perception, thought and mood, and possibly create illusions in the mind of the user.
Psychoactive Drugs are classified into the following categories:
• Stimulants- Speed up the systems of the body (heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure) user feels excited and alert- examples: cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine, caffeine
• Depressants- Slow down systems of the body (heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure) user feels relaxed, tension relieved- examples: alcohol, barbiturates, sedatives, tranquilizers
Opiods- drugs derived from the opium plant- users experience euphoria and a sense of relaxation- examples: heroin, morphine, codeine, methadone
• Hallucinogens- Alters perception and can create visual or auditory hallucinations- examples: LSD, PCP, psilocybin, peyote, mescaline, ecstasy
• Cannabis- Acts as a stimulant, depressant, and hallucinogen- examples: sinsemella, hashish, marijuana
Inhalants: include volatile substances and noxious fumes that users inhale in order to get "high"- can come from seemingly harmless objects such as gases, aerosol cans, spraypaints, markers, etc.
Anabolic Steroids
How drugs are classified: Drugs are classified based on their
• Drug action- what a drug does to your body (speeds things up, etc.)
• Drug effect- what you feel- the physical and mental response to the drug’s action (makes user feel alert)
Illegal Drugs- Chemicals that are forbidden by law because their dangerous and unpredictable effects outweigh any useful purposes they may have
Types of Drug Use:
Drug Use- use of legal drugs correctly for specific purposes
Drug misuse-improper use of a drug
Drug abuse- When people intentionally misuse any kind of drug for non-medicinal purposes
How drugs are taken:
Inhalation: chemicals enter the body and blood stream through the lungs (smoking a cigarette, marijuana, breathing in noxious fumes)
Injection: the drug is injected directly into a muscle or vein through a needle (injecting steroids, injecting heroin)
Ingestion: the drug is ingested orally (eaten or drank) and enters the blood stream through the stomach and small intestine (alcohol, pills)
Absorption through the skin: the drug enters the blood stream by being absorbed through the skin or through a mucous membrane (chewing tobacco, snorting cocaine, nicotine patch)
Vocabulary:
Side effects- unwanted, dangerous physical and mental effects caused by a drug
Overdose- serious reaction to an excessive amount of a drug
Tolerance- as the body adjusts to a drug, more of the drug is needed to produce the same effect
Addiction- the craving for the drug leads to compulsive, uncontrollable behavior. The person’s brain needs the drug in order to function normally.
Withdrawal- a series of painful, sometimes life-threatening effects an addict will experience when the brain and body is deprived of the drug
Antagonistic interaction- each drug’s effect is cancelled out by the other, or the action is reduced (nicotine cancels out or lessens the effects of medication for high blood pressure)
Synergisitc interaction- drugs interact to produce effects greater than those that each drug would produce alone (alcohol intensifies the effects of sleeping pills/sedatives).