use and abuse of drugs

use and abuse of drugs

1. types of drugs

   • medical
     • paracetamol
     • antibiotics
     • morphine
   • recreational
     • legal
       • caffeine
       • alcohol
     • illegal
       • heroin
       • cocaine
   • performance enhancing
     • these improve a persons performance in sport
     • anabolic steroids
       • increases muscle size
     • stimulants
       • increases heart

2. drug testing

   • 1
     • Drugs are tested on human cells and tissues
     • However you cannot use human cells and tissues to test drugs that affect multiple body systems or the whole body system (blood)
   • 2
     • The next stage is to test it on live animals ...
     • to see whether the drug works
     • to see how harmful the drug is
     • and to see what the best dosage is
     • there is a law that says you must test a new drug on 2 different live animals
       • there is then the debate about the cruelty on animal testing and the fact its for the greater good of humans 
   • 3
     • if the the drug passes the animal testings its then tested on humans in clinical trials
     • optimum dose
       • dose of drug that is most effective and has the least side effects
     • next the optimum dose is found and the drug is given to healthy patients to see if it has any harmful side effects
     • next, to test if the drug actually work, patients are put in two groups. One group is given the actual new drug and the other is given a placebo effect drug
     • then the drug is sold commercially to help people in need
     • most of the clinical trials are blind trials (with the placebo drug) where the patient doesn't know
     • a double blind trial is where the doctor doesn't know either