1. B1.3 The Use and Abuse of
Drugs

2. Drugs affect our body chemistry.
Medical drugs are developed and tested before
being used to relieve illness or disease.
Drugs may also be used recreationally as people
like the effect on the body.
Some drugs are addictive.
Some athletes take drugs to improve performance.
People cannot make sensible decisions about drugs
unless they know their full effects.
Summary

3. Key terms
Drug
Prescription
Recreational drugs
Toxicity
Legal
Alcohol
Nicotine
Illegal
Cocaine
Heroin
Cannabis
Ecstasy
Performance enhancing
Anabolic steroids
Stimulants
Thalidomide
Statins
Cardio-vascular
Leprosy
Abnormalities
Cholesterol
Placebo
Adverse effects

4. ■ evaluate the effect of statins in cardiovascular disease
■ evaluate different types of drugs and why some people use
illegal drugs for recreation
■ evaluate claims made about the effect of prescribed and
non-prescribed drugs on health
■ consider the possible progression from recreational drugs to
hard drugs
■ evaluate the use of drugs to enhance performance in sport
and to consider the ethical implications of their use.
You should be able to:

5. Medical Drugs Recreational
drugs
Performance
enhancing
Prescribed Non-
Prescribed
IllegalLegal
Antibiotics
Strong pain
killers
Statins
Thalidomide
Aspirin
Paracetomol
Cough
medicine
Types of drugs
Alcohol
Caffeine
Nicotine
Ecstasy
Cannabis
Heroin

6. a) Scientists are continually developing new drugs.
b) When new medical drugs are devised, they have to be
extensively tested and trialled before being used.
Drug trials

7. Drugs are tested in a series of stages to find out if they
are safe and effective.
Drug trials
New drugs are extensively tested for toxicity, efficacy
and dose:
Toxicity
in the laboratory, using cells, tissues and live
animals
in clinical trials involving healthy volunteers and
patients.
Very low doses of the drug are given at the start of
the clinical trial.

8. Drugs are tested in a series of stages to find out if they
are safe and effective.
Drug trials
New drugs are extensively tested for toxicity, efficacy
and dose:
Dose
Very low doses of the drug are given at the start of
the clinical trial.
If the drug is found to be safe, further clinical trials
are carried out to find the optimum dose for the
drug.

9. Drugs are tested in a series of stages to find out if they
are safe and effective.
Drug trials
New drugs are extensively tested for toxicity, efficacy
and dose:
Efficacy
In some double-blind trials, some patients are
given a placebo, which does not contain the drug.
Neither the doctors nor the patients know who has
received a placebo and who has received the drug
until the trial is complete

11. Statins
c) Statins can be used to lower the risk of heart and
circulatory diseases.
Statins are a relatively new group of drugs used to lower
blood cholesterol levels.
A high cholesterol level increases a person's risk of
having a heart attack or stroke.
The long-term use of statins reduces the risk of such an
event and can increase the life expectancy of people
with a history of heart disease.
People are concerned that these drugs could encourage
people to lead an unhealthy lifestyle in the belief that
they can reduce their cholesterol levels

12. d) Thalidomide is a drug that was developed as a sleeping
pill.
It was also found to be effective in relieving morning sickness
in pregnant women.
Thalidomide had not been tested for this use.
Unfortunately, many babies born to mothers who took the
drug were born with severe limb abnormalities.
The drug was then banned.
As a result, drug testing has become much more rigorous.
More recently, thalidomide has been used successfully in the
treatment of leprosy and other diseases.
Thalidomide

13. Some people use drugs recreationally.
Some of these recreational drugs are more
harmful than others.
Drug Abuse

14. Some of these drugs are legal, such as alcohol
and nicotine.
Drug Abuse

15. Some of these drugs are illegal such as ecstasy,
cannabis and heroin.
Drug Abuse

16. Some of these drugs are prescribed but are not
taken sensibly, such as sleeping tablets,
antidepressants and strong pain killers such as
morphine.
Drug Abuse

17. The overall impact of legal drugs on health is
much greater than the impact of illegal drugs.
Do you agree?
Why or why not?

18. Smoking and alcohol have the following effects on our
society:
The National Health Service spends loads on treating
people with lung diseases caused by smoking. Add to this
the cost to businesses of people missing days from work,
and the figures get pretty scary
The same goes for alcohol. The costs to the NHS are
huge, but are pretty small compared to the costs related
to crime (police time, damage to people/property) and
the economy (lost working days etc.).
And in addition to the financial costs, alcohol and
smoking cause sorrow and anguish to people affected by
them, either directly or indirectly
Legal drugs, like nicotine and alcohol, have a bigger
impact in the UK than illegal drugs, as so many
people take them.
The overall impact of legal drugs on health is
much greater than the impact of illegal drugs.

19. • Drugs change the chemical processes in people’s
bodies.
• Drugs work by affecting synapses.
• Some drugs make them work faster (eg, caffeine).
• Some drugs make them work slower (eg. cannabis).
• Drug abusers may become dependent or addicted to
the drugs.
• They may suffer withdrawal symptoms without them.
• Heroin and cocaine are very addictive.
Addiction and Withdrawal

20. Cannabis Heroin
• There are concerns about the possible progression from
people taking non-addictive recreational drugs to addiction to
hard drugs.
For example, cannabis is referred to as a gateway drug; it is
thought that it leads to people taking cocaine or heroin.

21. Alcohol affects the nervous system by slowing down
reactions.
It helps people relax.
Too much may lead to lack of self-control,
unconsciousness or even coma.
Long term abuse eventually damages the liver and
brain.
Effects of drugs

22. Nicotine is the addictive substance in tobacco smoke.
This makes it difficult for people to stop smoking.
Nicotine patches and nicotine chewing gum can be used to help
people stop smoking.
The link between smoking tobacco and lung cancer has been
known about for about 100 years.
However, this was only gradually accepted.
Tobacco smoke also contains carbon monoxide which reduces
the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.
In pregnant women this can deprive a fetus of oxygen and lead
to a low birth mass.
Effects of drugs

23. The link between smoking tobacco and lung cancer has been known
about for about 100 years.
Tobacco smoke also contains carbon monoxide which reduces the
oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.
In pregnant women this can deprive a fetus of oxygen and lead to a low
birth mass.
Healthy lung Smoker’s lung
Tobacco smoke contains carcinogens, which are chemicals
that cause cancer:

25. Ecstasy, cannabis and
heroin may have adverse
effects on the heart and
circulatory system.
Cannabis smoke
contains chemicals
which may cause
mental illness in some
people.
Effects of drugs

26. Drugs
in sport

27. Drugs in sport
There are several types of drug that an athlete can use to enhance
performance.
Some of these drugs are banned by law and some are legally
available on prescription.
All are prohibited by sporting regulations.
Examples include:
o Stimulants that boost bodily functions such as heart rate;
o Anabolic steroids which stimulate muscle growth.
Athletes in major sporting events have to be willing to give a blood
or urine sample so that they can be tested for these drugs.
Some scientists work to develop drugs that cannot be detected by
these tests.

32. 1. What is a placebo?
2. What is meant by the term ‘double-blind trial’?
3. What do statins do?
4. What was the drug thalidomide originally developed for?
5. Why was it given to pregnant mothers?
6. What side-effect did it have?
7. What is thalidomide used for now?
A substance that looks like the drug
being tested but doesn’t do anything
The doctor or patient don’t know if they have
the drug – only the researcher would know
Lower cholesterol
It was developed as a sleeping pill
It helped with morning sickness
Birth defects in new-born babies when
their mother took the drug
Leprosy
The use and abuse of drugs

33. 8. Name two legal drugs
9. Name two illegal drugs
10. Why could the impact of legal drugs be higher than illegal drugs?
11. Why are some drugs addictive?
Nicotine Aspirin
Alcohol Paracetamol
Caffeine
Cannabis
Heroin
Ecstasy
Far more people take legal drugs than
illegal drugs
They change the chemical processes
in peoples’ bodies

36. Use the data to
describe fully the
relationship
between physical
harm and
dependence on a
drug.
The scattergram shows the dependence and the physical
harm caused by recreational drugs.
Weak positive
correlation
The more
physical harm
the greater the
dependence

37. Based on the data
in the graph, would
you expect the
overall effect of
alcohol on the
health of the UK
population to be
more than the effect
of heroin?
The scattergram shows the dependence and the physical
harm caused by recreational drugs.
From the graph we
would expect more
as heroin causes
more physical harm.
However, more
people use alcohol
than heroin so the
combined effect
would be less

38. Some recreational drugs are dangerous. Class A drugs include heroin
and cocaine. Class A drugs are very addictive. It is difficult to stop using
addictive drugs.
Explain why.
They change the chemical processes in peoples’ bodies
OR
Alters brain/ body functioning
AND
Withdrawal symptoms (allow crave/ craving)

39. Describe how the
percentage of people
who have ever used
Class A drugs is related
to age. (2 marks)
It rises to a
maximum at
25-29
Falls to a
minimum at 55-59

40. Peer pressure/ ‘fashionable’
Experiment/ try new things
Ease of obtaining drugs

41. Testing for toxicity/ to see if it is safe

42. Testing for side effects/ for reactions to drug
Dose too low to help patient
Higher risk for patient
Might conflict with patient’s other treatments
Effect might be masked by patient’s symptoms
To find optimum dose

43. Substance that looks like, but does not contain, the
drug

44. The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is banned.
Regular tests are done to check that the athletes have not been taking
performance-enhancing drugs.
(a) (i) Name one type of performance-enhancing drug that some athletes may
decide to take.
..................................................................................................................................
(a) (ii) Give one effect of this type of drug on the body.
.................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................
(a) (iii) How would the effect you have given in part (a)(ii) help the athlete to
perform better?
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..................................................................................................................................
Stimulant
To improve
concentration/
more energy
Anabolic
steroid
To make
athlete
stronger/ faster/
more powerful
Beta blocker
Calming effect/
improve
accuracy
Faster reactions Lift heavier
weights
Throw things
further
Shoot rifle more
accurately

45. (b) A sports newspaper is campaigning for all athletes to be allowed to
take legal performance-enhancing drugs.
Give one argument for and one argument against the newspaper
campaign.
For:
Against:
Makes all competitors equal
Saves money on testing
Avoids unfair penalties for athletes who accidentally take a banned
substance
Competitions no longer based on human ability
Health risks/ addiction/ overdoes/ side effects of drugs
Favours wealthy athletes/ countries
Not all want to take drugs
Not a good role model for others if take drugs