A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support.
: a substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body.
[ drŭg ] A chemical substance, especially one prescribed by a medical provider, that is used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of a condition or disease.
The three main types of name for pharmaceutical substances are the chemical name, the approved (official or generic) name and the proprietary (brand, trade or invented) name (see Table 1).
What is meant by the term Hard Drugs? This term usually refers to drugs that are seen to be more dangerous and more likely to cause dependency such as heroin and crack cocaine than those designated as soft drugs such as cannabis and LSD.
The word Drug, taken from French word Drogue which means Dry Herb, strongly suggests that earliest drugs were taken out from plant sources. Earliest people used to treat diseases by some unconventional methods, using plants, animal products and minerals, of them plants were given priority.
Drugs interfere with the way neurons send, receive, and process signals via neurotransmitters. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter in the body. This allows the drugs to attach onto and activate the neurons.
In pharmacology, a drug is a chemical substance, typically of known structure, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. A pharmaceutical drug, also called a medication or medicine, is a chemical substance used to treat, cure, prevent, or diagnose a disease or to promote well-being.
Emojis are also used by teenagers to communicate drug names and other details when they're buying and selling illegal drugs on social media apps. For example: A maple leaf (🍁) is a universal code for all drugs. A crystal ball emoji (🔮) can be used to buy meth. A blowfish (🐡) or a diamond (💎) can be used to buy cocaine2.
Medicines taken by mouth are shuttled via a special blood vessel leading from the digestive tract to the liver, where a large amount of the medicine is broken down. Other routes of drug administration bypass the liver, entering the bloodstream directly or via the skin or lungs.
Methamphetamine colloquially known in South Africa as "tik"
Research for a new drug begins in the laboratory. Drugs undergo laboratory and animal testing to answer basic questions about safety. Drugs are tested on people to make sure they are safe and effective.
Medicines are chemicals or compounds used to cure, halt, or prevent disease; ease symptoms; or help in the diagnosis of illnesses. Advances in medicines have enabled doctors to cure many diseases and save lives.
Penicillin (1942)
It is estimated that Penicillin has saved between 80 million and 200 million lives and without its discovery and implementation, 75% of people today would not be alive because their ancestors would have succumbed to infection.
The first medicinal drugs came from natural sources and existed in the form of herbs, plants, roots, vines and fungi. Until the mid-nineteenth century nature's pharmaceuticals were all that were available to relieve man's pain and suffering.
Every drug has an approved generic or medical name, decided on by an expert committee. Many drugs are also known by a brand or trade name chosen by the pharmaceutical company making and selling that drug as a medicine. So, for example, the drug infliximab (generic name) is also known as Remicade (brand name).
The first modern, pharmaceutical medicine was invented in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, a German scientist. He extracted the main active chemical from opium in his laboratory and named it morphine, after the Greek god of sleep.
Drug misuse is defined as the use of a substance for a purpose not consistent with legal or medical guidelines (WHO, 2006). It has a negative impact on health or functioning and may take the form of drug dependence, or be part of a wider spectrum of problematic or harmful behaviour (DH, 2006b).
Drugs are any substance other than food which when taken can change the body function. Some drugs are used for treatment, prevention or cure for sickness or diseases. Drugs can be inform of liquid (toxic, injections, creams or drips), solid (tables) and gas (inhalers).
Drugs don't cure! They only temporarily relieve or suppress the symptoms. Medicines alone help total cure! In reality, the Body & Mind can completely cure themselves with the right kind of help – medicines.
The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms.
The half-life of a drug is the time it takes for the amount of a drug's active substance in your body to reduce by half. This depends on how the body processes and gets rid of the drug. It can vary from a few hours to a few days, or sometimes weeks.