What is Drugs?

Drug is defined as a chemical substance used as a medicine or in making

medicines which affects the body and mind and have potential for abuse. The use of
any drugs without an advice or prescription from a physician can be harmful.
Drugs is any chemically active substance rendering a specific effect on the
central nervous system of man.
A chemical substance that affects the functions of living cells and alters body or
mind processes when taken into the body or applied through the skin.
Is a chemical substance that brings about physical, emotional or behavioral
change in a person taking it.
Any chemical substance, other than food, which is intended for used in the
diagnosis, treatment, cure, mitigation or prevention of disease or symptoms

World Health Organization also defines drug as any substance or product that
is used or intended to be used to modify or explore physiological system or
pathological states for the benefits of the patient.

Etymology of the word Drug

The word "drug" is believe to had originated from Old French word "drogue", then later
changed into the term "droge-vate" from Middle Dutch meaning "dry barrels" that
refers to medicinal plants preserved in them. (Douglas Harper, Online Etymology
Dictionary, 2000)

What Is the Difference Between a Drug and a Medicine?

Medicine is any substance that is designed to prevent or treat diseases

while drug is designed to produce a specific reaction inside the body. Cocaine for
example is a drug designed to create a specific mental reaction that leads to a "high"
for the user. However, medical establishment does not recognize any medical benefits
for cocaine, which means that cocaine is categorized as drug but not medicine. Over-
the-counter anti-inflammatory medicines such as Advil are designed to treat pain, but
they do not have a strong enough effect to fit into a controlled substance classification,
unlike stronger pain relievers, this means that these are medicines and not drugs.
Most of the medicines that are also drugs are considered "controlled substances." This
means that there are laws governing their use and that using them in ways contrary to
those laws can lead to criminal charges.

Other distinctive characteristics of drug and medicine

1. Drugs have general effect of confusing the mind unlike medicines.

2. Drugs have a potential of addiction while medicines (in the general sense) don’t lead
to such.

3. The term “drugs” (either for therapeutic or non-therapeutic purposes) is nowadays

thought to have a more negative connotation.
4. Drugs are substances that can still cure diseases to some extent but can have
severe adverse effects if used more than what’s necessary.

GENERAL HISTORY OF DRUGS

Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind itself. Human beings have always had
a desire to eat or drink substances that make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or
euphoric. Humans have used drugs of one sort or another for thousands of years.
Wine was used at least from the time of early Egyptians, narcotics from 4000 B.C. and
medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C in china.
As time went by, Home Remedies were discovered and used to alleviate aches,
pains and other ailments. Most of these preparations were herbs, roots, mushrooms or
fungi. They had to be eaten, drunk, rubbed on the skin, or inhaled to achieve the
desired effect.
One of the oldest records of such medicinal recommendations is found in the
writing of the Chinese scholar-emperor Shen Nung who lived in 2735 BC. He compiled
a book about herbs, a forerunner of the medieval pharmacopoeias that listed all the
then-known medications. He was able to judge the value of some Chinese herbs. For
example, he found that Ch’ang Shan was helpful in treating fevers; Ch’ang Shan is
antimalarial in Chinese medicine and It has emetic effects.

Pre-Columbian Mexicans used many substances varying from tobacco and

other mind-expanding plants in their medicinal collections. The most fascinating
among these substances is the Psilocybin mushroom.

As the centuries unrolled and new civilizations appeared, cultural, artistic,

and medical developments shifted towards the new center of power. A reversal of
traditional botanical drugs occurred in Greece in the fourth century BC, when
Hippocrates who is known as the “Father of Medicine,’’ became interested in inorganic
salts as medications. Hippocrates authority lasted throughout the middle Ages and
reminded alchemists and medical experimenters of the potential of inorganic drugs.
South American Indians, especially those in the Peruvian Andes Mountains
made several early discoveries of drug bearing plants. Two of these plants contain
alkaloids of worldwide importance that have become a modern drugs. They are
cocaine, and quinine. Cocaine ‘s potential for addiction was known and used with
sinister intent by South American Indian chiefs hundreds of years ago.
Sigmund Freud, the Austrian psychoanalyst [1859-1939] treated many deeply
disturbed cocaine addicts. In the course of his practice, he noted the numbing effect of
the drug. He called the attention of the clinical pharmacologist who introduced cocaine
as a local anesthetic into surgical procedures. One interesting truth is that Freud was
a cocaine user himself. Only that cocaine was not yet prohibited during his time, but
was prescribed and used as euphoric. The harmful side of the substance had not been
discovered yet.
During the American Civil War, morphine was used freely by the soldiers during
the war, and those wounded veterans returned home with their kits of morphine and
hypodermic needles and continued to consume the mentioned drug. Cocaine and
heroin were sold as patent medicines in the 19 th and early 20th centuries, and
marketed as treatment for a wide variety of ailments. Recreational use of opium was
once common in Asia and from there spread to the West, peaking in the 19 th century,
Opium dens flourished.
Regarding marijuana, another notable herb that has its hallucinogenic effect,
historians credited it [Cannabis Sativa] as the world‘s oldest cultivated plant started
by the Incas of Peru.
GENERAL DRUG CATEGORY

1. Analgesics: Drugs that relieve pain.

There are two main types:

a. non-narcotic analgesics for mild pain, and

b. Narcotic analgesics for severe pain.

2. Antacids: Drugs that relieve indigestion and heartburn by neutralizing stomach

acid.
3. Antihistamines – those that control or combat allergic reactions.
4. Contraceptives – drugs that prevent the meeting of the egg cell and sperm cell
or prevent the ovary from releasing egg cells.
5. Decongestants –those that relieve congestion of the nasal passages.
6. Expectorants – those that can ease the expulsion of mucus and phlegm from
the lungs and the throat.
7. Laxatives – those that stimulate defecation and encourage bowel movement.
8. Sedatives and Tranquilizer – are those that can calm and quiet the nerves and
relieve anxiety without causing depression and clouding of the mind.
9. Vitamins – those substances necessary for normal growth and development
and proper functioning of the body.
10. Antibiotics - are drugs that combat or control infectious organism.
11. Antipyretics – those that can lower body temperature or fever due to infection.
 CRIMINOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS

1. PRESCRIPTIVE DRUGS
These are drugs requiring written authorization from a doctor to allow its
purchase. They are prescribed according to the individual’s age, weight
and height and should not be taken by anyone else.

2. OVER – THE – COUNTER DRUGS

These are non – prescriptive drugs, which may be purchased from any
pharmacy or drugstore without written authorization from a doctor. They
are used to treat minor and short-term illnesses.

3. UNRECOGNIZED DRUGS
These are commercial products that have a psychoactive drug effects but
are not usually considered as drugs. These substances are not generally
regulated by the law except insofar as standards of sanitation and purity
is required.

4. ILLICIT DRUGS
These are drugs whose sale, purchase, use or manufacture is generally
prohibited by law. Criminal penalties usually apply to violators of these
laws.

How Drugs Works In our Body?

Drugs work in our body in a varied ways. They interfere with microorganisms
(germs) that invade our body, destroy abnormal cells that cause illness, replace
deficient substances (such as hormones or vitamins), or change the way that cells
work in our body. Most drugs act within our cell. Similar to common body
chemicals, drugs enters on cell and participates in the normal sequence of a cellular
process. Thus, drug may later, interfere on the established cellular life cycle, hopefully
for the betterment of the person. The actual action of a particular drug depends on its
chemical makeup.

When two drugs are taken together or taken within a few hours of each
other, they have the tendency to interact with each other a d may yield an un-expected
result. This is one of the reasons why a physician always asked the names of drugs
the patient is using.

DOSE
A dose of drug refers to the amount taken by the patient at one time. The dose
taken becomes extremely important part of developing drug abuse. There are many
factors taken into consideration when deciding a dose of drug - including age of the
patient, weight, sex, ethnicity, liver and kidney function and whether the patient
smokes or drinks alcohol. Other medicines may also affect the drug dose.

Classification of Drug Dosage

 1. Minimal dose – The amount needed to treat or heal that is, the smallest amount
of a drug that will produce a therapeutic effect.

2. Maximal dose – largest amount of a drug that will produce a desired therapeutic
effect without any accompanying symptoms of toxicity.

3. Toxic dose – amount of drug that produces untoward effects or symptoms of

poisoning

4. Abusive dose – amount needed to produce the side effects and action desired by
the individual who improperly uses it.

5. Lethal dose – the amount of drug that will cause death.

How Drugs are administered?

Methods of Administering Drugs- Drugs may be introduced into the body in several
ways, each method serving a specific purpose.

1. ORAL—Among the advantages of administering medication orally) are

the following:  
a. Oral medications are convenient.  Oral medications are
cheaper.  
b. Oral medications do not have to be pure or sterile.  A
wide variety of oral dosage forms is available.
Oral medication administration may be disadvantageous for the following
reasons:
a. Some patients may have difficulty swallowing tablets or
capsules.
b. Oral medications are often absorbed too slowly.  
c. Oral medications may be partially or completely
destroyed by the digestive system.

2. PARENTERAL— parenteral medications are introduced by injection. All

drugs used by this route must be pure, sterile, pyrogen-free, and in a
liquid state. There are several methods of parenteral administration,
including subcutaneous, intradermal, intramuscular, intravenous, and
intra thecal or intra spinal.

a. SUBCUTANEOUS— — the drug is injected just below the skin’s

cutaneous layers. Example: Insulin.
b. INTRADERMAL— — the drug is injected within the dermis layer
of the skin. Example: Purified protein derivative (PPD).
 c. INTRAMUSCULAR— The drug is injected into the
muscle. Example: Procaine penicillin G.

d. INTRAVENOUS— The drug is introduced directly into the

vein. Example: Intravenous fluids
e. INTRATHECAL OR INTRASPINAL- — The drug is introduced into
the subarachnoid space of the spinal column. Example: Procaine
hydrochloride.

3. INHALATION— this route makes use of gaseous and volatile drugs, which are
inhaled and absorbed rapidly through the cappillary system of the respiratory
tract. It is probably the second most commonly-used route of drug
administration.

4. TOPICAL— this refers to the application of drugs directly to a body site such as
the skin and the mucous membrane.

5. Iontophoresis – the introduction of drugs into the deeper layers of the skin by
the use of special type of electric current for local effect.

6. Snorting- Inhalation through the nose of drugs not in gaseous from. It is

perform by inhaling a powder of liquid drug into the nose coats of the mucous
membrane.

7. Buccal- The drug is administered by placing them into the buccal cavity just
under the lips and the active ingredients of the drug will be absorbed into the
bloodstream through the soft tissues lining the mouth.

8. Suppositories- The drug is administered through the vagina or rectum in

suppository form and the drug will also be absorbed into the bloodstream.

9. TRANSDERMAL ROUTE- Some drugs are delivered body wide through a

patch on the skin. These drugs are sometimes mixed with a chemical (such as
alcohol) that enhances penetration through the skin into the bloodstream
without any injection.