What Are Drugs? Summary Of Its Characteristics And Effects
The term “drugs” is widely used because this class of substances is a reality about which it is difficult to remain totally ignorant.
However, not everyone knows exactly what a drug is and what the implications of the existence of these products are. Here We will briefly explain what drugs are and what effects they can have
The term “drug” in Spanish has several meanings, but in the context of medicine and health sciences it serves to refer to psychoactive substances, that is, those that have the potential to interact with our nerve cells, giving rise to significant changes in our mental and behavioral processes.
Specifically, in most cases it is used to talk about psychoactive substances that are used without therapeutic purposes, either in a recreational and leisure context, in situations in which the aim is to generate altered states of consciousness in religious rituals, or for any other purpose other than improving the health status of the person who consumes them (something that differentiates this term from the “drugs” used in English, which is also used to talk about psychotropic drugs).
On the other hand, it is necessary to point out that this definition of a drug as a psychoactive substance whose use is totally or partially unrelated to medicine is by no means hermetic or infallible: there are aspects that lend themselves to ambiguity. An indication of this is what we have seen: the fact that some people understand that a drug is any psychoactive element, and that for others it is only a part of these, those that do not serve to solve health problems and are not used in a medical context (i.e., under the supervision of health professionals).
And it is that There are psychotropic drugs that are used in treatments for patients and that at the same time are an illegal drug in the recreational context, as occurs for example with codeine. And it is also true that there is no clear line of separation between what serves to improve health and what serves simply to enhance a person’s well-being at a given time. After all, many psychotropic drugs are sometimes used only to alleviate the symptoms of diseases, that is, to “reduce” a certain form of discomfort.
But beyond the terminological and conceptual debates, it cannot be denied that A large number of the substances that are considered drugs have enormous harmful potential for health, so much so that beyond constituting problems for the individuals who consume them, they constitute social problems.
For example, alcohol consumption is closely linked to the high mortality rate that exists due to traffic accidents, just as many drugs in general (including ethanol) promote the appearance of domestic violence, the appearance of other diseases (some of them contagious , such as AIDS), and even the appearance of other forms of addiction that occur in parallel in the same person.
That is why it is very important to both prevent the consumption of drugs with harmful potential and knowing how to detect in time the first signs that drug consumption is affecting the person not only through structural physical symptoms in the human body, but fundamentally through psychological symptoms, which occur before.
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As the definition of “drug” is very broad, there is not a series of emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioral effects that are common to this entire group of substances. However, The most common thing is that they produce changes in mood and/or state of consciousness and in some cases, they can lead to delusional thoughts or even hallucinations.
Many of them can also produce chemical addiction, that is, changes in the brain (when interacting with it) that make our entire nervous system go to work to continue obtaining portions of that psychoactive molecule.
Are all drugs addictive?
Technically, Not all substances that are considered drugs have significant addictive potential
An example of this can be found, for example, in psilocybin, an alkaloid present in what we usually know as hallucinogenic mushrooms, or in caffeine (consumption of drinks containing the latter substance can generate a certain dependence, but not to the level of brain modification that occurs with many hard drugs and psychotropic drugs, but rather due to its taste and the habit of drinking in certain contexts).
However, while it is good to know that drugs do not equal addiction, we must not forget that There are addictions without the need to consume drugs as occurs, for example, with pathological gambling, which occurs in those who become addicted to certain games of chance in which bets are involved.
To what extent is drug use common?
The use and development of drugs is a reality that has existed since the beginning of humanity, to the point that it already occurred in nomadic tribes before the appearance of the first settlements and towns. That is why it is not surprising the degree of influence that these products have in societies throughout practically the entire world, and the widespread nature of their consumption.
In fact, the economy linked to the sale of drugs rivals the power of the States and escapes their control, and even in the case of legal drugs such as alcoholic beverages, their use has been and is so normalized that their legal status It does not depend on its harmful potential, but on the practical problems that its illegalization would have for any country.
Thus, the most consumed drugs worldwide are products that are relatively easy to find in almost any city, and are the following:
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