UNIVERSITY OF BIJELJINA
FACULTY OF PHARMACY
Subject:
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Theme:
MEDICATION ABUSE AND ADDICTION
Professor: Student:
Jovana Vujić
Index number:
Bijeljina, May 2020
1. Classification of Drugs
Nowadays different classification systems of drugs exist. Broadly speaking it
can be divided into two major groups –
Legal drugs
Illegal drugs
1.1.
Legal drugs
Legal drugs are those drugs which are manufactured, produced, bought, and
sold within the confines of the law. Drugs like aspirin, cough syrups, laxatives,
antacids, vitamins, and certain contraceptives, etc. are legal drugs, which can
be obtained without a prescription from the physician. These non-prescription
drugs are used for hunger control, sedation, stimulation, dandruff,
constipation, relief, etc. and are produced and marketed for billions of dollars
throughout
the
world.
Drugs and medications dispensed by pharmacists on prescriptions given by
doctors and dentists are called prescription drugs. They include analgesics,
contraceptives, antibiotics, medicated shampoos, stimulants, sedatives,
antidepressants, anesthetics, etc. At the same time many psychoactive
prescription drugs like amphetamines, barbiturates, narcotics, etc. are abused
to alter the state of consciousness and sensitivity to pain, etc. Huge quantities
of alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea are used, abused and misused as social
drugs. They are legally available psychoactive drugs.
Thus these are divided into 3 categories:
Non-prescription drugs
Prescription drugs
Social drugs – nicotine, caffeine and alcohol
1.2.
Illegal drugs
Illegal drugs are those, which are not used legally but are abused. Largely it
can be further divided into two according to its potentiality to produce high
and low dependence:
The amphetamines, cocaine, the depressants and the narcotics etc.
produce high dependency.
Marijuana and other hallucinogens produce low dependency.
IllegaI drugs are varying in nature according to their ability to produce clinical
dependency. Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturate etc. are strongly
dependence producing drugs. At the same time Marijuana, LSD, Psilocybin,
etc. are weekly dependence producing drugs.
2. Prescription drugs
Although many medications can be abused, the following three classes are
most commonly abused:
Opiates – usually prescribed to treat pain;
Central nervous system (CNS) depressants – used to treat anxiety and
sleep disorders; and
Stimulants –most often prescribed to treat attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
OTC – medications available without a prescription at drugstores or
supermarkets.
3. Opiates
Opiates include controlled prescription substances that are derived from
opium, which is a chemical that naturally occurs in poppy seeds and plants.
These drugs, which are clinically used for treating mild to severe pain in
patients, are also referred to as “opioid painkillers.” Due to their intensely
calming effects, opioid painkillers have tremendously high rates of abuse
which, in many cases, can lead to addiction.
Image 1. – Opiates
Source:
https://www.recoveryintune.com/
(
https://www.recover yintune.com/what-
are-opiates/
) 27.04.2020.
An addiction to painkillers often begins after someone is prescribed the
medication for pain following an accident or injury. Patients are given a
prescription and specified dose from a doctor, with no intention of abusing the
medication. However, over a period of time, a person may feel that the drug is
no longer as effective as it was in the beginning. This feeling is caused by an
increased tolerance to the painkillers, which means that the substance has built
up within a person’s body.
