PS268 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Caffeine, Diazepam, Binge Drinking
Document Summary
E. g a glass a dinner or binge drinking. Four principles of psychoactive drugs: drugs, per se, are not good or bad. When drug abuse, drug dependence, and risky behaviour are talked about it is the way in which the drug is used that differs the behaviour. Weighting the pros and cons of behaviour, medical use vs. abuse. Drugs don"t produce effects to do evil, sometime people forget about the other effects that led to drug abuse: every drug has multiple effects. Compounds do not alter one aspect of concoiousness. Virtually all drugs that affect the brain also effect the body, including blood pressure, intestinal activity or other functions: both the size and the quality of a drug"s effect depend on the amount the individual has taken. Important are the user"s history, attitude and the setting. Sometimes drugs laws are changed for certain religious reasons.
