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In pharmacology, biological activity or pharmacological activity describes the beneficial or adverse effects of a drug on living matter. [1] [2] When a drug is a complex chemical mixture, this activity is exerted by the substance's active ingredient or pharmacophore but can be modified by the other constituents. Among the various properties of ...
Often, the parent form of the drug is not the active form and it needs to be metabolized in order to produce its therapeutic effects. In other cases, bioactivation is not necessarily needed for drugs to be active and can instead produce reactive intermediates that initiate stronger adverse effects than the original form of the drug.
The book describes the effects and risks of psychoactive drugs which were common in contemporary use for recreational and nonmedical purposes. [2] The New York Times paraphrased some major arguments from the book, saying "'Drug-free' treatment of heroin addiction almost never works", "Nicotine can be as tough to beat as heroin", and "Good or bad, marijuana is here to stay.
Drug metabolism is the metabolic breakdown of drugs by living organisms, usually through specialized enzymatic systems. More generally, xenobiotic metabolism (from the Greek xenos "stranger" and biotic "related to living beings") is the set of metabolic pathways that modify the chemical structure of xenobiotics, which are compounds foreign to an organism's normal biochemistry, such as any drug ...
[2] [3] When used in a legal context in the U.S., a narcotic drug is totally prohibited, such as heroin, or one that is used in violation of legal regulation (in this word sense, equal to any controlled substance or illicit drug). In the medical community, the term is more precisely defined and generally does not carry the same negative ...
Drug addiction, which belongs to the class of substance-related disorders, is a chronic and relapsing brain disorder that features drug seeking and drug abuse, despite their harmful effects. [31] This form of addiction changes brain circuitry such that the brain's reward system is compromised, [ 32 ] causing functional consequences for stress ...
"Substance use pertains to using select substances such as alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, etc. that can cause dependence or harmful side effects."On the other hand, substance abuse is the use of drugs such as prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, or alcohol for purposes other than what they are intended for or using them in excessive ...
The gateway drug effect (alternatively, stepping-stone theory, escalation hypothesis, or progression hypothesis) is a comprehensive catchphrase for the often observed effect that the use of a psychoactive substance is coupled to an increased probability of the use of further substances.