PSYC 271 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Addiction, Psychoactive Drug, Physical Body
5 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
21. 6% of canadians meet criteria for substance use disorder during their lifetime: 18. 1% - alcohol abuse/dependence, 6. 8% - cannabis use/dependence, 4% - other illegal drugs. Costs of drug addiction (global: health care, crime-related, lost productivity. Danger due to od, impurity, or allergy: inhalation. Mechanisms of action: must pass blood-brain barrier, drugs have diffuse effect of neural membranes, neurotransmitters, and receptors, elimination via metabolism. Tolerance: repeated exposure activates bodily adaptive responses, tolerance - decreased sensitivity to a drugs effect as a result of prior exposure. Decrease in response to original dose of drug. Increase in drug required to produce same effect as rst dose: not the same for every drug. Tolerance to some drug effects but not all. Metabolic tolerance (decreases drug reaching target) vs. functional tolerance (change to receptor availability or neurotransmitter release) Dependence: physical - body has made changes to compensate for drug"s presence and functions normally with drug present, withdrawal - absence of drug produces homeostatic disregulation.
