PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Modafinil, Methylphenidate, Legal Intoxicant
Document Summary
Every human culture uses drugs: food contain compounds found in drugs. Ex: chocolate contains compounds found in marijuana and amphetamines. Difference between a drug and a nondrug compound seems to be that drugs are taken because the user has an intended effect in mind. Psychoactive drugs are substances that affect thinking, behaviour, perceptions, and emotion: characterized by their effects on the nervous systems. Drugs can speed up the nervous system, slow it down, stimulate its pleasure centres, or distort how it processes the world. Illicit drugs: drugs whose manufacture, sale, and procession are illegal: there is a fine line between legal and illicit drugs. Many common prescription medicine are chemically similar safer versions of their illicit drugs. Category of drugs that speed up the nervous system, typically enhancing wakefulness and alertness. Affect neural activity in the reward centre of the brain. Examples: cocaine, which is synthesized from cocoa leaves. In its illicit form, cocaine appears in various forms.
