Substance Abuse and Genetics

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Recommended: What is the influence of alcohol on the brain and behaviour

A drug is a chemical substance that acts on the brain and nervous system, and changes individual's mood, emotion or state of consciousness (Health Service Executive 2013).

Drugs classified by the effect they produce:

• Stimulants, such as cocaine, make people feel full of energy;

• Depressants (or sedatives), such as heroin and alcohol, make people feel relaxed;

• Hallucinogens, such as LSD, make people see, feel or hear things that are not real (Health Service Executive 2013).

Legal drugs.

Under Irish law, most drugs are illegal. However, some drugs are legal, they include:

• Caffeine;

• Alcohol;

• Cigarettes (Health Service Executive 2013).

What is alcohol?

Alcohol is a legal, sedative drug which can alter feelings (Drugs.ie n.k). Alcohol is a colourless, odourless and highly inflammable fluid. It is a legal drug which does not contain any nutrients for the body. Alcoholic beverages used in most societies, for different purposes.

No one knows exact timeline, of first confrontation with alcohol by human race. Like many other discoveries it is lost in time. Best one can speculate is that discovery occurred in the early infancy of humanity by the meaning of a chance.

Carey (2008) states that, for 300 years “alcohol” is a term identical to “spirituous” liquid. Furthermore alcohol consumption and means of limiting it go back 1700 B.C. There are four main types of alcohol:

1. Methyl;

2. Ethyl;

3. Propyl;

4. Butyl (Carey 2008).

The type that is used in production, of alcoholic beverages - ethyl (ethanol) (Carey 2008). Its chemical formula is C2H5OH Royal Society of Chemistry 2014). Correspondingly methyl, propyl and butyl alcohol are toxic and consumption of even a small dose of such, could potentially lead to b...

... middle of paper ...

...ed at: http://tauruspet.med.yale.edu/staff/edm42/papers/2012-journal-club/Sci-Transl-Med-2012-Mitchell-116ra6-alcohol-induces-endog-opioids.pdf 08/03/2014

Sabourin B.C. & Stewart S.H. (2007) Alcohol Use and Anxiety Disorders. Alcohol and Anxiety. Anxiety in Health Behaviors and Physical Illness. P29-54. Electronic. Accessed at: http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CHUQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springer.com%2Fcda%2Fcontent%2Fdocument%2Fcda_downloaddocument%2F9780387747521-c2.pdf%3FSGWID%3D0-0-45-461840-p173756746&ei=L28bU6-0GsTR7Ab17IDwCw&usg=AFQjCNEjZFrAIXaE708KRrCzn9D-g3920Q 08/03/2014

Edwards G., Marshall E.J., and Cook C.C.H. (2003)The Treatment of Drinking Problems. A guide for the helping professions. Fourth Edition. pp 3-16. Electronic. Accessed at: http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam041/2002073459.pdf

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