You can find more information about how drugs work from:
- Posters
- Brochures
- Books, journals and other publications
- Internet sites such as:
- Internet Mental Health (www.mentalhealth.com)
- The Centre for Education and Information on Drugs and Alcohol (CEIDA) (www.ceida.net.au)
- The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) (ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au)
- The Australian Drug Information Network (www.adin.com.au)
- The Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) (www.adf.org.au)
- Sydney School of Public Health (www.health.usyd.edu.au)
- Client and personal experience
- Colleagues
- Libraries
- Hospitals and other health services
- Young people
- Youth centres and youth services
- Schools, TAFE colleges and universities
Task - writing exercise
This list is not exhaustive. Find out which agency/ies in your local area provide information about how drugs work.Summary
- Pharmacology is the study of how drugs work in the body.
- Psycho-active drugs commonly affect a person's mood, behaviour or thinking ability and act upon the brain.
- Other drugs that are purely medicinal do not have a psycho-active effect (e.g. cholesterol lowering medication).
- Young people are the largest consumers of drugs in our community so it is necessary for frontline workers to understand how drugs work.