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  • Drugs part 2
    • Tobacco and smoking
      • Cigarettes are harmful in three ways
        • Nicotine which is an addictive drug leading to heart disease and raises blood pressure.
        • Tar which coats the lining of the lungs which reduces the amount of 02 absorbed. This causes cancer by the carcinogens
        • Carbon monoxide which is a poisonous gas which joins onto red blood cells making them incapable of transporting oxygen around the body
      • Parkinson's disease
        • it is a disorder of the central nervous system caused by a loss of cells in the area of the brain.
          • Those sells produce dopamine (a chemical messenger responsible for transmitting signals across synapses.
            • The loss of dopamine causes some nerve cells to fire out of control, leaving patients unable to control their movement
              • This disease can be treated by a drug called L-dopa which unfortunately has a number of side effects and large doses of the drug is needed as the disease progresses.
    • Alcohol
      • There are many alcoholic drinks including wines, beers and spirits are called ethanol which is a depressant, this means it slows down the signals in the nerves and brain.
      • There are legal limits to the level of alcohol that drivers and pilots can have in the body. This is because alcoho impairs the ability of people to control their vehicles properly.
      • Breath tests can be used to by the police to see if the driver has drank ovr the limit.
      • Alcohol has short-term effects such as sleepiness and impaired judgment, balance and muscle control. This leads to blurred vision and slurred speech.
      • Long-term effects of alcohol include damage to the liver and the brain. The liver removes the alcohol from the blood strem.
        • It has enzymes that break down alcohol but the products of the reactions are toxic They damage the live over time which leads to cirrhosis.

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