Chemistry project: Drug abuse and it`s effects on human body

[vojvotka]

I am Stojanova. I am student in high school and I have to prepare a chemistry project about drug abuse. The name of the project is Drugs and its damage effects on human body. Because of this I can not find special literature about drugs (heroine, cocaine, metadone, marihuana etc.) and their chemical structure, their effects on human body etc.
I looked at your web side, I think that it is very educational with a lot of informations. I would be very grateful to you if you can send me some informations about my requests, some project about drug abuse anything that would help me and send it on my e-mail. I appreciate your help! Thanks

[agm]

Hi vojvotka,

Welcome to the forum! Glad you like the information.

A few notes (not to be harsh):
--For your safety, we discourage the posting of any identifying info such as your last name.
--You will probably find experts with more relevant knowledge in the Life, Earth, and Social Sciences Forum, so don't be surprised if a moderator moves your topic over there.

Now, I think it will be impossible and unethical to perform an experiment that measures exactly what you mention -- the effect of (dangerous and largely illegal) drugs on the human body. First, even if some of those substances are not illegal where you live, we cannot encourage you to work with them (and certainly not to consume them -- but it sounds like you realize that they are dangerous). Second, the rules of most science fairs require paperwork for working with human subjects or other living organisms that documents procedures that are designed to minimize risk, inform the subjects of risks and obtain their consent, etc. The risks involved with these substances would almost certainly never be approved for a K-12 student project, for the reasons described above. Please don't try anything involving these substances!

If, rather than conducting your own experiment, you are looking for literature on this topic to write a report, we can probably help you find some resources. You might be able to use data from studies to compare the effects of one drug to the effects of another. However, because of ethical considerations, almost all of these studies would be observational rather than experimental in nature -- that is, they might interview people who had used drugs in the past, but they could not have people take certain amounts of drugs and measure/observe those effects.

Another possibility might be to conduct an experiment with safe substances that is somehow analogous to the effect of a drug. For example, if a drug damages an organ that acts as a filter, maybe you could clog or otherwise damage a filter to simulate the effect. Can you let us know more about what you're thinking?

Amanda

[amyc]

I am moving your post to the Grades 9-12 forum since your project is a high-school project. And, as suggested by Amanda, I'm putting it in the Life Sciences forum.

Amy
Science Buddies

[michellebayefsky]

Dear vojvotka,

As Amanda has noted, it is not advisable for you to run an experiment using harmful and/or illegal substances. However, there is a branch of science called Addiction Science that deals with drug abuse. Here is a link to the NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) webwite about science projects. The projects mentioned at the bottom of the page may give you some idea about what you are interested in, although you may need to be in a laboratory setting to work on a similar project.

http://www.drugabuse.gov/sciencefair/Choosing.html

For some backgroung information, here is a website that has a lot of information on various drugs and their effects.

http://www.drug-effects.com/

I hope this helps!
Michelle