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Introduction

Picture 1. We are surrounded by drugs of abuse.

People have used drugs for thousands of years. The ancient Aztecs in South America chewed the leaves of the coca plant for its stimulant effects and Queen Victoria even smoked cannabis (before it was made illegal) to ease her period pains. Today the supply and use of drugs is a world-wide, multi-billion pound "industry".

This e-resource looks at some of the drugs that are abused today.

Contents
	There are 6 pages in this electronic resource (e-source): Introduction What is a drug of abuse? Drugs and the law Drugs and you Examples of drugs of abuse Quiz

Using this e-source

There are a number of interactive features in this e-source:

A glossary of terms: any word with a glossary entry is highlighted like that. Clicking on the word will open a new window with a definition of that word.

Quick questions: at the end of e-source, there is a set of quick questions to test your understanding of the scientific ideas.

Roll over diagrams: many of the diagrams have highlights or sequences. You can see these by rolling your cursor over part of the picture or part of the text. The text has a roll over highlight like that.

Last updated March 2004.