BIOLOGY INVESTIGATORY

PROJECT
DRUG ADDICTION

Submitted by:

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 Kaustubh
Dikshit
XII-B

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Kaustubh
Dikshit, a Bonafede student of
class XII-B of Ryan International
School has successfully completed
the biology investigatory project on
the topic “drug addiction” under
the guidance of his teacher, Dr.
Anuja Joshi in the academic year
2024-2025. This is the original
work of the student and the
references taken for the project
have been declared in the end.

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_________
__________
Teacher in-charge
External Examiner

ACKNOWLEDGEME
NT
I have taken efforts in this project.
However, it would not have been
possible without the kind support
and help of many individuals.

I am highly indebted to my biology

teacher, Dr. Anuja Joshi, for her
invaluable guidance which has

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sustained my efforts in all the stages
of this project work.

I would also like to thank my parents

for their continuous support and
encouragement.

Kaustubh Dikshit
(XII-B)
Ryan International School, Noida

INDEX
S.No CONTENT Page
. No.
1. Certificate 2
2. Acknowledgements 3
3. Aim/Objective 5
4. Project Report on 6
Drugs Dependance
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5. Introduction to 7-8
“drug addiction”
6. Classification of 9
Drugs
7. Combination of 10
drugs and Alcohol
8. How does drug 11
addiction begin?
9. Social disease – 12
Smoking, drinking,
and use of drugs
10. Tobacco 13-15
11. Alcohol 16-18
12. Conclusion 19
13. Bibliography 20

OBJECTIVE

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v To study drugs,
there
classification, it’s addictive
nature, and prevention from
addiction.

PROJECT REPORT ON
DRUGS DEPENDANCE
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Drugs are prescribed by physicians for
the prevention or treatment of
diseases, or for increasing the physical
and mental performance and are
withdrawn as soon as the desired
effect is achieved. Repeated use of
certain drugs on a periodic or
continuous basis may make the body
dependence. Such drugs are called
psychotropic drugs. They act on the
brain and alter behavior,
consciousness, and capacity of
perception. Hence, they are also
termed mood-altering drugs. Some
people start taking drugs without
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medical advice due to one reason or
the other and become drugs
dependent.

INTRODUCTION TO
“DRUGS ADDICTION”

“DRUG ADDICTION” this phrase

is made by two words:
(i) Drug
(ii) Addiction

What is meant by a drug?

Any substance, other than food, used in the

prevention, diagnosis, all aviation or treatment of

a disease is called a drug. A drug may also be

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defined as a chemical which, when taken in some

way after the body function. The drug is also

known as a medicine. Generally, the statin drugs

applied to any stimulating or depressing

substance that can be habituating or addictive.

Meaning of Addiction
Addiction is the habitual, psychological and

physiological dependence on a substance or

practice. Which is beyond voluntary control. A

person who is habituated to a substance or a

practice, especially a harmful one, is called an

addict.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF
DRUGS
There are a large number of drugs on which
people become dependent. These are classified
into four major groups: sedatives and tranquilizers,
opiate narcotics, stimulants and hallucinogens.

Type of Examples Effect

Drugs
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Sedatives and Barbiturates, Depress CNS
Tranquillizers Benzodiazepin activity give a
es, feeling of
Methampheta calmness,
mine. relaxation,
drowsiness.
Opiate Opium, Suppress brain
Narcotics Morphine, activity relaxed
Codeine, pain.
Heroin.
Stimulants Amphetamines Make a person
, Caffeine, more wakeful,
Cocaine. alert and active,
cause
excitement.
Hallucinogens LSQ, Mescalin, Alter thoughts,
psilocybin, feelings, and
Ganja, Charas, perceptions.
Hashish.

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 COMBINATION OF
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
Some addicts use mixtures of drugs to have
immediate ‘kid’ or ‘charge’. Simultaneous use
of drug and alcohol may produce dangerous
effects, including death. When barbiturates
and alcohol are taken together, each doubles
the effect of the other. A mixture of cocaine
and heroin called speedball gives a
spontaneous kick of cocaine and prolonged
pleasure of heroin.

Combination Effect
Alcohol + Markedly increased
Barbiturates the depressant effect.
Alcohol + Marked drowsiness.
Antihistamines
Alcohol + Valium Dramatically
increases sedative
effect.
Alcohol + Marijuana Decreased
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or Hashish coordination
increased reaction
time impaired
judgement.
Alcohol + Aspirin Increased changes of
damage to gastric
mucosa.

HOW DOES DRUG

ADDICTION BEGIN?

There are many factors that lead people to

drug addiction.
1. Curiosity: Frequent references to
drugs by public media create curiosity for
having a personal experience of the
drugs.
2. Friend's pressure: Frequent
appreciation of drug experience by friends
allures others to start the use of drugs.
3. Frustration and Depression: Some
people start taking drugs to get relief from
frustration and depression.

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4. The desire for More Work: Students
sometimes takes drugs to keep awake the
whole night to prepare for the examination.
It is not desirable as it may cause a mental
breakdown.
5. Looking for a Different World: A
wrong notion that the drugs open up a new
world tempts some young octets to start
taking-drugs.
6. Relief from Pain: A prolonged use of
pain-relieving drugs with physician's
advice at times leads to addiction.
7. Family History: Children may take to
drugs by seeing their elders in the family.
8. Excitement and Adventure: The
young take to drugs to satisfy their instinct
for excitement and adventure.

SOCIAL DISEASE – SMOKING,

DRINKING, AND USE OF DRUGS

Smoking and drinking and use of drugs

frequently or regularly are social diseases. They
adversely affect the health of the addicts and the
society. Young people take to these habits for
fun, show off or curiosity, as an adventure or
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feeling of freedom, or as a gesture of defiance
against the elders who themselves indulge in
these activities but check the youngsters. Other
factors that make people take to these vices are
the inability to face problems of life indifference
shown by members of the family and
encouragement or pressure by friends. A
temporary escape from the life problems and
mental relaxation felt on taking the drugs in the
beginning increases person's interest in them.
Soon they become habitual and find in difficult to
leave. The daily dose to get the desired effect
increases with time.

As in other countries, the menace of drug

addiction is spreading in India also. A large
number of our young men and women have taken
to intoxicants. About 87.6 per cent drug addicts
are between the ages of 14 and 25 years.

TOBACCO
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Sources:
It is a native of South Africa, where the Red Indian first
started smoking. Now the tobacco plant has spread the
world over. It has large, quote to lanceolate leaves and
terminal clusters of tubulars, white or pink flowers.

Modes of Use:
Tobacco is used for smoking, chewing and snuffing. Its
main stimulating component is poisonous volatile
alkaloid nicotine, which causes addiction. Nicotine
synthesis occurs in the roots of the plant but it is stored
in the leaves. The leaves contain 2 to 8% nicotine.
Inhaling tobacco smoke from cigars, cigarettes, biddies,
pipes and hubble-bubble is called smoking. The cigar is
a roll of tobacco leaf. The cigarette is cut tobacco
wrapped in paper. Bidi is tobacco wrapped. In a piece of
leaf. Tobacco smoke is drawn directly from the pipe and
through water is hubble-bubble. Smoking may give
some temporary relief to the strained nerves but in the
long run, it proves a dangerous health hazard. The
quantity of nicotine contained in one cigar may prove
fatal if injected intravenously into a person. When
smoked only 10% of the smoke is inhaled. Hence, no

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immediate ill effect is observed. Smokers may develop a
physiological craving for nicotine and then they cannot
give up smoking.

EFFECT OF NICOTINE
Nicotine is a low concentration.

(i) Stimulates conduction of nerve impulses.

(ii) Relaxes the muscles.

(iii) Releases adrenaline, increasing heart beat rate

and pressure.

(iv) Increased blood pressure due to smoking chances

the risk of heart diseases.

(v) Retards fetal growth in expecting mothers and

(vi) Causes tobacco addiction. High concentration of

nicotine paralyzes nerve cells

Other Harmful components of Tobacco Smoke:

Besides the poisonous nicotine, the tobacco smoke

contains carbon-monoxide, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, and tar.

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Other Effects:

(i) Smoking effects economy: A smoker not only waste

money but also runs the risk of burns and fires.

(ii) Smoking mars personality: Teeth may become

stained. Lips may get discolored and breath becomes
foul. A person with a cigarette hanging from the mouth
looks odd.

(iii) Smoking is annoying to others: Cigarette

smoke is quite annoying to non-smokers. It may
prove even more harmful to them. A smoker
should avoid smoking. When in the company of
non-smokers. A smoker makes the person
nearby person's passive smokers through
inhaling smoke released by him.

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 ALCOHOL

Sources:
Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, flammable, colorless liquid
having a penetrating odor and burning taste. It is one of
the products of the distillation of fermented grains, fruit
juices and starches with the help of yeast enzymes. It is
the principal constituent and the intoxicating principle
of wines.

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Modes of Use:
Alcohol is taken in low concentration, as the beer,
toddy, and wine and in relatively high concentration as
arrack, brandy, whiskey, rum, gin, vodka etc.

Addiction:
Addiction to alcohol is called alcoholism. Alcoholics are
found in all society section of society. Alcohol causes
intoxication and thus, acts as a poison. They drinkers
begin with small doses, but many of them soon start
consuming large doses and become addicts. By the time
they realize that drinking in adversely affecting them, it
is too late to give it up.

Why People Take to Drinking:

The drinkers offer one or more of the following reasons

for starting drinking.

(i) Social pressure

(ii) Desire for excitement
(iii) Feeling of independence
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 (iv) Liking of taste
(v) Desire to escape from such realities of life as
disappointments and failures and
(vi) The desire to offset the hardships and monotony of
daily life.

What Happens When Alcohol is

Consumed?
Alcohol is quickly absorbed in the stomach and
upper part of small intestine and reaches all the
tissues in minutes. Its oxidation starts at once and a
large amount of heat in produced. Since heat is not
needed in the body, it is taken up by the blood and
carried to the skin for dissipation. Since the
receptors of heat are located in the skin, the rush of
blood to the skin gives a false impression of warmth
in the body. The blood supply of internal organs is
greatly reduced resulting in fall of temperature in
them. The energy released by alcohol is not used in
any life process. Rather the energy derived from
food is used up in ridding the body of excess heat.
Is Alcohol A Stimulant?
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Many people take alcohol for stimulation. Actually,
alcohol is a depressant, a substance which dulls the
senses. It reduces the efficiency of every tissue the
body. Any feeling of lift a person may claim to feel is
a mistaken impression or an attempt to justify the
act in his own mind.

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 CONCLUSIONS
Drug use and addiction cause a lot of disease

and disability in the world. Recent advances

in neuroscience may help improve policies to

reduce the harm that the use of tobacco,

alcohol and other psychoactive drugs impose

on society.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
See H. Abadinsky, Drug Abuse (1989); H. T.
Milhorn, Jr., Chemical Dependence (1990); D.
Baum, Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs
and the Politics of Failure (1996); M. Massing,
The Fix (1998); J. Jonnes, Hepcats, Narcs, and
Pipe Dreams: A History of America's Romance
with Illegal Drugs (1999); publications of the
Drugs & Crime Data Center and Clearinghouse,
the Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse,
and the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and
Drug Information.

v NCERT Class 12 Lab Manual

v https://en.wikipedia.org

v https://www.google.co.in

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v https://www.scribd.com

v https://www.slideshare.com

v Class 12 NCERT Textbook

v Reference articles from various blogs.

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