ICS Inter-Community School Library: Sciences: Impacts of Drugs on Brain

Keywords & Inquiry Prompts

Keywords: Drug, Brain, Teenage Brian, Neuroscience, Caffeine, Alcohol, Nicotine, Tobacco, Cigarette, e-Cigarettes, Vape, Cocaine, THC/CBD, Cannabis, Opioids and MDMA, Molly, Ecstasy

Inquiry Prompts

What was the original purpose of your chosen drug?/How did science contribute to this?
Explain the short-term impacts of your chosen drug on the brain.
Explain the long-term impacts of your chosen drug on the brain.
Explain the meaning of addiction.
Describe the symptoms of withdrawal from your chosen drug.
What are the impacts of the use of your chosen drug on society, the economy, the environment or politics?
What are the positive and negative impacts of the treatment of addiction to your chosen drug on society, the economy, the environment or politics?

Alcohol @Impatcs/Effects on Brain

ALCOHOL’S DAMAGING EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN [RL 2]
Read the first paragraph of the article...
What Alcohol Can Do to Your Brain [RL 2]
Alcohol interferes with the brain's communication pathways. It can also affect how your brain processes information. Read how things happen here...
Short and Long-Term Effects of Alcohol on the Brain [RL 3]
The immediate effects of alcohol on the brain are due to its influence on the organ’s communication and information-processing pathways...
DailyMail article on the danger of teenage drinking [RL 2-3]
Binge-drinking 'rewires a teenager's brain' leaving them more at risk of depression and alcoholism in later life...
Harverd Review on Oxford University Research on the impacts of Alcohal on Brain [RL 2-3]
A recent British study seems to have bad news for moderate drinkers, indicating that even moderate drinking is associated with shrinkage in areas of the brain involved in cognition and learning.
Alcohol related brain impairment [RL 3]
Alcohol is one of the many causes of acquired brain injury. The problems caused by alcohol misuse are together called alcohol related brain impairment (ARBI)...
Alcohol - risks and consequences (German)
The alcohol (ethanol) is rapidly absorbed into the blood through the mouth, throat and digestive tract. The blood alcohol concentration varies depending on absorbed amount, sex and body weight. A standard glass of alcohol usually contains between 10 and 12 g of pure alcohol (glass of wine, bar of beer, ...).

Low levels of alcohol might good for the brain, study shows [RL 2-3]
The new study, which appears in the journal Scientific Reports, shows that low levels of alcohol consumption tamp down inflammation and helps the brain clear away toxins, including those associated with Alzheimer's disease...

Caffeine @Impatcs/Effects on Brain

Adolescent caffeine consumption slows brain development [RL 2]
Reto Huber (University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland) hypothesized that caffeine might interfere with SWA, and thus the changes in synaptic density necessary for brain maturation. Read details here
Effects of Caffeine on Human Health [RL 2]
One effect of caffeine is to interfere with adenosine at multiple sites in the brain including reticular formation.
Why teens and caffeine can be a dangerous combination? [RL 2-3]
Caffeine is widely considered a drug, a chemical that changes brain function and affects mood, cognition or behaviour.

Benefits of the Right Amount of Coffee!

9 Reasons Why (the Right Amount of) Coffee Is Good for You
“Caffeine is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about coffee. But coffee also contains antioxidants and other active substances that may reduce internal inflammation and protect against disease,” says Diane Vizthum, M.S., R.D., research nutritionist for Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine...
13 Health Benefits of Coffee, Based on Science [RL 2]
Studies show that coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of several serious diseases. Here are the top 13 health benefits of coffee...

Cocaine @Impatcs/Effects on Brain

Short/Long-term effects of Cocaine [RL 1-2]
Cocaine causes heart, kidney, brain and lung damage...
What are some ways that cocaine changes the brain? [RL 2-3]
Cocaine Research Report by the US govt.
What Are the Effects of Cocaine on the Brain? [RL 2]
Both cocaine and crack cocaine can cause brain damage, even when used only a few times. Damage to brain structures can trigger addiction, which is a disease involving the reward circuits and dopamine systems...

MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly) @Impacts/Effects on Brain

What are MDMA’s effects on the brain? [RL 2-3]
MDMA affects the brain by increasing the activity of at least three neurotransmitters (the chemical messengers of brain cells): serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine...
How Molly Works in the Brain? [RL 3]
The prosocial effects—the desire to socialize and bond with others— have been linked, though controversially, to MDMA’s effects on brain concentrations of the hormone oxytocin...
Does MDMA cause brain damage? [RL 2-3]
The brain has the potential to alter irreparably with a lifetime of MDMA use....

Nicotine @Impatcs/Effects on Brain

How Nicotine Affects the Brain and Body [RL 1]
Nicotine increases the levels of dopamine in the reward circuits of the brain. This makes people want to keep taking products containing nicotine...
The Effects Of Nicotine On The Adolescent Brain [RL 2]
Nicotine is toxic for adolescents with developing brains, as they are more susceptible to both the addictiveness and harm of nicotine. Simply put, nicotine is brain poison for youth...
How Nicotine Affects Your Brain? [RL 3]
When tobacco smoke or nicotine vapor is inhaled, the drug rushes into the brain and floods the receptors within 10 seconds, providing an almost instant buzz...
Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Nicotine Exposure during Adolescence [RL 3]
Scholarly Article

Opioids @Impacts/Effects on Brain

How Opioids Affect the Brain [RL 2]
Opioids target the brain’s production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that induces the feeling of pleasure. Dopamine manages movement, emotion, cognition, and motivation in the brain...
Opiates Work and the Effects on Brain [RL 2]
The way that opiates work on the brain is that they bind to specific receptors , that is, the neurotransmitters in the brain that control movement, moods, and physiology, which includes digestion, body temperature and breathing. They cause the neurotransmitters to fire at a high rate as they would in times of extreme stress...
Opioid Brain Damage: 5 Things You Should Know [RL 2-3]
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of USA, prescription opioid overdoses increased by 13.5 percent between 1999 and 2018. By 2018, 128 people died every day from a fatal opioid overdose...

THC/CBD (Cannabis) @Impatcs/Effects on Brain

The Science of Marijuana: How THC Affects the Brain? [RL 2]
When someone smokes marijuana, THC gets into the brain rapidly and attaches to cannabinoid receptors...
Short and Long-term effects of marijuana on the brain [RL 2]
Marijuana use directly affects brain function — specifically the parts of the brain responsible for memory, learning, attention, decision-making, coordination, emotions, and reaction time.
The Impact of THC on the Brain
Video lesson from PSB

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