Factors that influence drug effects
At the same time, it would be a mistake to ignore how and why a drug works in a strict laboratory setting. That is, we must explore both pharmacological and extra-pharmacological factors influencing drug effects (remembering, of course, that extra-pharmacological factors, like the legal climate, always affect the pharmacological). Pharmacology, a scientific field of study that examines changes in organisms produced by chemical substances, especially drugs, would look at the impact that the following factors have on drug effects:
- identity,
- dose,
- potency and purity,
- drug mixing,
- route of administration, and
- habitation. It is relatively unlikely to study
- set, and
- setting, factors more within the scope of the social scientist.
The notion of a drug effect is extremely broad and all-encompassing. At the very least, effects should be divided into those that can be called "objective" and those that are "subjective.'? Some effects can be seen and measured by an outside observer (someone like a physician or a scientist) fairly precisely; other effects are experienced by the user and can be known only in a secondhand fashion, by means of verbal reports from users, to those who do not take the drug themselves. In short/ some effects happen mainly in the body, while others happen mainly in the mind. Both are equally "real," although subjective effects tend to be more difficult to study;/they are also a great deal more interesting to the sociologist. Some drugs have a relatively superficial impact on the workings of the mind, but powerfully influence certain functions or organs of the body; other drugs work in the opposite fashion. Still others work in both ways.
It should be strongly stressed that subjective effects are not those that the user mistakenly thinks happen, as contrasted with objective effects, which the scientist correctly sees are truly occurring. Subjective effects are no less real than objective ones; they simply exist in different dimensions.
Some subjective experiences do have an "objective" referent—for instance, believing that one can drive better under the influence of alcohol than sober. In this case, we have an incorrect subjective belief and a correct objective fact: One's ability to drive actually does deteriorate under the f influence. But most subjective effects have no objective referent at all; they are not about what is happening in the physical world. They are about what is happening in the user's mind under the influence. The experience is the ultimate truth here.
A second dimension distinguishing between different types of effects is the acute-chronic dimension. Some effects are short-term and take place under the influence of a drug, specifically during the minutes or hours subsequent to its ingestion; these are called its acute effects. Others take place over the long run, in the months or years of continued use, even when the user is not under the influence; these are called its chronic effects. It is improper to assume that acute effects automatically occur at the chronic level as well.
This is a matter to be investigated scientifically. For instance, a given drug may induce acute memory loss under the influence, but may not do so over die long run, when users are not under the influence. Basically, then, there are three different types of effects: acute subjective, acute objective, and chronic. An example of an acute subjective effect would be the euphoria many users of cocaine feel when they take that drug.
An example of an acute objective effect would be an increase in heartbeat rate that can be measured in users under the influence of marijuana, or the decline in motor skills that follows the ingestion of alcohol. And a chronic effect of the heavy, long-term use of barbiturates would be the development of a physical dependence, or the damage to the liver of the alcoholic. When we examine drugs and drug use, we must keep in mind the different levels or dimensions on which drug effects manifest themselves.
