How can Psychoactive drugs enter the body?

  • Swallowing
  • Snorting
  • Smoking
  • Inhaling fumes
  • Injection-intramuscular(IM), intravenous (IV), subcutaneous (SC)
  • Topical
  • Sublingual

Following a Substance Through the Body

  1. Administration-substance into person
  2. Absorption-substance into bloodstream
  3. Distribution-blood carries substance to brain and body tissues
  4. Substance Action-substance interacts with cells
  5. Termination of effect, metabolism, and/or elimination

Time Between Metabolism and Elimination

  • Half-life: The amount of time it takes to eliminate half of the original does of a substance from the body
  • The half-life of a substance affects how long its effect last; then how long it will take to clear the substance from the body
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