• Question: apart from treating illnesses are drugs used for anything else?

    Asked by sloth-savior to David, Sarah, Zoe on 20 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Sarah Ashwood

      Sarah Ashwood answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      That depends entirely on what you define as an illness. Drugs reduce pain – and while some pain is associated with an illness much of it isn’t. Anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce swelling of injuries – broken bones/sprained muscles etc.
      Then you have a whole class of anti-depressants which treat anxiety, panic, depression etc. The wide term for all of these symptoms is “mental illness” but the drugs that people take are not about fighting an illness or bacteria, it’s about changing your brain chemistry slightly to help relieve symptoms.

    • Photo: David Foley

      David Foley answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      Drugs are used as tools to help us understand the biology of our cells better. As biologists try to probe the functions of the new enzyme they have discovered they often use drugs that work elsewhere in the pathway to better understand the role of the enzyme.

      Drugs are also used for illegal activities like boosting performance in sport and as narcotics.

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