Biological Key Question

Question 1

What is the biological key question?

Answer 1

How effective is drug therapy for treating addictions?

Question 2

How does addiction to drugs cost society?

Answer 2

High numbers of crime and costs NHS to treat addiction

Question 3

How many opiate users were there in 2013/14 in the UK and how many successfully used drug therapy?

Answer 3

Just under 300,000

Just under 30,000 successfully used drug therapy to treat drug addiction

Question 4

What can methadone reduction programmes discourage and how does this impact society?

Answer 4

Abstinence from heroin so costs society more in economic and social costs

Question 5

What is substitute prescribing?

Answer 5

Giving some medication or another which reduces physical effects of heroin e.g. methadone, buprenorphine

Question 6

What does buprenorphine help with?

Answer 6

Avoids withdrawal effects of coming off the drug but provides less ‘high’ so its less addictive

Question 7

What can repeated exposure to recreational drugs lead to?

Answer 7

Tolerance and withdrawal symptoms which continue drug use

Social and economic costs - so needs to be treated

Question 8

What does reduction of methadone doses mean for the user?

Answer 8

Experience withdrawal symptoms e.g. cramps and vomiting, so can lead to relapse

Question 9

What does methadone mimic?

Answer 9

The action of heroin at synaptic level through dopamine and endorphins

Question 10

How is the dose of buprenorphine gradually reduced?

Answer 10

Binds to opioid receptors without a perfect fit so tends to occupy receptors without euphoria preventing receptors from joining with full opioids

Question 11

What can we use to investigate activity of methadone treatment in the brain for effectiveness?

Answer 11

Brain scans e.g PET scans

Question 12

How does West support the biological key question?

Answer 12

Found that drug therapy is effective in treating heroin addiction

Question 13

How does Marteau support the biological key question?

Answer 13

Found it 6 times safer than methadone

Question 14

How does Jones support the biological key question, specifically buprenorphine?

Answer 14

Found buprenorphine prevents withdrawal, allows for a more individual treatment process as it is long lasting and more flexible when it can be given so less chance of overdose

Question 15

How does Li conflict the biological key question?

Answer 15

Found that cues for heroin in specific brain areas suggest that cues themselves affect brain functioning so it is not just biology that is involved

Question 16

How does Alexander’s Rat Park conflict the biological key question?

Answer 16

Found substitute prescribing is not needed when he put drug-addicted rats into a lush and exciting social cage, the environment replaced the euphoria they got from drugs

Question 17

Why is it a weakness to use animal research for the biological key question?

Answer 17

Results gained from animals may not be applicable to humans