Monthly Archives: June 2018

The Capstone Share

The final presentation was PERFECT!!!!! Every single person in the audience laughed at my joke. It got to the point where I could talk for about a minute and I didn’t forget a single single word. It was amazing. I would say in all my public talks, this one was by far the best. I felt so happy for myself it was amazing. I don’t know how to explain how happy I was. I was screaming with joy so much inside. It wasr like the gods of capstone praised me and besides the fact that I did good, I had so much fun. Overall, this was probably my favorite memory of Heathcote. This was my presentation.



Capstone Site Visit

The site visit was a big….. flop. I didn’t even get to technically do my site visit because it was illegal according to the manager. I was planning on experiencing the way of a prescribed drug but I was denied. So all I could do was take a few pictures and ask a few questions. The most useful answer I got was to the question : How are the different kinds of drugs organized. But besides that it went terribly.



The final product

After all my work, I am ready to present and it was stressful. I was done but man, it was not easy. I kept stressing out and kept thinking to myself, “Will I forget some words? Will the audience laugh at my joke?” These questions kept popping into my head and the more it did the more stressful I got. This was getting on my nerves so much. But anyway my presentation and script were pretty good and I had actually memorized my whole script. This was my script by the way:

 

“Hi my name is Raymond and I will be doing drugs… for capstone of course.  Now, I know you’re thinking ,”Why did this kid do drugs for him capstone”. Well I choose drugs because I have a condition called eczema which is where I sprout a lot of rashes everywhere on my body. Now, don’t go assuming my parents did this to me because that is not true. To cure this I take medicine. Which is a prescription drug and I wanted to learn more about it and even more.

Before we even start, I think you should  what is a drug? A drug is any substance or chemical that alters the way that your body works. Anything can be a drug from creams to allergy medicine to things as bad as Marijuana.

 

Drugs come in many different shapes in sizes and have many different prices. But how is the price of a drug determined? Well for addicts, the price does not matter. Addicts will do anything they can to get the drug they want. This includes betraying people, lying to doctors to get a prescription and stealing money from anyone and anywhere to get enough money to buy a drug. But for prescribed drugs and medicine, it’s all about science and art. Many elements are considered when deciding the price. The most important aspect is the clinical value. This means how does the drug benefit the user. Some questions related to the clinical value are: does the drug help the user live longer? Will people pay for the drug? Are there competitors? This means that good drugs are made mostly for the benefit for the user.

 

Drugs have many ingredients, but there are only 2 types of ingredients, inactive and active. Inactive ingredients do not have any effect to a drug. An inactive ingredient could be food dye. An active ingredient is the opposite. It does have an effect on the drug. An active ingredient could be alcohol. Mostly, an active ingredient in a drug like nicotine does something to the user that’s bad or good depending on what drug your using. Like nicotine causes users to get addicted to something which is normally used in bad drugs. Also, mostly inactive ingredients are used to do stuff like change the taste of the drug and change the color of the drug.

 

There is a large variety of drugs. Some are “bad”, some are “good”. But in general a drug is a drug. So, what are some drugs that are beneficial to the body and how does the drug help the body? Some “good” drugs that I personally have to use a lot are creams and antibiotics. Creams such as the ones I take, relieve my itchiness and antibiotics kill bacteria. These are all “good drugs”.

 

“Bad” drugs. There are a lot of bad drugs that can also be good. Such as Marijuana. There is the illegal kind and the legal kind which is used for medicine. But still, medical marijuana is on legal in  So, what are some kinds of drugs that are dangerous to take and how does the drug impact the body? Well like I listed before, some kinds of “bad” drugs are marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin. But their is also ecstasy, opioids, and many more I cannot list. But I got the most information on marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin so I will list these drugs affects. Marijuana is a hallucinogen which mean that it gives the user an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present which means they see something not there. Marijuana can also have many other effects such as red eyes, common nosebleeds, and can speed up your heart rate from 20 bpm to nearly 50 bpm! That’s insane! It can also be very dangerous because if your house was on fire or you were in an emergency, if you were using marijuana lately, you would be in grave danger because you would be in the emergency without being frightened or panicked by the emergency which means, you could easily die in the emergency because you would most likely be making no attempt to get out of the emergency. This is because marijuana damages your memory cells in your brain which makes you forget your past experiences. This is why marijuana is so dangerous. Heroin is an illegal opiate which can slow your reaction time down. But it also kills pain in users. But back to the fact that it slows your reaction time down. If you were driving on heroin (which no one should do), if there was a stop sign in front of you, at the last second you would suddenly stop and realize the stop sign was there because heroin makes you reaction time slower. Meth and cocaine are stimulants which means that they speed up you body. Cocaine can be like anabolic steroids. It can give you a big boost of strength and a lot of self esteem. However, the big boost of strength and self esteem come at a price. Which is heart failure. When you use this big boost of strength, you put yourself in risk of a heart failure. And the self esteem sort of pushes you to go over the limit which combined with the risk of the heart failure is very dangerous. Meth is a stimulants on the other hand also increases your heart rate but you get no benefit whatsoever. It’s like if you run for 10 minutes, you will feel like you have ran for 30-40 minutes. This can cause overheating and yet another risk of heart failure.

 

Like I said before, there are a large variety of drugs. Many of which are known for being good for you and many of which are known for being bad for you. You might think that there are only a few illegal/”bad” drugs like heroin. But no. Any drug can be illegal. Even medicine. For example, let’s say a person is prescribed a drug from a doctor. Let’s say another person wants some of your prescribed drug. If you agree and give them some, it turns into an illegal drug because the second person is taking a prescribed drug when it was not prescribed to him/her. If the second person agrees and sells it to the second person, this makes the first person a drug dealer. So that means that any drug you can think of can be illegal or made illegal in a way.

 

So drugs can both negatively and positively affect crucial parts of the human body. So what crucial parts of the body can be affected by different kinds of drugs? Well, positively, it could affect lots of places like the brain and your heart and it would help things like Leukemia. Take 8 year old Mykayla Comstock for example, she is taking cannabis every day to help her Leukemia. Negatively though, drugs such as cocaine, meth, marijuana and heroin can affect many parts of the body, but they mainly strongly affect the brain and the heart. Using these drugs long term can lead to a largely increased chance of a serious heart failure. Still despite these facts, 100,000 lbs of cocaine is consumed every year in the U.S. alone, 4000 lbs of meth in the U.S. alone and 700 tons of marijuana in the U.S. alone. That’s crazy!!!

 

To sum it all up, drug affect the human body many many different ways not only positively but also negatively. I hope you learned more than I did about drugs. Thank you.”

 

Anyway, my presentation was also pretty good. All my transitions were maybe too complicated by they looked good. All my practice presentations went well. Most of the audience laughed at my joke and I didn’t mess up at all. So now we wait and see how the final presentation will go. Hopefully everything will go as planned.

 



Answering Main Inquiry Question

Sub Question #1 – You might think that there are only a few illegal drugs like Marijuana. But no. Any drug can be illegal. Even medicine. For example, let’s say a person is prescribed a drug from a doctor. On the prescribed drug, there is a dose of how much of the drug you should take at once. Let’s say another person wants some of your prescribed drug. If you agree and give them some, it turns into an illegal drug because the second person is taking a prescribed drug when it was not prescribed to him/her. If the second person agrees and sells it to the second person, this makes the first person a drug dealer. So that means that any drug you can think of can be illegal or made illegal in a way.

 

Sub Question #2 – How is the price of a drug determined? Well for addicts, the price does not matter. Addicts will do anything they can to get the drug they want. This includes betraying people, lying to doctors to get a prescription and stealing money from anyone and anywhere to get enough money to buy a drug. But for prescribed drugs and medicine, it’s all about science and art. Many elements are considered when deciding the price. The most important aspect is the clinical value. Which means how does the drug benefit the user. Some questions related to the clinical value are, does the drug help the user live longer? Will people pay for the drug? Are there competitors? This means that good drugs are made mostly for the benefit for the user.

 

Sub Question #3 – What crucial parts of the body can be affected by different kinds of drugs? Well, positively, it could affect lots of places like the brain and your heart and it would help things like Leukemia. Take 8 year old Mykayla Comstock for example, she is taking cannabis every day to help her Leukemia. Negatively though, drugs such as cocaine, meth, marijuana and heroin can affect many parts of the body, but they mainly strongly affect the brain and the heart. Still despite these facts, 100,000 lbs of cocaine is consumed every year in the U.S. alone, 4000 lbs of meth in the U.S. alone and 700 tons of marijuana in the U.S. alone.

 

Sub Question #4: What ingredients are needed to make an affect more negative or positive? Well there are 2 types of ingredients, inactive and active. Inactive ingredients do not have any effect to a drug. An inactive ingredient could be food dye. An active ingredient is the opposite. It does have an effect on the drug. An active ingredient could be alcohol. So the main thing I will prioritize on is active drugs. For positive and negative drugs, there are 4 different types of drugs. Stimulants, Hallucinogens, Depressants and Opiates. Stimulants speed up your body. Depressants do the opposite. Opiates are powerful painkillers and Hallucinogens affect your thoughts and emotions in unpredictable ways.

 

Sub Question #5: What are some drugs that are beneficial to the body and how does the drug help the body? Some “good” drugs that I personally have to use a lot are creams, antibiotics, pain relievers, etc. Pain relievers obviously help pain. Creams such as the ones I take, relieve my itchiness and antibiotics kill bacteria.

 

Sub Question #6: What are some kinds of drugs that are dangerous to take and how does the drug impact the body? Well like I listed before, some kinds of “bad” drugs are marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin. But their is also ecstasy, opioids, and many more I cannot list. But I got the most information on marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin so I will list these drugs affects. Marijuana is a depressant which mean that it slows down the body. Marijuana can also have many other effects such as red eyes, common nosebleeds, and can speed up your heart rate from 20 bpm to nearly 50 bpm! That’s insane! It can also be very dangerous because if your house was on fire or you were in an emergency, if you were using marijuana lately, you would be in grave danger because you would be in the emergency without being frightened or panicked by the emergency which means, you could easily die in the emergency because you would most likely be making no attempt to get out of the emergency. This is because marijuana damages your memory cells in your brain which makes you forget your past experiences. This is why marijuana is so dangerous. Heroin is an opiate which can slow your reaction time down but it also kills pain. But back to the fact that heroin can slow your reaction time down. If you were driving on heroin (which no one should do), if there was a stop sign in front of you, at the last second you would suddenly stop and realize the stop sign was there because heroin makes you reaction time slower. Meth and cocaine are stimulants which means that they speed up you body. Cocaine can be like anabolic steroids. It can give you a big boost of strength and a lot of self esteem. However, the big boost of strength and self esteem come at a price. Which is heart failure. When you use this big boost of strength, you put yourself in risk of a heart failure. And the self esteem sort of pushes you to go over the limit which combined with the risk of the heart failure is very dangerous. Meth is a stimulants on the other hand also increases your heart rate but you get no benefit whatsoever. It’s like if you run for 10 minutes, you will feel like you have ran for 30-40 minutes. This can cause overheating and yet another risk of heart failure.

 

Main Inquiry Question: How do drugs affect the human body in negative and positive ways?

 

First of all, what is a drug? A drug is a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. Anything can be a drug from creams to allergy medicine to things as bad as Marijuana.

 

Drugs come in many different shapes in sizes and have many different prices. But how is the price of a drug determined? Well for addicts, the price does not matter. Addicts will do anything they can to get the drug they want. This includes betraying people, lying to doctors to get a prescription and stealing money from anyone and anywhere to get enough money to buy a drug. But for prescribed drugs and medicine, it’s all about science and art. Many elements are considered when deciding the price. The most important aspect is the clinical value. Which means how does the drug benefit the user. Some questions related to the clinical value are, does the drug help the user live longer? Will people pay for the drug? Are there competitors? This means that good drugs are made mostly for the benefit for the user.

 

Drugs have many ingredients, but there are only 2 types of ingredients, inactive and active. Inactive ingredients do not have any effect to a drug. An inactive ingredient could be food dye. An active ingredient is the opposite. It does have an effect on the drug. An active ingredient could be alcohol. Mostly, an active ingredient in a drug like nicotine does something to the user that’s bad or good depending on what drug your using. Nicotine causes users to get addicted to something which is normally used in bad drugs. Also, mostly inactive ingredients are used to do stuff like change the taste of the drug and change the color of the drug.

 

There is a large variety of drugs. Some are “bad”, some are “good”. But in general a drug is a drug. So, what are some drugs that are beneficial to the body and how does the drug help the body? Some “good” drugs that I personally have to use a lot are creams and antibiotics. Creams such as the ones I take, relieve my itchiness and antibiotics kill bacteria.

 

“Bad” drugs. There are a lot of bad drugs that can also be good. Such as Marijuana. There is the illegal kind and the legal kind which is used for medicine. So, what are some kinds of drugs that are dangerous to take and how does the drug impact the body? Well like I listed before, some kinds of “bad” drugs are marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin. But their is also ecstasy, opioids, and many more I cannot list. But I got the most information on marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin so I will list these drugs affects. Marijuana is a hallucinogen which mean that it gives the user an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present which means they see something not there. Marijuana can also have many other effects such as red eyes, common nosebleeds, and can speed up your heart rate from 20 bpm to nearly 50 bpm! That’s insane! It can also be very dangerous because if your house was on fire or you were in an emergency, if you were using marijuana lately, you would be in grave danger because you would be in the emergency without being frightened or panicked by the emergency which means, you could easily die in the emergency because you would most likely be making no attempt to get out of the emergency. This is because marijuana damages your memory cells in your brain which makes you forget your past experiences. This is why marijuana is so dangerous. Heroin is an opiate which can slow your reaction time down. For example, if you were driving on heroin (which no one should do), if there was a stop sign in front of you, at the last second you would suddenly stop and realize the stop sign was there because heroin makes you reaction time slower. Meth and cocaine are stimulants which means that they speed up you body. Cocaine can be like anabolic steroids. It can give you a big boost of strength and a lot of self esteem. However, the big boost of strength and self esteem come at a price. Which is heart failure. When you use this big boost of strength, you put yourself in risk of a heart failure. And the self esteem sort of pushes you to go over the limit which combined with the risk of the heart failure is very dangerous. Meth is a stimulants on the other hand also increases your heart rate but you get no benefit whatsoever. It’s like if you run for 10 minutes, you will feel like you have ran for 30-40 minutes. This can cause overheating and yet another risk of heart failure.

 

Like I said before, there are a large variety of drugs. Many of which are known for being good for you and many of which are known for being bad for you. You might think that there are only a few illegal/”bad” drugs like Marijuana. But no. Any drug can be illegal. Even medicine. For example, let’s say a person is prescribed a drug from a doctor. Let’s say another person wants some of your prescribed drug. If you agree and give them some, it turns into an illegal drug because the second person is taking a prescribed drug when it was not prescribed to him/her. If the second person agrees and sells it to the second person, this makes the first person a drug dealer. So that means that any drug you can think of can be illegal or made illegal in a way.

 

So drugs can both negatively and positively affect crucial parts of the human body. So what crucial parts of the body can be affected by different kinds of drugs? Well, positively, it could affect lots of places like the brain and your heart and it would help things like Leukemia. Take 8 year old Mykayla Comstock for example, she is taking cannabis every day to help her Leukemia. Negatively though, drugs such as cocaine, meth, marijuana and heroin can affect many parts of the body, but they mainly strongly affect the brain and the heart. Still despite these facts, 100,000 lbs of cocaine is consumed every year in the U.S. alone, 4000 lbs of meth in the U.S. alone and 700 tons of marijuana in the U.S. alone. That’s crazy!!!

 

To sum it all up, drug affect the human body many many different ways not only positively but also negatively. I hope you learned more than I did about drugs. Thank you for your time.

 



Interview

OK, our research has begun, it should be a breeze now right? Wrong. We had to schedule our interview and site visit. If you have a topic like mine, a site visit seems impossible. So I decided to do my interview first. My first idea was to do anyone who has a lot of experience with drugs. A pharmacist was the first person that came to mind. But I realized they might not know that much about positive and negative drugs. One day, I was thinking for an interview and “poof”. I got and idea. I decided to interview a doctor because they prescribe drugs and if someone is having trouble with a negative drug, they would go to a doctor. From there, it was easy? Or it should’ve been. There were so many doctors I had to choose from and, I had to choose what kind of doctor I needed. Finally, I thought “I think doing my doctor would be the most efficient.” And so I did my interview on my pediatric, Dr. Cindy Ivker. When I had my interview, we had decided to do it at 7 pm because it was the best time for both of us. When she called, I asked 9 question all relating to my topic. I actually made a great choice to interview my doctor because just as I predicted, she knew all of the facts. Overall, I found this interview extremely helpful.