A drug is a substance which is taken into the body. Some drugs are taken for illnesses and some are taken for fun. Usually a doctor will give you a drug for an illness to make you well. People take drugs for fun because they affect their body or thoughts in unusual ways. Fun drugs are called "recreational" and drugs for illnesses are called "therapeutic".

Drugs can be taken by eating, smoking or injecting them. Drugs often have bad effects as well as the good effect - these bad effects are called side-effects.

Drugs need to be taken in theright amount. The amount of the drug you take is called a dose. If you take too much of a drug, you can get very sick or even die. If a doctor tells you how much of a drug (the right dose) to take, you should only take that amount. It is also very important to keep taking the drug until the doctor says to stop, because even if you feel better you may still be sick. When a doctor tells you what drug you need to take, how much, and for how long, it is called a prescription.

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药物是一种注入吸收进入身体的物质。有些为了治病时麻醉，有些为了寻求快乐。通常，医生使用麻药使你的治疗伤口让它痊愈。当你把它用作毒品时，这些药通过一些反常的方式作用于他们的身体。当它为了寻求乐趣时，它是供消遣的，当做麻醉时，它起到的是医疗作用。

摄取药物的方式有吃、吸和注射。药通常伴有正面作用及负面作用。当它产生不良的影响时，——这些不良影响被称作副作用。

药物需要服用正确的数量。你服用的药物的数量被称为剂量。如果你服用太多的药物的话，你会感觉非常恶心甚至死亡。如果医生告诉你应该服用的剂量（正确的剂量），你应该只服用这些剂量。每天服用直到医生告诉你停止服用也很重要，因为就算你觉得好多了其实可能还是没痊愈。当医生告诉你要服什么药，服多少，服多少，就叫作处方

在美国，drug一词多用于表示有治疗性的药品，同medicine。如果看到Pharmacy的字样，等同于Drug Store。若是毒品则有其他的惯用俚语表示。